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The End Of Our First Summer

Reader Contribution by Mary Conley
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Dear reader, For those of you who have followed our first summer on our little hobby farm, I’m wondering if you are thinking it was all work and no play with all the junk, weeds, and thistles. It is almost true, but … some of our family visited and helped us now and then, and our oldest grandson, Josh, came and stayed with us for a while. We enjoyed his visit so much; we said it was worth buying the farm just to have him for a few weeks.

Josh, claiming more area.

So, our first summer passed quickly. The weekends had been filled with hard work, together-ness, and family. Oh, but remember how I told you in a previous blog that the first thing we noticed about the house was that it needed painting? Well, it STILL needed painting! Larry had to do a lot of scraping and caulking first, but everything went smoothly, and it was well worth the effort. We also put some white lattice work around the screened-in porch, and kept after the co-op until they came out and painted the rusty propane tank.

Larry scraping the house.

The eyesore in our front yard.

Our second home, and lookin’ good!

Fall also passed quickly, and birthdays, piano recitals, and holidays would keep us in the city for the rest of the year. I’ll always remember the feeling we both had on that last weekend after winterizing the house and hoping for the best. We packed the car in the cool calmness and wonderful aroma of fall. What a peaceful scene. We looked around and saw our summer’s work: a huge yard that had been cleared and mowed, and a house that had become a second home. Even the dilapidated buildings seemed to have character in such a tranquil setting. We could hardly leave. The thought that maybe we should just quit our jobs and move to the farm ran through both our minds. For the first time, there was silence as we were going out the lane.

A peaceful fall scene.

Back in the city, we soon began thinking about the following summer. I read an anonymous quote once that said, “When one of your dreams come true, you begin to look at the others more carefully.” Well, plans for another one of my dreams had surely been sneaking into my head, and getting me excited! When I told Larry about what I wanted to do, he shared in my dream with enthusiasm. We could hardly wait for next spring to get started.

I hope we meet here at Capper’s Farmer again after the holidays, as I share with you all we learned and did that important second year on our little hobby farm. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!