their farm.
i'll have to make a list for this post. this is a list sort-of post. because without some rigid backbone it will end up mushy.
so what type of list?
a list of favorite things about farmsitting. too many to list.
a list of favorite things about the farm owners. WAY too many... ok, megan get a hold of yourself, this is a puddle of goo happening before your eyes.
i got it...TOP 10 MOST MEMORABLE FARM STORIES.
10. finn found his way to the tip top of the chicken coop. from up there he could count ever beak, spy every possible predator, and claim his place as 'finn of the flock.' he'd studied them intently from the ground, mimicked their every behavior, sampled their food. he was chicken, only super brave, and on the roof. until his human parents spotted him and asked him to get down. sneakily planning to cling to the far side of the pitch, out of sight until the coast was clear, finn made a discovery. wasp nest, ouch. two stings and two thumbs up for a thrilling adventure (see above picture).
celeste (amazing farm-girl and friend-extraordinaire) found finn's shirt in the coop after they got home and i assumed he'd thrown it off during the wasp attack. but he is clearly wearing a shirt post wasp photos... so that shirt in the coop probably has a story all its own.
9. ossi insisted on mucking the stall completely solo. after the horse-hold was sift-spiffed he thought, "i shall dump this doo in the place for the poo," which makes total sense. pushing the wheelbarrow merrily along he opened the pasture gate and walked right in. then misty trotted right out. misty thought, "the grass is actually greener on the other side of this-here fence." barefoot matt was watching from a distance and thought, "oh, crap. she will run away and be gone and our friend will miss their horse." picture barefoot matt chasing a horse over gravel. i said matt.
8. the weeds screamed for mercy. too bad for them it was in a frequency out of our hearing range. we promised ourselves five. five full wheelbarrow loads of weeds vanquished. the gloves were so good to us. the garden tools worked like magic. the weeds gave way as we raced down the row until they didn't and matt noticed my path diverging. i thought, "five full is five full, i'm going where the weeds are like butter." but matt needed those rows to be clean. even though there were no veggies to save. even though the weeds at the end were not going down without a fight.
speaking of fights, after nearly twelve years of marriage we know there are only a small handful of things to fight about- lots of surface things to get mad about but after some digging it always comes back to that little handful of quirks. unsolvable wars that are actually solvable but it will take so long that we'll be dead first.
so we had a few words about one of our wars. but we actually just ended up flirting because it's unsolvable right now and we're okay with that. then i helped him weed that patch because i wanted to, not because he wanted me to.
7. the kids would walk into the house in the morning looking so tired and stiff and miserable. they'd be porcupines with poky hay spines. then around evening one would say, "let's sleep in the loft again!" and the fists would fly up like four-stars.
6. i didn't know if an alarm would sound soon. my eyes opened to the dark and my feet pulled me outside before i'd even had time to ask myself if i wanted to be up yet. this sensation was otherworldly, this urge to be under the deep-blue as it turned sweet shades of sky. i wanted to hear a horse chuckle at me like i'd been so clever, even if i knew the joke was on me because there i was hauling her hay and shoveling up after. she knew i was so green and she stomped to let me know she'd had swifter service, but she also existed in a space outside time. before alarms. like i wanted to be out there brushing her more than i wanted another hour of sleep and that's saying a lot. all the same she was her own creature and she didn't need me to be anything more than my own creature as long as we made food a top priority. and i don't know how else to say what it is to be around a horse.
5. my kids may forever have dreams of the puddle path between the pool and the bath tub. celeste taught them about jet-tub-bubble baths. she taught them before we farm-sat and they practiced like good students of any art. one of them will say, "remember the pool and hot tub at the farm?" and they'll moan longingly.
4. The underwear pool-noodle fight wasn't half bad either.
3. my boots would crunch over the thorny path. a dog on each side, i was invincible. i walked those woods like i'd grown on one of the trees and sprouted legs one day. i knew the dogs needed me to be confident and fast and bossy so that they would feel safe and not need to fight one another. i knew we needed to travel like a pack each morning in strike formation just to keep the peace, to build their trust. we'd walk like that then they'd smell something and they were gone, chasing. i'd realize i was in an unfamiliar wood and that i wasn't anybody's boss in there any more. i'd be overcome with the magic of it, that feeling like i might happen upon a spring-of-immortality or fairy wedding.
2. if the kids were awake they would tell me to write about the legos. my side of that story was the time to read while they played quietly. it was real, guys. i read. and went through my cyclical crisis about my own purpose on earth. i sat on the edge of a tub and talked to my husband about what we are and what we want. we decided that it's been too long since our marriage has been on the front burner. we have been experiencing regular things (school, work, kids) and irregular things (his mom and sister living with us, then my parents and sister living with us) and we have honestly not had very much time for intention in our marriage. what we are and what we want.
we are happily married. we want to make the things we've been dreaming about for years happen.
and the kids want legos.
1. the eclipse. was. amazing.
matt and i had a different experience outside when the sky was dark and then a bright light shined. it also involved a moon. we were having an alone moment in our tent one night when a kid showed up with a flashlight.
both experiences were very memorable.
hopefully that wasn't too terribly mushy. just don't get me talking too much about how much i love and look up to celeste... or about how much i adore her kids... don't ask me tell you what kind of family they are and how living in their house was like living inside of general conference... if general conference was a house.
she keeps trying to thank me and i'm like, huh?
so yeah, we didn't really farm-sit. we were farm-sat-on. and it was awesome.
so what type of list?
a list of favorite things about farmsitting. too many to list.
a list of favorite things about the farm owners. WAY too many... ok, megan get a hold of yourself, this is a puddle of goo happening before your eyes.
i got it...TOP 10 MOST MEMORABLE FARM STORIES.
10. finn found his way to the tip top of the chicken coop. from up there he could count ever beak, spy every possible predator, and claim his place as 'finn of the flock.' he'd studied them intently from the ground, mimicked their every behavior, sampled their food. he was chicken, only super brave, and on the roof. until his human parents spotted him and asked him to get down. sneakily planning to cling to the far side of the pitch, out of sight until the coast was clear, finn made a discovery. wasp nest, ouch. two stings and two thumbs up for a thrilling adventure (see above picture).
celeste (amazing farm-girl and friend-extraordinaire) found finn's shirt in the coop after they got home and i assumed he'd thrown it off during the wasp attack. but he is clearly wearing a shirt post wasp photos... so that shirt in the coop probably has a story all its own.
9. ossi insisted on mucking the stall completely solo. after the horse-hold was sift-spiffed he thought, "i shall dump this doo in the place for the poo," which makes total sense. pushing the wheelbarrow merrily along he opened the pasture gate and walked right in. then misty trotted right out. misty thought, "the grass is actually greener on the other side of this-here fence." barefoot matt was watching from a distance and thought, "oh, crap. she will run away and be gone and our friend will miss their horse." picture barefoot matt chasing a horse over gravel. i said matt.
8. the weeds screamed for mercy. too bad for them it was in a frequency out of our hearing range. we promised ourselves five. five full wheelbarrow loads of weeds vanquished. the gloves were so good to us. the garden tools worked like magic. the weeds gave way as we raced down the row until they didn't and matt noticed my path diverging. i thought, "five full is five full, i'm going where the weeds are like butter." but matt needed those rows to be clean. even though there were no veggies to save. even though the weeds at the end were not going down without a fight.
speaking of fights, after nearly twelve years of marriage we know there are only a small handful of things to fight about- lots of surface things to get mad about but after some digging it always comes back to that little handful of quirks. unsolvable wars that are actually solvable but it will take so long that we'll be dead first.
so we had a few words about one of our wars. but we actually just ended up flirting because it's unsolvable right now and we're okay with that. then i helped him weed that patch because i wanted to, not because he wanted me to.
7. the kids would walk into the house in the morning looking so tired and stiff and miserable. they'd be porcupines with poky hay spines. then around evening one would say, "let's sleep in the loft again!" and the fists would fly up like four-stars.
6. i didn't know if an alarm would sound soon. my eyes opened to the dark and my feet pulled me outside before i'd even had time to ask myself if i wanted to be up yet. this sensation was otherworldly, this urge to be under the deep-blue as it turned sweet shades of sky. i wanted to hear a horse chuckle at me like i'd been so clever, even if i knew the joke was on me because there i was hauling her hay and shoveling up after. she knew i was so green and she stomped to let me know she'd had swifter service, but she also existed in a space outside time. before alarms. like i wanted to be out there brushing her more than i wanted another hour of sleep and that's saying a lot. all the same she was her own creature and she didn't need me to be anything more than my own creature as long as we made food a top priority. and i don't know how else to say what it is to be around a horse.
5. my kids may forever have dreams of the puddle path between the pool and the bath tub. celeste taught them about jet-tub-bubble baths. she taught them before we farm-sat and they practiced like good students of any art. one of them will say, "remember the pool and hot tub at the farm?" and they'll moan longingly.
4. The underwear pool-noodle fight wasn't half bad either.
3. my boots would crunch over the thorny path. a dog on each side, i was invincible. i walked those woods like i'd grown on one of the trees and sprouted legs one day. i knew the dogs needed me to be confident and fast and bossy so that they would feel safe and not need to fight one another. i knew we needed to travel like a pack each morning in strike formation just to keep the peace, to build their trust. we'd walk like that then they'd smell something and they were gone, chasing. i'd realize i was in an unfamiliar wood and that i wasn't anybody's boss in there any more. i'd be overcome with the magic of it, that feeling like i might happen upon a spring-of-immortality or fairy wedding.
2. if the kids were awake they would tell me to write about the legos. my side of that story was the time to read while they played quietly. it was real, guys. i read. and went through my cyclical crisis about my own purpose on earth. i sat on the edge of a tub and talked to my husband about what we are and what we want. we decided that it's been too long since our marriage has been on the front burner. we have been experiencing regular things (school, work, kids) and irregular things (his mom and sister living with us, then my parents and sister living with us) and we have honestly not had very much time for intention in our marriage. what we are and what we want.
we are happily married. we want to make the things we've been dreaming about for years happen.
and the kids want legos.
1. the eclipse. was. amazing.
matt and i had a different experience outside when the sky was dark and then a bright light shined. it also involved a moon. we were having an alone moment in our tent one night when a kid showed up with a flashlight.
both experiences were very memorable.
hopefully that wasn't too terribly mushy. just don't get me talking too much about how much i love and look up to celeste... or about how much i adore her kids... don't ask me tell you what kind of family they are and how living in their house was like living inside of general conference... if general conference was a house.
she keeps trying to thank me and i'm like, huh?
so yeah, we didn't really farm-sit. we were farm-sat-on. and it was awesome.
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