following our journey . . .

Did I mention that it is EXTREMELY nice to wake early, sit here on the sofa half awake/half asleep, and leisurely check emails and post the daily lives of our FOUTFOLK adventures. :)

A few days ago, a former student left a message on my Facebook wall that he was reading my "farm blog." "My farm blog" I thought? I never thought of this blog as a farm blog, but I guess I do live on a farm, and I do farm kinds of things. Like yesterday, Nolan and I spend the last half of the day helping the neighbor bail hay and put it up in the barn. Baling hay is a GOOD honest, days work. It requires a LOT of muscle, and a little finesse as well, using your body weight to throw a 50 lb bale around, stacking them on the wagon. As I was pulling the bails off the binder, dragging it to the back of the wagon, tossing it up to criss cross stack it, I had lots of time to think about my life and the direction it is going. (maybe a little too much time :)

It has been a long time coming for us as a family to live this more agrarian lifestyle, this farm life. A few years ago in Los Angeles, when we told friends we were moving to make a change in our lives toward a more sustainable life, this was what we were talking about. In my mind it certainly didn't look anything like this, but now that we are here, doing what we are doing, it is exactly this that I was thinking about. Time spend together, working on things together, making most of the things we use, developing friendships with like-minded people, and slowing the pace of life that helps us to stop and enjoy the process as well as the product.

In addition, I am appreciative to those that have followed our journey these past two years through reading this farm blog. It has been fun for me to write and post pictures of our journey and to keep distant friends "still close." Thanks for the comments, encouragement, and friendships. (now is the time I say that I will no longer be blogging . . . :) Just kidding, I am not thinking about stopping this blog.