Like a Bee

Busy busy busy! Back from one swing to the Mountains, and heading off on another tomorrow. And looking forward to eventually getting all my reports written! But all the trips have just been beautiful! One of the farms is at the top of a ridge, and so many rabbits were running across the road as I drove up. Another farm is farmed by a woman that I want to be when I grow up (okay, IF I grow up!). She lives completely off the grid. Has a 12-volt battery in the back of her truck that she hooks up if she needs electricity, but generally lives within the rhythms of the sun and land. Raises pretty much all of her own food, including eggs, chicken (of course), hogs. Has goats for milk. And a beautiful farm, and an even more beautiful outlook and attitude about life. She's all about LIVING. Doesn't worry about mortgages, or IRAs or what the neighbors think. She LIVES. I want to live like that. I'm just not sure I have the guts.

And the views there! Oh, I would love to live with a vista like this:








Or this:












These two pictures are from a farm that grows tobacco (okay, no anti-smoking advocates, please! I just inspect 'em, I don't tell 'em what to grow, and I sure as heck don't question a farmer's right to make any money!). I honestly think there are few things on the planet with the charm of an old burley tobacco drying barn. All the chinks in the walls letting in the light and air, the old, old wood holding the tobacco up to dry, the fact that the smell makes me think of my grandfather, and his pipe. The farm I was at had just such a barn. This one:



Here's another angle:



Like I've said elsewhere, THIS is where I really want to be. This is where I think Organic Guy and Organic Kid and I will end up. Somehow. No, not growing tobacco (that's WORK, man!). But raising our chickens and gathering our eggs. And seeing the mountains as the first rays of the sun stroke the trees, burning off the smoky mist that gives this area it's name. And gives me a peace to keep on moving forward.

Hopefully I'll remember my camera tomorrow, because I KNOW I'll be in another completely beautiful place, much like this! And I'll try to remember to share!