This week I spent some time working on a farm. Not just any farm – my aunt’s best friend’s farm…and what could be the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.
I’ve wanted to live on a farm for so long that I’m not sure where it started. As a child I read books like Charlotte’s Web and Little House on the Prairie – they fed my love of animals and my interest in growing things. My father kept a large backyard garden for many years; I loved playing in the warm dirt while he worked. His mother and my mom’s grandmother lived in a small towns; I was fascinated by the crop fields.
Somewhere along the way I got sidetracked from my dream. I grew up in a major city and didn’t have the opportunity to experience life on farm. It seemed an impractical idea – where in the world would I start? – so I headed to college, earned a degree, and have been steadily employed for years as an editor and doing computer work.
Recently I was offered a chance to move to a farm, a situation that would be a win for me and the farm’s owner. There’s one major obstacle hindering that move…but I am confident it will be overcome. For now, I’ll dream of the fields as they could be (and goats, more chickens, llamas…)