Psa 1:3 (KJV) And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper
Ah, the farm, what were we thinking? I know that one may ask why someone who has no farming experience would sell their home to move into a camper with a baby and a toddler. But Josh and I were ready for a change. Both of us always dreamed of having land, maybe it is in our wiring, the whole “conquering the new frontier” that our ancestors had. Whatever it was, we jumped two feet into it in the year 2006, without really looking to see where we were going to land.
I always daydreamed about having land. When I was young, I would take it upon myself to research listings for my parents, hoping they would finally give in to my idea of buying land. Both of them grew up on farms, and maybe it was this that made them less enthusiastic about purchasing land. Needless to say, I never convinced my parents that we needed land, but at least I married someone that didn’t need convincing.
Josh and I would sit around daydreaming about how to get land, and how we would turn it into a small personal farm. We lived in a duplex, a small mobile home, and then finally purchased our first home in a quiet neighborhood. But we still wanted land. So, we decided to take the leap.
Neither my husband nor I knew anything about farming. But it was a dream we both had that wouldn’t go away. We decided to go into the unknown when I was big and pregnant with our second child.
I remember watching Jazmyn playing one day on the floor, and my mind wandered to the idea of our children living on the property. Ideals are great as long as they don’t get too carried away, which mine usually do. But I allowed myself to just imagine many possibilities like beautiful gardens, chickens and fresh eggs, working with our hands, raising meat goats, the children learning a good work ethic, perfect homeschool, etc…
Then, other ideas flooded my mind. Would I be able to garden and grow enough food for our family to limit having to go to the grocery store? Would we eventually be real goat farmers where Josh could just work from home on the farm? How in the world were we going to pull this off in the first place? Could we possibly find a good piece of property at a great price and maybe with its mineral rights?
“Brandy, keep your expectations at a realistic level or you will be disappointed,” I would tell myself out loud often.
Yes, I do talk to myself sometimes. My kids think it is somewhat crazy.
The main point though is I would wonder what it would be like to live on the land. It always appealed to me. I hoped I had the strength and the mental ability to accomplish it.
Finally one day, Josh and I decided to just go for it. We were tired of living in a neighborhood. We wanted to feel a sense of freedom with the land. I can’t lie; I was scared about this new adventure. I did wonder a lot whether God even wanted us to do this? One thing was for sure, we weren’t going to rush it. We were going to take our time selling our house. We would take our time looking for land. We wanted to make sure we waited for God to show us where to go and what to buy.