The Farm

There is a place 3 miles from my house that encompasses all that I love in the world: my family, the outdoors, old buildings and great food. That place is my parent’s farm.
The front stone portion of the house was built in the 1860s with boulders and trees from the land it sits on. The back, wooden portion of the house was erected in the early 1900s and features a large, open second floor that I wanted to believe was a ballroom (I tend to put a romantic spin on everything). Turns out that ballroom was the room they stored grains in. Oh well.

There are 10 outbuildings, including a corn crib, machine shed, barn, pig sty, milk house, forge, etc…on the farm. There haven’t been animals here since the 1980s and they rent the surrounding farm land out to two of the coolest, toughest farmers (John and Larry) I’ve ever known. Not that I’ve known that many farmers.

Seeing that it’s a farm, that quintessential farm house is accompanied by a quintessential red barn, which was the site of my wedding.

We slid open the barn doors so our guests could look out on this view during the ceremony:

When I visit the farm, which is weekly, I love to wander down the old cow lane and lose myself in the vast greenness.

You can count on running into wildlife, like these Sand Hill Cranes (or are they Blue Herons?) in the soybean field.

See the marsh just behind the birds? It’s rumored that the stone remains of the first house built on this property lay back there, as well as a dozen natural springs. I’ve gone exploring, trying to find the vestiges of a simple dwelling buried beneath grass and moss. I have yet to stumble upon them, but never the less, I have discovered an array of cheerful Marsh Marigolds and alien-like Skunk Cabbages that grow prolifically in spring.

When it gets tall enough, I love to duck into the rows of corn. There’s something so cool about losing sight of the horizon and being completely surrounded by towering plants. But then I get flashes of Malakai from Children of the Corn, get freaked out and dart back into the cow lane. Even at 29, I have a horribly over-active imagination.

This is a field of clover. It’s much less intimidating than the corn, seeing that only very tiny murderous children could hide in it.

As you continue down the cow lane, you lose site of the farm and can no longer hear the cars on the road.

It becomes easy to let the busyness of life slip away here – to forget that there is anything but you, the earth and the plants you share it with. It is in this spot, under the shade of 3 oak trees, that I do my best thinking.

After some thinkin’, some walkin’, and some Children of the Corn freakin’, it’s time for some snackin’. And lucky me, there’s 4 old apple trees on the farm that produce perfectly sweet, crisp apples. Granted, you have to work a little to find ones without worm holes or weird spots, but that extra effort makes them taste better.

Let’s peek inside some of the outbuildings, shall we? Here’s the inside of the well house, which is only interesting because of this:

You come to this room. When we first discovered it, we found tons of walnuts on the floor, so we think this is where they dried the black walnuts from the 3 black walnut trees on the property.

But here’s the best part. As my parents were struggling to come up with a name for the farm that adequately captured its rural, untouched beauty, they found this room. And when they looked behind the door, they saw this:

Seeing that there’s a meadow and umpteen springs on their land, they went with it.

So there you have it. A few of my favorite spots at Meadow Springs Farm, which is the place I retreat to when I need to be reminded that life is so much more than tasks, lists and chores. This place, with its audacious and natural beauty, instantly makes you slow down and realize how insignificant our To Do lists are. At a place like this, what else is there to do but just take in the scenery and appreciate what’s around you?

You know what, my parents would argue with me on that point and say “There’s a hell of a lot to do, like mow the 5 acres of grass, weed the massive gardens and repair the 10 out buildings, thankyouverymuch.” I love you mom and dad! Thank you for bringing our family out of the suburbs and into nature!

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