A Blessed Summer

As I type this, combines are humming outside my window in the wheat fields across our yard in every which direction. The sunset happened a few hours ago and there is a thick dust hovering about with no place to go. As farmers, this is an exciting time of year for us. Everything we have worked so hard for is finally paying off and rewarding us for our time, blood, sweat and tears. On the other hand, it signals the end of a season as well. Harvest time is the last stop for summer before Autumn takes over and soon enough, the snow will begin to fall. As excited as I am for the new season  {I do believe I have mentioned many a time that Fall is my favorite time of year?!?}, I have found myself to also be a little nostalgic that Harvest is almost coming to an end. I love this time of year. I love the combines, the ripened wheat fields, the harvest moons, the traffic jams of tractors moving augers at a turtles pace..it makes me giddy. Its when this part of the country truly comes alive. And, after all the wheat/grain has been harvested, the combines will shut down for the year and its almost as if the country dies a little too. It becomes quiet again, peaceful..and still. It truly is a beautiful life and I cannot tell you how blessed I feel to be a part of it. This week marks my first anniversary of living on the farm and I can't tell you how much happier I am after trading in my black heels for tractor wheels!

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about my life and how somehow, I've just magically started settling in here..finally. It took me almost an entire year and let me tell you, there were some dark and difficult times but then, all of a sudden..I started feeling comfortable. I starting feeling at home and like I belonged here. First it was my chickens that grounded me here, after all, somebody needed to care for them. Then it was my garden..and then? It hit me..this is home. I belong here. I am...happy here. I can't tell you how long I've waited for this feeling to hit me! I was just discussing this feeling with Adam last week and he told me he noticed it in me as well. Something changed. Something just started to click. *And its a beautiful feeling*

This summer I worked hard in my garden, creating a haven for myself that I could go to and just be myself. I could talk amongst my flowers and watch my favorite foods grow before me, all because I planted them there with my very own hands. Foods I have eaten for years but never thought twice about where now sprouting out of nowhere! No longer where they just a picture on a seed packet, they were grown, sliced and diced right here before me. Biting in to my first cucumber is an experience I will never forget. I was nervous it would taste horrible, bitter, even. But it was crisp, cool and delicious. It was perfect! Now, every day I wander out to the yard, collecting tomatoes, zinnias, peppers, potatoes, beans and decide what to make for dinner based on my latest harvest. Its an amazing experience that I truly believe everyone needs to have for themselves.

My chickens are the other thing I am most proud of this summer. I knew I wanted them as soon as I laid eyes on my farmer and made plans to love him forever. I pictured our quaint farm with a full flock of clucking hens and he fulfilled my wish this past Spring with a starting flock of 15 of the most beautiful chicks I had ever laid eyes on. When I reached in to that cardboard box and picked up my very first chick {incidentally it turned out to be Lacey}, I had tears in my eyes from being so overwhelmed with how attached I already was to them. Those first few days they were here, I never left their side. Housework went by the wayside, it was all I could do not to sit and stare at them 24 hours a day. I marveled at how beautiful they were and how quickly they grew! To this day I still get excited every morning to wake up and have them be the first thing I do in a day! I walk down to their coop, gather fresh food for them and giggle as I get closer and here them anxiously cluck, knowing I'm on my way. When I open their door to let them out I love how they run thru the door and greet me so happily! They truly make this place feel more like a farm should feel. And tonight? They made me even more proud!

After going in to town to pick up some groceries, I came home to hear some more odd clucking noises coming from the coop. In the last few days since our infamous chicken rodeo, something happened. They started to change. The atmosphere felt different. They were still happy and clucking like crazy, but I could just feel that something had changed. And tonight, I found out why..

 

 

Yup, my chickens laid their very first egg!! I have been waiting and waiting for this day to come! I have been checking their coop daily to see any notifications that an egg might be on its way but became convinced it wasn't happening any time soon. But then I came around the corner, pail of freshly chopped carrot tops in hand and found this little beauty sitting on the floor of their pen, the chickens happily clucking around like nothing had happened. I was so shocked and excited that I barely looked around to really see if I could tell who laid this egg for me {I have 9 options to choose from}. There wasn't a specific chicken that looked shocked, scared or hurt so I gave a quick and general thank you to all my ladies and ran off to show my mother in law my latest exciting news! I can't tell you how proud I am to say my very own chickens laid this egg..I mean, I just can't wrap my head around it yet! A year ago today was my first day after quitting my job in the city..and now, look at me! Collecting eggs and gathering vegetables while my husband is out running the combine and celebrating with me via texts that we have our very first egg. Of course what Adam is really celebrating tonight?? Well he's pondering lifes basic questions, such as: Scrambled? Fried? Omelet? or Poached? the possibilities are endless...