Farm-sitting

As I sit typing pecking (I'll explain later), I can hear countless birds singing, wind rustling the canopy of leaves above, the occasional meow or moo and not much more. Not a single car horn, siren, whistle, screech or man-made noise. Some might consider this silence.

I'm sitting just beyond the top of those steps, in the yard of an isolated farm in the rolling hills of Mount Horeb.

It   is   HOT! 

My beer is sweating almost as much as I am. (Sad but true.) The cookie in my hand reads "dunk head first", and that's what I'd love to do right now. Dunk myself, head first, mind you, in a crystal blue, spring-fed pool.  Not having such a pool near by, I'll have to settle for a late night, ice cold shower under the sprinkler while I water my own garden. Despite the heat and humidty, I am in paradise.

This weekend I have had the pleasure of farm sitting for my friends John & Kattia. Besides feeding, watering and keeping after  their three potbellied pigs, four goats, a dog, a cat, and 30 some chickens, I got to hike their trails, eat their blackberries and sit in the woods near their yurt and meditate. (Yes, you did just read that correctly. You should check out the link if you've never heard of a yurt!)

I began the weekend with a bang. Or more accurately a high velocity wipe out on a country road while going down hill and around a corner on my bike. Thus the pecking at the keys. My hand (and back, left arm, left leg and neck) are pretty banged up. Nothing is broken, besides my confidence on a bike, and I am generally OK. But, boy, oh boy, am I wishing I wouldn't have gone quite so fast down that hill!!! I'm not going to be doing much cooking or cleaning this week (poor me! thus the beer and cookies appetizer) since my left hand has a gaping hole. Oh, well, Wednesday morning Bodie and I go up North for a 3-day vay-cay. I'll have plenty of time to heal up there ... floating in an inner tube, in the middle of the lake, sipping a margarita, and reeling in bass. Oh, I can't wait!

But back to the farm. I would trade places with John and Kattia in a heart beat. I adore their chicken coop turn country home. I think I benefit more from farm sitting then they do! I feel so rested when I am here. The high-paced, strees-filled city life vanishes and the slow pace of country life settles over my soul. Creature comforts become priority. You begin to notice the little things. One lone blackberry in a sea of green leaves. The tiny yellow gold-finch, perched on the feeder, watching your every move, but staying to eavesdrop for 15 minutes. The way the trees on the surrounding hillside seem to umbrella me, protecting me from whatever lurks beyond. One becomes so completely aware of their surroundings when they submit to being surrounded; stepping back from themselves to realize that they are but just a tiny piece of a greater whole. Can you tell why I love this place? It is an oasis for me. It inspires me. It comforts me. (It helps me blog!) I can only hope that everyone else has a place like this!