Big Lessons from a Small Farm
The sap house was nestled in the middle of the woods along the path of the winding dirt driveway and a small, unassuming hand painted sign hung crookedly over the undersized door — the first time we looked at Ox Pasture Farm I knew we must raise our family there; the sap house clinched the deal.
Over the coming years, the barn would become home to 4 horses, the hen house would shelter a flock of guinea hens, we rescued sheep, and of course multiple cats and dogs. Finally having a farm, I realized I’d dreamt of one forever. I felt at home; I felt safe and most of all, I felt empowered. As a family, we had a place for our children to experience what I imagined the perfect childhood to be: open space, rolling fields of green grass, a barn full of animals.
Reality rarely matches expectation, but living on this bucolic patch of land, nestled in the southernmost mountains in Vermont, exceeded mine. The days were absorbed with work to be done and although farming was not our living, it became our lives, (at least farming that involved the care and keeping of animals). My husband became accustomed to, if not exhausted by the chores that demanded his attention whenever he was not in the office. Farms create a “to do” list that makes normal daily household life look staggeringly dull by comparison. In the years I’ve spent reflecting on our time as caretakers of that farm, all too often I yearn for just one more morning awakening to my horses awaiting my arrival with soft nickers and their warm breath filling the barn.
We knew nothing about farming, and we’d just purchased 60 acres on which sat two barns, a guest cottage, a large farmhouse, and of course, the sap house. Our daughters were 7, 5 and 3, the perfect ages for running wild and free with no fears. It was incredibly important to us to find a spot where childhood could still be innocent. Our early years there predated cell phones or any type of social media, and for that we are grateful. In our 15 years in Vermont, the majority of which were on the farm, I never heard the girls say “I’m bored.” We never were.
Moving to a farm was the single biggest life altering experience of our lives. Two former suburbanites caring for land, 3 children, and numerous animals was really a full time job; thank goodness we tackled this when we were young because it was baptism by fire. Weekends became exclusively devoted to chores and the work never lets up. Animals need to be fed morning and night, stalls must be cleaned, food must be ordered, hay stacked, fields mowed and bailed - the list goes on and on and on and starts up again in the morning. Our children never once complained about their jobs and they were taught responsibility and the living lesson that you reap what you sow. Days ended in satisfied exhaustion. My pride in keeping the acreage and animals as pristine as possible became an obsession.
When people who know us now ask how we ended up taking such a leap of faith as to move to the country, knowing next to nothing about the care of land or horses, I wonder a bit myself. We were so young, it never occurred to us not to give it a try and I will never regret the decision to have stepped back from the rat race for just a little while. So much of who we are as a family started on an innocent little plot of land that was entrusted to our care for just a while and taught us some of life’s greatest lessons.
