Three Months? Really?

Not that many people visit this blog, but for those few that do, my apologies for the three month lag in posts.  School started.  Having a more than full-time job strains the ability to maintain the homestead, let alone write something here.  Of late, I've simply turned to making videos.  They take less energy in terms of writing, allow for a creative outlet, the opportunity to learn new skills (shooting, editing, and uploading videos), and in the end we have a video journal of our projects on the farm.  If you come here to read updates, you might want to check out our farm channel:

St. Isidore's Farm YouTube Channel

All this said, I suppose it's nice to occasionally take the time to write an update.  Although I am from a family of farmers (grandparents and beyond), not having grown up on a farm myself certainly leads to a steep learning curve in terms of the work required to maintain a property and do something with it.

People continue to ask how we like living on a farm and the transition from urban/suburban living to rural life.  Most days the answer is unequivocally that we love it.  But there are those days when it seems overwhelming and we aren't even running a working farm.  In our case, we bought a farm that seems to have been let go for about three years, and wasn't a fully functioning farm before that.  The last year and a half has seen a great deal of hard physical labor on our part just to clean up and reclaim the land.  It's been a life of two steps back and one step forward.  We can imagine a day when we're only moving forward or simply maintaining, but we're not sure when that will be.

Still, it seems that more than a few friends and acquaintances are considering the jump to a farm.  Most of these are Catholic friends who are thinking about it for more than just farming reasons.  So for them and anyone who might stop into this blog who is considering the same, I thought I might offer five reflections (plus one):

1. It's beautiful, but it takes a lot of hard work.  Yes, our farm is like living in our own state park.  Half pastures and half forest with a beautiful pond in the middle.  Unfortunately, keeping some portion of it maintained is a relentless battle against nature, which is unceasingly about the business of reclaiming it.  If you neglect it for any length of time, when you come back it will likely be overgrown.  Just remember that nature only rests in the fall and winter.  Spring and summer are all about the slow and patient process of God turning your land back into a forest.  If you want a perfectly manicured farm and aren't independently wealthy so as to hire laborers to keep it that way, or don't feel inclined or have the ability to work on it constantly, or lack a small army of working age children, this might not be the thing for you.
2. There is always something to do or fix.  If you're thinking of moving from a small piece of property in a suburban neighborhood to many acres of land in the country where you will farm or homestead, be prepared to have an endless list of things to do.  And I mean ENDLESS.  On top of all the farm chores, there are the things that break and need fixing.  Throw a tractor or equipment into the mix, and they will eventually need fixing and maintaining.  Our brand new tractor has already required several fixes, one that had to go back to the shop because it was beyond my talents.
3. You will need to possess a "can do" attitude.  I would argue that to take on something like this requires a self-reliant mindset.  From fixing a well in the dark of night to dealing with sick animals or problems with crops, you'll need to be able to take on nearly any problem that comes at you.  The good news here is that you have the internet (assuming you have reliable access) with Google and YouTube.  It would seem someone has made a video or posted an article about how to do almost everything.
4. Learn to deal with setbacks and losses.  Things don't always go the way we want.  Seeds don't germinate, the ground lacks proper nutrients, crops fail, bugs happen, animals get sick, things die unexpectedly, stuff breaks, and the weather doesn't cooperate.  We just lost an entire hive of bees.  We spent the money on the equipment and bees, fed them nearly everyday until they were stable, checked on them, and then almost over night we lost the entire colony.  We're new to beekeeping, so it's hard to know exactly what went wrong, but in any case it was disappointing.  If this is the sort of thing that leads you to despair, you might want to avoid farm life.  It is going to happen and it might be something a lot more difficult to handle than losing insects.  From my casual observation, those that successfully stick with farming or homesteading are those for whom hope springs eternal. 
5. Everyone is on board with the idea.  If you have a family, it would be a good idea to have conversations before moving to the country and make sure everyone is on the same page about the decision.  If this is one family member's idea, it may not go well long term.  If you are a very young family, the move might be easier if your children won't remember anything other than farm life.  If this is a move happening later in your children's life, or your spouse isn't excited about the idea, you might be working the farm by yourself, which will be overwhelming and frustrating.  I would urge caution in placing an expectation on others to suddenly change lifestyle and start doing things they've not done before, or have no interest in doing.  It might fuel arguments and resentment.  In our case, Chantal was the one that really wanted to move to the farm and I was very happy to go along.  The kids don't dislike the move and are mostly agreeable to helping out.  It is however a change for them and one they're not always excited about.  Going out to weed the garden isn't super high on the list of things they want to do, but is it on anyone's?  The upside here is that it has given them a new sense of appreciation and gratitude for the food they eat and the value of hard work.  They've learned a lot, too.  Overall, we are blessed as a family that every loves the move to the country.  
6. Vacation challenges.   OK, I only had five points, but felt the need to add one more.  Depending on what you do on a farm, travel will not be as it was before.  You can't simply leave for a week in the summer if you have plants in the ground or animals that depend on you.  You will need to have friends or family that are willing to do farm chores while you are gone.  Can't stress enough how important this is.  We are blessed to have a friend that loves coming out to stay and the farm and enjoys the chores.  This is a HUGE blessing.  

So that's it.  Not a definitive list, just some rambling thoughts on a move to the farm one and a half years into the adventure.  It's Thursday morning on our Fall Break from school and the list of things to do beckons me outside.  It's going to be another long day of hard work, but one I've looked forward to for days.  Yes, there are very random days when we wonder if we lost our minds moving out here, but the overwhelming majority of days we wish we never had to leave and could do this full time.

OK, breakfast is over, coffee is done - time to head outside for a beautiful day on the farm!  Blessings to all - St. Isidore the Farmer, pray for us!