How we came to be here...

The Shire is our love child.

We had been dreaming of some acres to restore, to practice our ideas of gardening, sustainable agriculture, and crafting. We had been dreaming this for some 17 years in fact. Together. I think I had been dreaming of it my whole life.

Although Adam will say what finally bought us (two over-thinkers) to the purchasing table was because I had ultimately succeeded in planting every inch (some of it twice or thrice over) of our small house's yard.

My grandfather had a farm, although it was always made very clear that it would never go to our side of the family, being we were only from his second marriage. However I loved it and there are specific elements that are being rebirthed and renewed here. One of them is a barn with stars, Sylvia Jorrin has a lovely article...? short story...? on barns with stars. Another is a pond with a weeping willow. And then there is a friend's farm that I am borrowing the idea of Basswood trees blooming while bay horses stand beneath with a hind foot resting. And of course we already have a party oak - which deserves its own blog post so I won't say more here.

I will tell you, as I sit writing this, ironically enough in San Francisco on a work trip, that the way to cure a footloose and roaming fetish is to get a good farm that you can fall madly in love with. I don't want to miss a thing, from the elephant stag beetle flushed out by our 'once in a hundred year flood' that has so far come each of the years we have owned the house... to discovering Jack in the Pulpits, or listening to the evening serenade of barred owls. What in the world can come close to those discoveries? I am learning that life experiences come in BIG and SMALL packages... however the absolute value is equal. Isn't that a mind blower?

I am absolutely besotted. And so after 15months of wandering every inch and poking into all the hollows... we bought more. Now we are the proud stewards of 42acres and have enough to be getting on with.

I know that a life purpose for me is to be of service. To help make the world a better place. There are times when I am not quite sure what this should look like... and times when it is so blindingly clear I loathe time spent sleeping. I am finally seeing how we are to be of service here.

We will host retreats. Share information. Education. And spark dreams for people also dreaming of their own good earth.

Welcome to our story.

Welcome to the Shire... where all good things grow.