Why Do We Want a Farm?

When we got pregnant with our fifth baby in 2017 and made the leap into large family life, I started having these dreams about wide open pastures. The walls of our house seemed to be closing in, and suddenly I found myself with what felt like a basic need for fresh air. I’m sure there are people who settle into motherhood and find themselves dreaming of a sandy beaches and mojitos, but not me– I dream of black topsoil and a rainbow of fresh eggs. I realized I want to build a life that I never need to escape from. Brandon had a similar dream, and so it was that we both decided we want a farm.

Against the grain

I have always been the type to push against cultural norms and so has Brandon. We got married at 18 and 20, had our first child at 19 and 21, started homeschooling way before it was cool, and went on to have 5 more children. So as the culture leans into smartphones and social media and a pace that feels way too fast, It was only natural for us to make a hard counter lean into the opposite direction. This triggered the thought experiment, What if we did it different?

What does it look like? Is it possible? What we do we even want out of life? It’s hard to even condense the answers into words, but after a lot of thinking, this is what we come up with.

Cultivating relationships

Connection. We all want to feel connected. Intimacy. We want to be known and seen and understood. Attachment. We all want to know we are a part of something that matters. Most of our daily practices are deceptively counter productive to this goal, so we are taking major steps to remedy that. Namely, our screens will have to be used for creation, not consumption, and in moderation – with the knowledge that screens can never take the place of living, breathing people.

doing life on purpose

Intentionality. We’ve realized that when we aren’t actively striving for meaning and purpose, we stop living because we mean to, and we start living as a reaction to the world around us. We want to reclaim thoughtfulness about the world around us and make connections between our choices and their impact.

living out of abundance

Security. When the world came to a halt in the spring of 2020, we weren’t prepared for the bare grocery store shelves and “sold-out” status of every online gardening supplier. We were no strangers to vegetable gardening, having tilled up most of our backyard the summer before. But we want to take charge of our own supply chain by planting and cultivating nutrient-dense food sources at home. Rather than operating out of a scarcity mindset, we hope to secure our own nourishment and rest knowing that there is enough to supply our need.

a life of conviction

Character. We take a wholistic approach to parenting. We are living out a calling not just to supervise our kids into adulthood but to nurture them, to shape them, and to cultivate in them those qualities that set them up for a life of purpose and productivity, of service and good stewardship. As we teach them, we have to do so from a place of credibility. We have to live it, so they know we mean it.

it truly is good to gather

In summary, we want our home to be a gathering place of people, an invitation to fellowship. A shelter for the burnt out and over stimulated, a canvas for creativity, and a garden of yeses. We really don’t have it all figured out. It’s frightening and new and full of uncertainties. But we want to share it with you all the same.

Will you join us on this grand adventure?

All we have to do is decide what to do with the time that is given to us.

J.R.R. Tolkien