Our vision for the farm is far from its current reality of unmaintained buildings and shaggy landscape. The property is 53 acres, located on a road formerly known as Crapser, named for earlier landowners. The name was changed, along with several other local road names, in what seems to have been an attempt at rebranding.
The house was built in 1890, with several chimneys and a woodshed attached to the kitchen. There are three barns, two of which are stuck together into one big barn, and the third a very large shed.
The land is mostly hay fields, and slopes up away from the buildings, rising to a small ridge, then dipping away in two directions. One hillside has crumbling stone walls and an old apple orchard surrounded by trees that grew into the previously grazed field. Below this woods, a wetland, courtesy of low ground and beavers, offers wildlife habitat. Near the house, the overgrown grass and weeds hide ample space for our gardens.
Who could have imagined the creativity, the passion and the strength that would one day emerge from a little girl delighted by the possibilities on a farm with all that wide open space? She could stand on the hay wagon and scream out into the universe as loudly as she wanted, and talk loudly to the birds and field mice and not disturb her new baby sister.
What an adventure you are on! Keri shared your blog with me. Love that freedom and creativity, the path less traveled. MAY THERE ALWAYS BE LIGHT ENOUGH TO FIND YOUR PATH AND FIRE ENOUGH TO KEEP YOU WARM.
The best for you and yours in the New Year,
Erma
Erma! Who could’ve imagined? That little girl has been lucky enough to have dear people who encourage her to find and trust her voice. Thank you. May you also always have the light and fire.
Best to you.
Dear Abbie,
I just found out about your work with mussels as I was a semifinalist in the Documentary Essay contest at Duke University. Congratulations on winning! My study was about the nuns of Argentina and the meaning of motherhood when I was pregnant with our first child. Instead of studying animals I have been studying languages and people, teaching autobiography workshops to sugarcane workers, teaching English and raising five children. I am happy to have found your blog. I, too created a blog in 2012 but no one seemed to have found it! It’s called Language Lost and Found: Motherhood, The Americas, Running.Best wishes for a wonderful summer of work and play on your farm. Today it is a beautiful winter day in San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina. Alexandra
Thank you, Alexandra! I’m delighted to hear from you. I love the ideas on your blog–language, movement, motherhood, the vastness in the moments. Your work with languages and people sounds fascinating and important. And all this while raising five children! I would love to read your piece about the nuns of Argentina. Wishing you the best and continued writing in San Miguel de Tucuman.
Wonderful meeting you at the conference this weekend! This site is fantastic – my Guineas are yelling as I type this – the chickens (of course) are perfect and quiet, pecking & scratching, wondering why I’ve forced them to live with bald vulture birds…suffice it to say, I entirely get the farm life draw!
Be well & stay in touch!
Katherine
Aloha -my name is Sherrill. I am an
attorney/broker living on a “farm” for over 20 years with my horses on the Hamakua coast on Big Island of Hawaii.
I read Immersion via Overdrive on my iphone through Hilo Public Library.
I loved it! It was like the river was running through me. Unforgettable, important, and alive. Other books I have loved with similar feeling ….Illumination in the Flatwoods, by Joe Hutto.
I just had to let you know how much I loved your book. I am sharing with my brother who teaches at The Living Coast Discovery Center in Chula Vista, California.
Mahalo Nui Loa!
It’s wonderful to hear from you, Sherrill. I’m delighted that you loved Immersion, and your note made my day. I will put Joe Hutto’s book on my reading list. Thank you!