3 years ago, I decided that I was ready to explore the idea of moving! I really hadn’t verbalized this to anyone, including my wife Amy. I certainly knew better than to let that cat out of the bag! My wife loves change and loves new adventures, so I knew as soon as I cracked that door open, my life would be on a collision course of change! I’m not really a guy that likes this kind of change. I love my routine. I like to have order in my life. I’m the guy that likes to come home early Sunday morning from a camping trip so I can have the whole day to think about going to work on Monday!
But there’s another side of me that’s very nostalgic and loves to reminisce the past! Like all “old people” I enjoy rediscovering the things that bring back so many fond memories. I guess that’s how this journey of becoming a farmer got started. I have a ton of memories growing up on 10 acres and spending much of my summer vacations at my Grandparents house. I found joy in the simple things like picking raspberries on their farm (I definitely ate more than I picked for Grandpa). Even today, the taste of a raspberry brings back a flood of warm memories. It was so much fun visiting Grandma & Grandpa’s house, that I couldn’t resist dragging my own kids into this crazy life on a farm . If Green Acres was created in 2020, I’d swear it was about my life! A banker that desperately wants to wake up to a rooster crowing, raise a pig and ride around on his tractor!
My wife tells all her friends that I had a mid-life crisis, and instead of buying a corvette, I bought 2 cows! Whatever! But that’s how this all started! I was finally willing to make the move, but only if I could get a cow. She was willing to live on a farm if it meant she could hire a pest control guy to visit the property daily! The number of bugs and spiders that entered our house was enough to threaten a for sale sign, 3 months after moving in! After 19 years of marriage, I’ve learned what battles you must lose if you want to win the war!
Fast forward 3 years later and now we have a full fledged family farm. We raise, cows, chickens, goats, pigs, honey bees and Bernese Mountain Dogs. We even recently got a “free donkey” and a “free horse”. We live by the motto, “say yes as often as you can”! Life is short and we’re having a blast. (Well…..I’m having a blast.) This blog is meant to share the absolutely incredible experiences, we’ve had on the farm. Everything from growing our first garden, to castrating pigs! (Just “twist and pull” is not something everyone gets “the pleasure” of hearing unless you live on a farm!)
Amy, might have a completely different spin on this adventure, so I’ll let her chime in with her own blog post. But I so look forward to sharing more stories from the farm! I hope it brings back a few awesome memories for you as well!
Farmer Bob
