There’s a shift happening on the farm this week. We are going through the motions of preparing ourselves, our supplies, our vehicle, and our lists for our first trek to the big city of Nashville for the Richland Park farmer’s market and our first CSA pick-up of the season. We’ve been at this for a while now, this is our twelfth CSA season, but I still get the first-day-of-school jitters with the dawn of every new season! I fret about my lists and the harvest count being accurate. I fret about our old van lasting through another season. I fret about tablecloths and markers and signs. I fret about deer breeching the garden fence and eating the hearts out of the lettuce we are needing to harvest. Minor details when compared to the greater concerns of farmers such as drought, floods, frosts, and plagues of insects. But the things I fret about are critical, albeit minor and often unnoticed. It’s only when these things are forgotten that the importance of them is recognized!!!

So, while we are in the throws of shifting from our stay-at-home winter rhythm to the rhythm of market season and all that goes along with it, another new rhythm is unfolding on the farm these days. Jesse and Hannah, our dear friends and new neighbors, have just moved into their new cabin here on the farm. There’s a whole big story that goes along with this but in short, Jesse and Hannah were our interns here on the farm two seasons ago. They met here, fell in love here, got engaged here, and were married shortly after their internships ended. They moved to central Kentucky and began establishing their own CSA on some relative’s land, but after a bit of drama and frustration, were left in the lurch and in need of finding a place they could really call their own. This is where Eric and I step back into the picture of their lives. We absolutely loved Jesse and Hannah as interns. (In fact, we took a break from hosting interns after they departed because we wondered how on earth we would ever match that experience.) Unbelievably kind and willing folks they were, fabulous with our wild and crazy kids, and enamored by our somewhat rugged off-the-grid lifestyle of farming and homesteading. We developed a relationship with them that went far beyond the scope of a mere farm apprentice/ mentor scenario. When we got word of the fact that they were looking for a new farm, Eric and I made the decision to offer them a little piece of Bugtussle that they could pursue their dreams on. And they took the bait!

While the little seven acre piece of land that they are establishing as their homestead is quite rough and overgrown, we see in their young and energetic selves the noble quality of being visionaries. I am reminded of Eric and myself fifteen years ago, when we were in the beginning stages of pursuing our own dreams. Much hard work is on their plate, but so many lovely stories are in the making for Jesse and Hannah. Now the chapters of our lives will be mingling together like the convergence of two creeks. I am so happy to have them as neighbors.

As we embark on another new season and a spring filled with so much promise, I see a whole new rhythm emerging on the farm and in my life. There’s a new and different drum beating in the background… I like the rhythm that I hear and I want to dance…