June…the Plunge

June…the Plunge

June is the month where we go all in.  Full farmers market swing, sheep to move, pasture to mow, plants growing in all directions, deliveries all over town, phone calls from new places around town, kids keeping cool in the showering irrigation, or better yet, evening trips to Mimi’s house to cool down in the suburbs…where you can smell lit grills and sun tan lotion.

Something about this time of the year and a few recent conversations with other local artisans/vendors reminded me of when we really took the plunge…into the Foxhole.  I wanted to get into telling the real story behind taking the leap to work for ourselves, for our kids, with the land.  For us, it seemed the universe was encouraging us to jump into this way of life.  You know when you have an inclination to do something, but you’re not quite convinced to do so?  At some point, push comes to shove and you summon what you’ve got in you to do it…or else maybe you are content right where you are…

In 2016 we found ourselves successfully pregnant after a miscarriage…what elation.  At the time we were hunkered on the tip of Michigan’s thumb, getting a farm operation on its feet for a venture capitalist.  Realizing how much energy it took to start something, we knew we wanted to save our energy for our own farm and a life on it.  We also didn’t desire for our branch of the family tree to be its own island, and so we moved back to my hometown of Dayton.  I was able to get a job managing a farm in the area.  We moved into my parents’ basement and I started the new gig at 3 months pregnant, unsure of where this would lead.  The hope was that we would work 5 or 10 years, saving enough to buy a farm property that we could graduate onto for maybe…ever.  We started looking for a house in town, but just could not land the right one.  Then came May.  Born in April to parents who were still camped in her grandparents’ house.  The search went on feverishly, and the supposed 5-10 year job started to get rough.  Working hard and long hours, but never hard or late enough, pumping milk, and being away from a babe who inherently wants to be with her mother, it just didn’t feel right.

Push came to shove.  Unable to make matters better at work, Rich and I wondered what was keeping us from where we wanted to be.  And so notice was put in, and looking for a house turned into looking for a farmhouse.  I finished my job before we found our land.  Rich picked up work with a local contractor and friend to the family.  May and I would drive the country roads, search Zillow, and come home without a clue of where we would or should be.  There are those times when it seems maybe it just isn’t in the cards.  All the doable properties were out of our budget or way too far from town.  One day we made an offer, thinking that was it.  OUTBID!  Hopelessness, and gazes into a baby girl’s eyes who I just wanted to build a nest for.  At least we had the best family housing us and giving us all the time we needed.  Let’s do it again tomorrow.

In January of 2018, we found a listing in Brookville that seemed too good to be true.  27 acres, a small farmhouse 500 feet off of a quiet road, 25 minutes from downtown Dayton.  Somehow our offer was accepted.  Signing that paperwork felt like all the feelings at once.  No doubt there was fear felt over paying our mortgage, caring for our family, relying on a business we had yet to start in a town that didn’t know me anymore since I had moved away after high school.  THAT was the plunge moment.  By May’s first birthday in April 2018, we were moving our things in, buying a tractor, preparing beds, spending all of our savings, and getting a late start at our first season.

It wasn’t and isn’t the easiest way we could have gone.  But it really has to be the best…at least it feels like it.  That first season we got GAP certified so that we could sell produce to grocery stores.  I asked our certifier if it was possible to work part time as a certifier.  I still lived in fear that we may not be able to rely solely on ourselves to make ends meet.  I did end up teaching cooking classes occasionally, which is something I did out of fear but also for myself as it is a love of mine.  Aside from occasional teaching, I am so happy to say that parenting May (and now Jack), tending the farm, and taking care of our home, that’s it.  We are doing it…and to think I doubted it was possible!  We are here now.  It’s all happening now.  You could say there is never ‘the right time’.  But I really believe if you feel something that strong within you, whether it is changing a bad habit, jumping into a new chapter in life, learning something new, it is always possible for NOW to be the right time.