Saturday, February 3, 2007

Have no fear! We are prepared!

We frequently get one of two comments when we tell someone what our farming plans are, and sometimes we get both. The first is a sentiment of envy. I'm amazed at how many people are envious (and not in a nasty-petty-jealousy-sort-of-way, but in the wow,-that's-so-neat-I-wish-I-could-do-that-sort-of-way). Of course, I always invite them to come along! How cool it would be to have a bunch of friends & family all around. Anyway, the second response is one of amazement that we could be so, what's the word?, foolhardy? Especially when they find out that neither one of us has any sort of background in farming.

I tried to grow a garden when we lived in Texas. Tried is the operative word there. Of course, the entire yard was completely shaded by our huge cottonwood & I blame much of the failure on that. Well, between you & me, it probably had something to do with me forgetting to water regularly too. I mean, after all, it was hot outside. Who wants to stand around & water??? I did manage to grow some lettuce, which was great, and some of the tiniest, but sweetest carrots ever. But, most of the plants didn't make it far. I know, however, that it'll be different on the farm. Know why? Well, that leads me to a funny story.

Don's dad was telling a family friend about our plans. She chose response option #2. She was relieved to hear that we are getting the land next door to ours with a house & barn, for our sakes, because that would be so much to try to make a go of all at once. However, she was still concerned that we have no idea what we are doing. "No, no," says Don's dad. "They know what to do...they've been watching Little House!" So, have no fear! We've seen Ma & Pa do it! How hard could it be??? I'm sure that my garden will be a bumper crop of beautiful, tasty, insect-resistant goodness, what, with 9 seasons of Little House under my belt. Piece O Cake! I wonder if we can deduct the costs of our Little House DVDs as some sort of farm or educational expense. Hmmm...what would Pa do?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That's hysterical! Know what's funny about it, though? I KNOW my hubby could build a house if ONLY he'd read Little House and see how Pa did it. LOL Of course, it doesn't matter that he's not a carpenter but a computer geek instead.

BTW, we are two peas in a pod, I think. I've only read 3 posts, but I love what you've written. Your pieces crack me up!

The bonnets are beautiful, the cupcakes are cute (we don't buy roll-ups either, and my kids would SURELY have bitten the plastic, too... well, maybe not the older one, she's 13... but DEFINITELY the younger two: 8 and 4), and as far as the comment on my blog... thanks! ALL THREE of my kids have my crazy-bend-backwards-at-the-middle-joint fingers. They also all three sleep with their eyes half open like I do, too. BIZARRE!

And, you'll be interested to know, that in my childhood I never once met anyone with the same funky fingers as me (and my two brothers), not even my parents. But, since adulthood, I've met three: one is my aunt (15 years younger than my mother, so it was a tidbit of information my mother didn't have until recently), a teenager at church (who was equally as surprised as I was to meet a kindred-hand), and the fraternal twin of a girl on my daughter's basketball team (who's sister does NOT have the funky fingers). It is rare, but not SO rare, I'm finding out.

Anyway, thanks again for stopping by and commenting. I'm gonna have to bookmark your blog. I really it here.

Oh, and I would be falling into the response option #1: jealous and you-go-girl! We've got plans to do that, too (me moreso than hubby... he just wants the privacy of land vs. suburbia, but I want the whole shabang: cows, chickens, small garden, though everything I grow dies... I better finish watching Little House. We've only got seasons 1-4 and 7 so far.).

Many blessings to you and yours!
Christi