SCALE
Life is funny. I mean that by middle age you have erroneously convinced yourself that very little, if anything will surprise you. Well, that's not quite the case. From a sustainability perspective Montpelier is plenty big at one hundred twelve acres. Four hundred acres or less is the federal government's official definition of a small farm. So I am small farmer. Nonetheless, when I walk out of the house and look in any direction I am often overwhelmed by its space. A bit like standing on the beach during rough surf. I am small and it is big and that makes me a bit afraid.
I do have help. My family pitches in when they are here and two local men, who frankly know more than I, work here as day labor twice a week. This is sobering when I consider that I spent seven years getting degrees and they cannot name a single Supreme Court Justice, but I cannot immediately see a mineral deficiency in a stand of vegetables and they can identify the problem before we reach the bed! There are several types of knowledge and learning that is humbling even at my age.
Eventually I would like to wean myself off the tractor, but for now it helps me manage. It's an old New Holland purchased with about eight hundred hours. You measure equipment in hours, not years. This helps you quantify how much you have actually accomplished. -Or not!
Projects on a farm are not really projects but daily chores. Feed the chickens. Weed the gardens. Clean up debris. Wash clothes. Make dinner. On and on. A start up is an entirely different conversation. Investing in sustainability adds another layer of thought and purpose. The farm is a bit like raising a child. The final product sits in your mind's eye but the daily work that goes into that product is difficult to measure until one day the final product stands before you and then you can judge your work. Currently my farm baby is about eight weeks old. The smile is really gas but wait a bit, eventually that will turn into a laugh.
FAMILY
Women are different. This seems trite but each stage in my life teaches me that no matter how much equity we achieve certain truths will never change. For example, my husband loves our children but I am the one who drives all night to check on a college aged child who developed pneumonia. I didn't like the sound of the cough. He heard nothing in the cough. She was very sick. I knew this. He did not. I am not saying that this is strictly the division but in most cases this is true. Mothers are somehow tied to children in a different way than fathers and this link often requires time and effort. Even when the child leaves home.
Marriage is complicated. Strong personalities add another layer. When they say opposites attract that does not always mean one assertive and one passive. In our case, there are two assertive personalities. I like projects, food and constant learning. Large groups of people talking about golf or the status of someone else's yard is not for me. Wide open places with occasional people is good. My husband is opposite. He loves golf courses, gossip and cities. We both like to travel and eat but I like renting a house in Tuscany, he likes cruise ships. There is compromise. Lots of compromise. So we have two houses, the farm and a golf course house at the beach. He comes to the farm and works, or reads, for a bit and I show up for a cruise or a round of golf at intervals. Yesterday we returned from a ten day cruise. Family manned the farm. Tomorrow I return to pick up where I left off two weeks ago.
This arrangement adds to scale. I factor in the realities of family with the needs of the farm.
As a farmer, mother and wife I remember to laugh. It's all good. Not easy. But good.
