A Dream Realized and a Hope Fulfilled

A Dream Realized and a Hope Fulfilled

by | Oct 3, 2018 | Autumn, Cottage Industry, Family, Homestead Goals, Homesteading, Important Events, Personal thoughts and reflections

“We are starving for spiritual nourishment. We are starving for a life that is personal, connected, and meaningful. By choice, that is where we will direct our energy. When we do so, community will arise anew because this spiritual nourishment can only come to us as a gift, as part of a web of gifts in which we participate as giver and receiver. Whether or not it rides the vehicle of something bought, it is irreducibly personal and unique.” ~Charles Eisenstein

I have this deep calling that gnaws at my soul regularly. Each day that I am not moving towards my calling brings pain to my spirit. I have a dream that will be realized. I am called to the agrarian life. I am also called to bless others with my gifts freely and abundantly, and to lavish on those within my inner circle of friends and family, my unconditional love.

Who are those in my inner circle? It is those people who are aligned with my values and have a heart like mine. That doesn’t mean they are exactly like me in any way. They have a heart song that I recognize and embrace because we are spiritual kin. It is like deep calling to deep.

There are those who sing a song that sounds similar to my heart song, but by the end of the song it’s evident that the melody might sound similar, but the words are all wrong. They think they’re singing the same song, but you see, the song takes months to sing and they just haven’t invested the time to sing it the way their hearts needed to. Sounds cryptic, right?

It’s not.

Each of us has a heart song. Those who do not betray their own hearts or reject their own souls will find comfort in others who do the same. That is the heart song. We recognize it instantly. It is a song that you sing to others with your actions, your time, your intentions. Those who betray their own hearts and compromise their integrity recoil at the sound of a true heart song. Those who have denied their own beautiful song will be suspicious, cruel, withholding, cold, distant, all while still claiming to have a song just like mine. Their words and actions betray them. My love is anathema to them as they choke on their own betrayal and inability to break free from their overabundant pride. I have been witness to this throughout my whole life. It’s a part of the human condition.

Yet…

My heart is soft, so it doesn’t break easily. I keep it soft because others are too hard on themselves. My softness is a part of my song. But being soft doesn’t mean being weak. Weakness is a habit developed by those who have lost their way and compromised their integrity. Being soft allows me to fully recognize my desire to love radically. To give abundantly. To forgive freely. To follow my wild heart and search for home.

I’ve searched for home my whole life. No matter where I have lived, I’ve always made a home for myself. My husband is my home. My children are my home. Seeking deep connections with others who have a heart like mine brings me home. But my desire to set roots and be home has brought me to a new place. A place where I hear other heart songs sung unabashedly wild and free.

We started a new chapter in our lives recently. We currently live in a very small place and out of necessity we started searching for a new place to live. Even though there are only three of us currently living in this small space we call home, we also have grown children who, when they come to visit have no place to sleep when they stay over. Add to that the fact that I operate our coffee roasting business from this same space AND having the little storefront here cuts into personal space even more. Along with running a business comes balancing my time during the day homeschooling Simone. Some days she’s on the computer working with an online program, and the rest of the time she’s sprawled out at my work table completing the lessons of the day while I’m working on a customer’s order. Our space is very limited for what we need.

I’m also a hardcore introvert with a great need to recharge myself away from the presence of other people. That includes my own family. Introverts draw their energy from solitude and time alone.

Our current living space is not honoring my needs. I keep trying to make it better, and Dom will take Simmi out of the house so I can be alone and recover, but it doesn’t always work out the way we want.

In the process of looking for a larger place to live, we found a gorgeous piece of land we decided to invest in.

It is sacred to us.

There is great peace there.

It is a place where my wild and innocent young daughter can run free. A place where her feral heart can grow strong and soft.

With the investment we’ve made in the land comes the investment we’ve made with friends who have become our family in that very place. They are home to us. Our friendship was forged in our ability to be vulnerable to one another. We strengthened our friendship by hearing one another’s heart songs, and then we became family.

We’re home at last.

Over the next few months, we’ll be building our first home on almost fifteen beautiful acres. Located about 30 minutes south of where we currently live, this place of beauty stuns me everywhere I look.

There are unforgiving steep slopes, pastures, rocky paths and river beds. Rising up from the deep earth are sycamores and cottonwoods, willows and oak trees, evergreens and shrubs. Grasses and weeds reveal the splendor of a fertile and untouched land.

There are quiet places to recharge the soul, and gathering places to engage our hearts.

Time stands still here.

I’ve started planning our gardens, ordering seed, and designing our first house. It will not be our final house, but instead, it will be the business hub that we move into.

In past posts, I’ve mentioned that we want to build a house that doesn’t have any electricity and that includes conventional or alternative. The space we’re designing and living in first will have electricity in it. It’s the place where our businesses will thrive. My non-electric house will not be built until we have observed the land and find the best place suited for it. We do have an area that we adore, however, we need to live there full time and go through the seasons to know for sure where to build.

The business hub will be located in an area that is near the pasture. It will have our offices, art studio, fabric studio, a roastery, outdoor kitchen, as well as a become a Farm to Table venue. It all starts with that space.

It will (hopefully) be a bit larger than the space we’re currently in, but ultimately it will allow me to cultivate the land and get animals established prior to building our final home.

We’ll be living in our current house until we’re able to move into the new space. Unfortunately, we don’t have a good timetable for when that would be. We want to do it efficiently and inexpensively, utilizing the timber nearby as well as other free or almost free repurposed materials. I will be blogging about everything we’re doing on the land, but it won’t just be me blogging!

I’ll be adding new features to this blog, including new writers and artisans in our community. In future posts, I’ll share who they are and how amazing they are because there is just too much to say in one blog post. 😉

In the meantime, here are some photos of our new land…

This area we’re considering as the location for the business hub/temporary home. It is located near an open pasture to the left and two paddocks on the right. One of the paddocks will be used for small and medium sized animals, and the other for our garden. Each paddock is about 50’x50′.

The view from the first paddock looking north.

Simmi running past the second paddock.

A view north-west.

The western side of the property.

Beauty surrounds us.

Simmi’s favorite tree.

An opposing gigantic cottonwood tree stands guard at the entrance to the pasture.

The grapevines have decided to be hardcore and skip cultivation. They’re total badasses.

The pasture awaits larger animals and meat birds in chicken tractors.

This is one of the paddocks that will be turned into an intensive French potager garden.

There is so much to love about this place. It is a dream realized and a hope fulfilled.

Autumn in Vermont

Autumn in Vermont

by | Oct 15, 2015 | Autumn, Fall 2015, Vermont

I’m doubtful I’ve ever enjoyed autumn more than at this time in my life. I have always been a huge fan of autumn because it ushers in the long cold days of winter. The change of leaves is thrilling, the smell of the crisp fall air, invigorating.

We’ve been in awe of this particular autumn because for almost 7 years we lived in the high desert where the trees go from green to brown. Okay, there’s a brief window where the leaves *may* turn yellow for a day, but then POOF! its all gone.

The high desert has a beauty all its own, and can only truly be appreciated when you experience it. There are places in New Mexico where the foliage is spectacular, we just didn’t live near an area like that.

Being here in Vermont, however, is breathtaking no matter where you look. 

 

I can’t tell you how many photos I’ve taken of the changing leaves. I’ll go out on my deck and snap a photo, and then put it on my computer and be utterly disappointed because it didn’t fully capture the beauty of the light, the shadows, the colors, or feeling.

Why can’t photos capture the way my heart feels when I witness such beauty?

I keep clicking away, but to no avail. But don’t take my word for it, you will just need to come up here to Vermont and take it all in. You won’t be disappointed.

This is Simone’s first real autumn. She has never experienced before now the crisp autumn air and blustery quick winds that shake the golden leaves from their branches, causing them to gracefully fall to the ground. Her reaction to every leaf that flies through the air is, “Oh, hahahaha, look another one is falling.” It never gets old to her. Each leaf seems to do a dance for her, and the delight of the sound of her giggling as the leaves fall sinks into my soul and warms the very core of my being.

If a thousand leaves fall all at once, the riot of laughter that bellows from deep inside Simmi becomes contagious and all one can do is laugh with her.

When we drive through town and leaves are falling and a few hit the windshield, it catches Simmi by surprise as though the leaf purposely flew into the windshield just to get a good look at her. She takes it very personally. Falling leaves bring her joy. Every single one of them.

Each day Simone goes outside to try and find me the perfect leaf. She usually comes back with two baskets full of leaves, all of which are perfect in their own right. She could no sooner pick her favorite leaf, than she could her favorite shade of pink.

To say that Vermont has been good for Simmi would be an understatement. We adore everything about it so far. We hope to make a few new friends this fall so she can share her love of nature with children her age.

I can’t wait until we get her outfitted for winter! There will be no stopping her. She’s growing out of all her clothes and shoes, and soft wool and silk long underwear are in her near future so I can take her on nature walks around our property and down at Quechee State Park.