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Our New Life That Includes a Farm

Reader Contribution by Mary Conley
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Quote: “If you observe a really happy man you will find him building a boat, writing a symphony, educating his son, growing double dahlias in his garden, or looking for dinosaur eggs in the Gobi desert. He will not be searching for happiness as if it were a collar button that has rolled under the radiator. He will not be striving for it as a goal in itself. He will have become aware that he is happy in the course of living life twenty-four crowded hours of the day.” W. Beran Wolfe

He is in Hog Heaven!

Before I tell you anymore about the farm, I want you to know how happy it made us. Again, we are not sure why because we worked ourselves half to death. Our lives completely changed. We worked endlessly seven days a week at one place or the other. Upon telling a neighboring farmer about our schedule and how we loved the farm work on the weekends, he said, “We don’t understand that.” For us, there is much to be said for arriving at your own remotely located property, with no outside communication, and enjoying the land and each other.

We read every helpful thing we could find in magazines and on the web about organic gardening and farming. There were so many things we wanted to experience. Our minds went full throttle – even when it was time to sleep. We talked all 4 1/2 hours to the farm, and all 4 1/2 hours home. Were we happy?

Mary: The very first night we slept in our farmhouse, and another night soon after, I was nearly asleep and I heard myself saying, “I’m happy.” Curious. I already considered myself as happy. I had everything that I ever thought important. In explaining it, I will say there were many happy events through the years, but the happiest year of my life was the first year we owned the farm.

Quote: “Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.” John Barrymore

Larry: How can I not be happy on the farm. I like quiet and there is lots of that. No barking dogs or traffic noise. One day I was tossing some rocks in a wheelbarrow, then stopped and realized I was making the only sound. So peaceful. On a cloudy night, it is so dark I can’t see my hand in front of my face. By contrast, on a clear, moonlit night, the stars are so bright and beautiful, it brings tears to my eyes. No city light on any horizon. What more could I ask for, and yet there is much more on the farm to make me happy. I could easily just putter around there until I die. I’d be in hog-heaven.

Quote: “Real elation is when you feel you could touch a star without standing on tiptoe.” Doug Larson