Once the dust settled under the wheels of our new home, I had alot of time to think. That was painful, so I drank. But when I was not numb, for instance during the day, I had time to look around and realize that I loved living in the country. Oh yeah! This was what I grew up wanting! And now I had room for a horse right in my own back yard.
Earlier the year before, upon my pleading, my husband constructed a chicken coop in the back of our house. I had two hens, Henny and Penny, and they clucked happily around the patio, pool, and back yard, providing us a couple of fresh eggs each day. Friends would always come to the back door, and they were greeted by our feathered friends. Luckily we lived in an old neighborhood, where the lines were very faintly drawn as to what was and was not permissable. Then I got the bright idea to get a goat. After all, it was a green alternative to a lawn mower. Fifi became a much loved pet, and more than once found her way into the house and up the stairs! People coyly mentioned that we really should move out to the country, especially when I began nurturing the idea of getting a miniature pony. We had room, and nobody would know it was there.
Fifi the goat is now part of a growing herd of Nigerian dwarf/pygmy goats, and is twice a mama. She is part of a menagerie, including our six dogs, donkeys, my beloved mare, Wildfire, and a whole coop full of chickens and ducks. Plans are in the works to begin milking and making goat cheese and bath products. You see, once I woke up and discovered that I had not lost a thing, in fact, had ended up smack dab in the middle of my dreams for my life, my truest self, the authentic me had a chance to appear. I was not just dressing up and playing cowgirl anymore. Here I was with the chance to sculpt my life, mold it into exactly what I truly wanted. And the kicker was that my chldren and my husband were no longer being dragged into things they really did not have any interest in. No more stress from the stuffy social scene I used to try so desperately to embrace. No more striving to be bigger, better, more upwardly mobile, to have the right car and the right purse and the right shoes. No more putting my poor sweet husband through the motions of club membership and mind-numbing parties. No more trying so hard to be somebody I am not.
I woke up, and discovered that instead of just the tiny kitchen garden with tomatoes and herbs I had at the old place, I could have as large a garden as I could dream up. Remarkably I have been blessed with the opportunity to now be part of a natural food co-op, and can actually make money selling the produce we don’t eat. And I found out I can preserve peppers and okra, and also make jelly. There is absolutely nothing more rewarding than the knowledge that you are feeding your family home-grown food. We have come to the point now that we utilize the unending amount of manure and spent hay to create compost. Our garden thrives, and I now have a greenhouse, thanks again to my husband’s skill and knack for salvaging materials. It is made completely from collected doors and windows, and houses my seedlings and garden tools.
After much grit and determination our little house was liveable. I say that loosely, since we completed it in stages. There are still some things to be done, but it is warm and inviting, and looks like a log cabin inside. All of us contributed ideas toward finishing it, and the kids got to design their rooms to their liking. The two girls currently share a room, and that is the cause of much whining and has ended up in tape being lined up down the middle of the room. But they are learning how important they are to each other, and that is never a bad thing. We all share one tiny bathroom, which with a teenager is a strain when she takes two hours to get ready! Togetherness is something easily attainable when you live in a small house. Truly, I was never entirely sure where my children were in our old house, unless they were upstairs and were jumping up and down. Now if they are not in the house they are somewhere outside, which is fine with me because there is always a dog with them, and I do not have to worry about them encountering someone with bad intentions. We all spend more time outside than in.
And oh, before I forget, there is more to the story. Just when I thought things were settled, we discovered another old farmhouse, not too far from us. It was free, but there was a catch. We had to pay to have it moved. And move it we did, right onto our farm. A four bedroom, spacious old turn-of-the-century house now sits back in a grove of trees closer to the the creek and in front of the garden. And it waits for the next chapter of our lives to begin.
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