American Way Farm: Returning to the Earth

Friday, October 16, 2015

Returning to the Earth

I lived that "other" life and now, in my retirement years, have returned to farming. There's nothing in that other world that compares to a ripe tomato just picked, still warm from the sun. Or fresh goat milk, only as old as the time it took to cool it. Every morning is like Christmas when I go to the chicken coop with a basket to see what presents the girls have left for me today. I get my weather forecast by observing animal behavior and can trust that the dogs will give me all the warning and protection I'll ever need. I enjoy the bounty of the harvest all winter when I enjoy vegetables I've put up - corn that tastes like it was just picked, green beans and asparagus so full of flavor my mouth begins watering by the mere sight and smell of them; potatoes, beets, squash and carrots stored in the root cellar that taste like they've just been dug from the earth. I've heard it said that the trick to happiness is to make a life that you never need to take a vacation from. Returning to the earth is just that.

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When my husband, Jim, and I moved from southern New Hampshire to way, way up north in the fall of 2001, we thought we were just “getting away from it all.” You know—peace, quiet, maybe a moose sighting or two. We weren’t planning a major lifestyle change. We certainly didn’t think we’d be trading paved driveways for muck boots and birthing kits. But life (and nature) had other plans. The thing about the North Country is that it’s very good at growing trees. Tall ones. Fast ones. Persistent ones. Left unchecked, they’ll take over faster than a toddler with a jar of peanut butter. We were starting to lose our view—and not just a “I think the horizon looks a little hazy” kind of loss. I mean, we were being reabsorbed by the forest. So we came up with a brilliant plan: let animals do the work! We figured a couple of pigs and sheep would chew down the underbrush, fertilize the land, and maybe keep us entertained along the way. A few goats joined the team, because apparently we thought chaos was missing. Chickens showed up next, mostly for fly control—but also because they’re hilarious, not to mention that farm eggs are the best. And then, of course, a dog. You need a dog to guard the animals from the coyotes and the goats from each other. Before long, we had an entire ecosystem going. And then the questions started rolling in. “Hey, could you raise a pig for us?” “Do you sell your lamb?” “Got any extra eggs?” “Do you actually drink the goat milk?” And just like that… we were farmers. Not the bib-overalls, pitchfork-wielding kind (well, okay, maybe on Mondays), but full-on livestock-managing, early-rising, hay-in-our-hair kind of farmers. And honestly? We’re loving every minute of it—yes, even the goat-wrangling, fence-mending, rooster-escapes-at-5AM parts. We never saw it coming. But sometimes the best things in life are the ones that sneak up on you—preferably not in the form of a loose pig, but you get the idea.