Take a Moment to Sit and Say Thanks

Yesterday was one of those juggles. Toby was gone from early in the morn until way past every one's bedtime. Thankfully, one of the "Omis" swept the kids away on an island adventure for a few hours while I tried to preserve the last of the summer harvest. This latest round of kitchen mania included a double batch of green tomato chutney, and yet a few more loaves of zucchini bread for the freezer. As we plowed through the day we all accomplished a lot, although we missed a crucial element: the farm.

Some of you may not understand our current living situation, so I will distill it quickly to bring everyone to the same page. In January of 2008 we decided to buy the farm, pun only half intended, on Vashon. The farmhouse is way to small to house our crazy, energetic family so we got to work planning a remodel. In June we moved to Vashon to be close to the farm, the remodel, and start maintaining the orchard, field, chickens, and gardens. Since the farmhouse is too small we decided to rent a nice home a few miles away. In July we put our Seattle home on the market, and hope to finally close the sale of it in a few days. Whew, I get tired just explaining!

This somewhat fractured living situation keeps us constantly in flux. Almost every morning the kids ask if we can/need/have to go the farm and when. Sometimes it is not until the lights are all off and we are drifting off to sleep when we remember that we never went back to the farm to tuck in all the chickens and make sure the gate is locked. And it really stings when you head to the farm to do a specific thing, like press cider, and realize once you are there that you forgot what you needed back at the rental house, like all of the clean gallon jugs to hold said cider!

Last night, after G & F and I finished an early dinner I mentioned to them that I missed going to the farm that day. They both responded that they too missed the farm, and especially the chickens; they LOVE the chickens. So we all hopped into the bus and drove over to say goodnight to the "girls" and just be. As I paused at the beginning of our long driveway to collect my voter's ballot from the mail, I could see one of the two regular families of deer waiting for us up near the gate. We drove slowly so as not to disturb them and G&F called out happy greetings while we passed them by. The chickens were already roosting for the night, but seemed to enjoy being held for a bit and treated with some stale popcorn the kids saved for them. Finally, after making sure everything was secure we went running down to the orchard in the fading light of the day. Darwin dog lead us to a beautiful tree near the bottom of the orchard and there we all sat listening to the coming night noises. We all unwound and leaned against each other for support as we watched the sun set behind us and the moon rise in front of us. We listened to the ducks fly up from the neighbors pond (ducks are surprisingly loud fliers) and the occasional car driving by on the road below. Gus declared that he was happy, and could hardly wait until we were always here on the farm, and just as I was starting to choke up Freja jumped up declared that the day was done and started running back to the bus to head back for story time. I smiled, hugged Gus, grabbed his hand and we chased Darwin and Freja all the way up the field. The grass below our feet appeared iridescent with the rising moonlight, and the field smelled sweet and wet as we ran through it. As we drove away from the farm and back to the rental house no one really spoke, we all just breathed in the night, and I bet we were all thinking the same thing: we are so glad to be here.