After 2 long years, the old cattle shed site is cleaned up and ready for new fencing. Matt took a few days off work to get started on it. I helped him stake out the flags, and did some really helpful picture taking of the cats.
Seems a little silly, maybe, but new fence seems like a fresh start in a way. Structurally, it will be nice to have that paddock and the water hydrant available to use again. Mentally, that clean landscape feels like a clean slate, and kind of matches up to how we’re feeling about the farm business these days. We tried so hard for so many years, but the local food scene just wasn’t as far ahead as our vision. And we burned out. We took a hard look at the numbers and finally acquiesced that what we were doing wasn’t sustainable anymore. We scaled back. We came back slowly. The local food scene started to grow. And finally the farm feels like it’s working for us, rather than the other way around.
We have some things coming down the pike I can’t wait to announce. One thing about grass fed beef, it takes almost 2 years to finish an animal so developing product and markets takes time and patience. But having that time allows us to be thoughtful and intentional about what’s right for us and our farm and this stage of our life, and what’s not. Finally, after 13 years.
