2 Years on the farm!

Two years ago, I started "The Wary Farmwife" blog.  I began this blog as a way to share our upcoming farm journey with family and friends (as we were, and still are, not on Facebook).  3500 page views later (with likely 1/3 of those page views being my own), The Wary Farmwife blog is still going strong...and so is our family and farm.  And with time comes growth.  I'm no longer a "wary" farmwife at all.  Two years ago, I was the definition of wary: feeling or showing caution about possible dangers or problems.  

I was concerned about the isolation of moving away from family and friends.  I was cautious about changing jobs and leaving behind co-workers (a.k.a, dear friends).  I was nervous about changing schools for my oldest son and putting my youngest into part-time daycare (for 5 weeks until the semester was over). But more than anything, I was worried that I would HATE living on a farm, when I knew that J (and likely the boys) would fall in love with country life immediately.

Like anything, there were ups and downs.  The move went well.  JJ was adjusting fairly well to finishing out 4K in another program.  Farmer J was enjoying less of a commute to work.  But my new job wasn't a great fit and Pickle and I didn't adapt well to daycare (more me than him, if I'm being totally honest). Luckily, we quickly found Miss Kristin (our part-time in home nanny) and within 9 months I found a new job that I loved.

Some downs:

-bats flying in the house
-JJ finding a bat in his bed

-barn cat trapped under the house

-bees living in the wall outside our bedrooms

-dead bees from first bee hive trial

-chickens in the road

-frozen car doors from no garage

-failed chicken tractor
-lost chickens- RIP
-goats eating all the raspberry plants when they got in the garden

But many more ups:
-rescued barn cat from under the house

-boys playing on the swing in the barn in mid-winter

-boys making a fort out of hay, alfalfa and straw bales

-boys finding deer skulls and other random bones to play with

-boys going on nature hikes all around the farm; "You sure dis a good idea, dada?" (even in the moonlight)

-boys eating warm cherry tomatoes from the garden

-finding eggs in farmer J and the boy's pockets
-Farmer J gardening by the moonlight
-raising baby goats
-healthy baby lambs born on the farm
-eggs 'over easy' from our coop
-storytime in front of the fireplace
-finding Trinity (the boys rural, Christian school) and our church
And I could go on and on

Part of what has made this experience so wonderful is the kindness and respect the owners of this farm (our landlords) have shown us over the past two years.  Through it all (bat removal, attic bat poop clean-up, new propane tank, new wood burning stove, new hot water heater and the various other odd jobs around the house and farm), Mr. Jim, Mrs. Mary and their children have been truly the best.  Thank you!

And to our family and friends... all your many trips to the farm have made us feel so happy and loved.  With all our visitors, there has been no time (or need) for feeling homesick.  Many thanks to our parents and siblings for all their help over the past two years! And to Miss Kristen, thank you for caring for our children and the endless times you have been a blessing in our lives (whether it's helping with car trouble or doing the chores so we could get away). 

When we first moved to this farm, there was no garden, no animals and no real "life" to this place.  Two years later we have one large garden, one small garden, two bee hives (one much more successful than the other), two goats, two sheep, four lambs, a dozen chickens and one barn cat.  Besides our family of four, we have an endless amount of visitors.  Whether its school children attending the Farm Education Program (designed by Mrs. Mary), Mary/Jim hosting a farm to table dinner, my parent's having an antique garage sale, hosting Thanksgiving, hosting Easter (in a few weeks), having friends over or just talking to the random person that stops by the farm to check the place out, this place has been bustling with LIFE!

I'm no longer the wary farmwife at all.  The weary farmwife- YES.  But mainly, I'm the thankful farmwife. I'm grateful that I love this life as much as the rest of my family.  I thrilled that we took a chance and followed our gut feeling that country life was the best thing for us (at least for right now- after nearly 6 months of winter, I'm thinking we should try living on a tropical island next!)

So what is next for "The Wary Farmwife" blog?  Honestly, I'm not totally sure. I'm considering making my blog "live"- which means you could "google" this blog and it would show up.  I'm hoping to make the blog a little more "fancy" with various links and pages.  I'm hoping to add a feature where my readers can comment on blog posts and pictures.  And I'm still crossing my fingers on getting videos posted to the blog.  Lastly, I may add advertisements to the blog-- sorry, but country living isn't cheap!

And what is next for us?  Just this month alone we have many, many visitors coming to see the baby lambs, we are hosting Easter and we have our 11 year anniversary.  A simple life, not really.  A blessed life, definitely.