week 3: adding our personal touch

this week on the little dream farm

Howdy, friends! How wonderful that we can meet here at the ending of one week and the beginning of another.

How was your week? I’m not much for small talk, so “Oh, it was good” or “Busy…so busy” doesn’t really cut it for me.

I want to know: How are you actually doing?

What’s going on in your life? What are some things you’re thinking about right now? What’s on your heart? What are you worried about? What are you dreaming of? What seems to be going well? What’s feeling really hard? What are you hopeful for or happy about? Take a few moments to share as you wish in the comments. I’ll be reading them all, and I know that others love reading one another’s comments too, which is what makes this group of humans really special.

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Back in September 2021 I spent a day on the farm with David. We’d just closed on the farm and it was now ours, the baton being passed from David’s dream to ours.

In July that year during our home inspection, David offered that upon closing, if I could stay for a day or two before returning back to Philadelphia, he’d spend time with me both on the farm and driving around the area to answer any questions we had about the farm, take me to meet all the neighbors, and drive around to all the places he relied on for what he needed and used on the farm.

He said he very much would like to be able to do that with me, and I very much stood before him in tears as I accepted his generous offer, in awe of his kindness.

Fast forward to that day we spent together on the farm. David made good on his promise and it is a day forever etched in my memory.

For all the ways Chris and I were excited and nervous and anxious and anticipating this brand new and totally different life on the farm, the one thing that day made very clear is that we’d never be alone on the journey. We’d be surrounded by wonderful people with a wealth of knowledge, experience, and wisdom, who were excited for us as a new young couple coming to the community with lots of energy and eager to learn.

David and I were back at the farm after having met a bunch of the neighbors and stopping by various farms, markets, and local supply stores.

We were walking the gardens and I was furiously taking notes as David was pointing out to me everything growing in the gardens. I’d shared with him my very limited gardening experience and my desire to want to learn how to keep what he’d created going.

After all, it was his beautiful vision come fully to life that made us fall so in love with the farm.

The first time I drove the 4.5 hours from Philadelphia to Upstate New York to see the farm, what was apparent to me on that first visit—this, before I ever met David or knew who owned the farm—was that the person who lived there deeply loved this farm, had a keen eye for beauty, and poured their heart and soul into making it what it is today.

Standing in the gardens on that day in September, David looked at me and said very plainly and with deep conviction,

“Sarah, I cannot stress this enough. It would be unwise for you to come here and simply mimic my vision for this farm.”

These words felt important so I steadied myself in the moment.

“Instead, what I suggest you do is to come out here and place your knees and hands in the Earth; to listen, and allow the answers to come to you. That way, you can allow yourself to be led and to create your own vision for what this farm will now become.”

He reminded me that the farm I was looking at before me was the result of 14 years of work, of a vision in the making…one that began with a little dream of raising Brown Swiss cows and unfolded over many years.

Those words have been my True North since the day he said them. And not just for our vision for this farm…but for me personally…for my life, too.

This week I’d planned to share with you a list of projects we’re thinking about and planning for this year. Perhaps in time and in some form or fashion I’ll share that list.

To me, what we do is not nearly as important as why we do it. And so as we’ve gotten our feet under us and settled into a routine here on the farm, we’re now in a place to dream new dreams as we continue listening and allowing the answers that come.

So instead, today, what I wanted to share with you for this week is the feeling.

The beginnings of the vision for this farm…our personal touch, if you will…our why.

I dream that this farm is a beacon of peace
A lighthouse of possibility
Where dreams are not simply frivolous whimsies
But the secret ingredient for realizing more joy, beauty, and love in real time
Where hope can be found
And true meaning restored
Where nature is the captain of the ship
And we, her faithful stewards
Where kindness, hard work, grit, determination, an open mind, a willingness to try, and a humble heart guide all daily doings
And where pausing and being still long enough to take it all in and be blessed by it is how ‘more’ gets done
Where the bounty and blessings of this farm are paid forward, passed on,
shared, and thus multiplied
And that those who grace this farm—and those who this farm graces—come away feeling something in their hearts
As the Real Work is to leave this farm better than we found it
I dream this little farm is and will be
A beacon for us and for others
For cultivating lots of little dreams