Ask Me Anything and Give-Away

THE WINNER IS “ROBIN IN NJ”! Congratulations, Robin! Email me ASAP at rebekah@maryjanesfarm.com with your address for your subscription! woohoo!

It is time for another “Ask Me Anything” post. I’ve gotten some great questions so far.

Okay, okay. I know, everybody wants to hear about the Give-Away first. So here goes.

I’m giving away a year’s subscription to the best magazine on the stands. maryjanesfarm Magazine! 

I am about to renew my subscription and with that, I get one freeeeeee! So, if you haven’t subscribed yet, leave a comment below to enter. Your comment can be about anything at all. However, if you say something wonderful about my Merlin, like how dreamy or awesome or unicorn-y he is, then I’ll enter your name twice. Ah, digging for compliments. Nothing wrong with that.

I’ll do a drawing on 10/11. I’d do it sooner, but you see, I’m about to head out for a week-long off-farm adventure. Details when I get back! Oh, and your comments won’t show up until I’m back either, so don’t freak out. Just submit your comment once and know that when I return they’ll magically show up.

Oh, if you have already subscribed to maryjanesfarm Magazine, but want to tell me something wonderful about my horse anyway, I’d love to hear from you too. Just let me know in your comment that you’re not entering the Give-Away.

Speaking of Merlin, which I often do. My daughter and husband say I’m obsessed with Merlin, but I can’t understand why they think so.

Just because as soon as I jump out of the car to open the farm gate I call loudly out into the pastures…“MERZEY! HONEY! WHERE ARE YOU? SWEETIE! COME ON!” My Merlin Voice is high-pitched lovely-dovey, sugar sweet. It drives my daughter insane. She says that Merlin also cringes when he hears it, but he doesn’t. His heart sings (we make each other’s heart sing, see Cindy’s question below) when he hears it. And he comes running.

Well, sometimes, anyway. Other times? He doesn’t. It’s fine. I know the truth.

Through-out this post, there will be numerous MERLIN POST INTERRUPTIONS. I’ll be sharing photos of My Merlin. You’ll see that he is silly and magnificent all at the same time.

Here’s the first MERLIN POST INTERRUPTION.

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This is Merlin’s essence. My friend was trying to get a photo of us. Instead….

Now, down to answers to questions.

Mary Can you smell the Christmas Trees from your house?

So here’s the basic set-up. Pasture in front (Cowboy Dan, then Jesse, then Merlin), front yard, house, and then hills of Christmas trees. We have been trying to clear off the Christmas Trees on that hill right behind the house. I’d really like to turn that into pasture, maybe for cows? Most of the trees are on hills farther away from the house.

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Have I ever mentioned how mischievous Merlin is? Yep. Always into everything.

So, do we smell the trees from the house? Not very often. But one of my favorite times of the year is when the workers trim the trees. This is usually done at least twice a year. Our guys do the work all by hand. We are small enough that this type of attention to each tree is possible. Anyway, when they trim…OH THE AROMA! I raise the windows and enjoy the smell of Christmas all through the house. Our trees are Frasier Fir trees, which are the most aromatic of all. The aroma of the trees truly is aromatherapy for me. I go right back to every Christmas season I’ve ever had. Wonderfulness.

The other time that we get a big whiff is when the trees are being cut. Of course, the windows are closed at that time of year. I’ll go outside often though, just to enjoy the festivities of cutting trees.

Other than those times, we aren’t really able to smell them. When I walk through the fields of trees, I’ll often take my hands and carefully rub them on the graceful branches just to be able to smell that wonderful smell of Christmas. I do sometimes cut branches and bring them in the house. I also pick up scraps from trims and burn them just to enjoy the smell. Have you ever gotten a candle that smells like Christmas Trees when it burns? I love those too.

Mary do you have trilliums on your farm.

We do! They tell us when spring has arrived every year.

 

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I’m working and I look out my window and see this. I run outside just to touch him. Blue skies, green grass, red shed, white horse. Come on. Life is sweet. In my mind’s eye for many years, I dreamed that my view out the window would be green grass and blue skies and a red barn. Never in my wildest dreams did it have a horse in it. Much less a horse like this. Magic.

And Mary also wanted to know more about the community activities here.

We live in a tiny community about 30 minutes from a small town. The small town has lots and lots of activities that we often join in. But it is the activities of the small community that I enjoy most. People know each other here and care about each other. They are true neighbors. One of the churches sponsors most of the community activities here. There are two things that I particularly enjoy.

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This is his silhouette while he is sleeping standing up. His bottom lip gets so floppy.

Christmas Caroling on a Hay Wagon. The first year we did this I cried.

It was so special and precious. The way it came about it that someone from the church called and asked if they could come caroling to our house. I asked if we could come caroling with them (we aren’t members of the church). He said, “SURE!” So we went. And I cried. Like a fool. I was so moved. We rode the hay wagon around the community, got out at houses, and caroled. This is one of my favorite days of the year: the day we go caroling in the hay wagon. 

ATV Ride. The second community activity that rocks my world is also held by the church. It is a monthly ATV ride in the warm months. We gather on a Saturday in the church parking lot and head out on a pre-planned path. We stop to eat a picnic and then head back. It. Is. Awesome.

I wrote a little about it in this blog post. I am trying to plan it so we can host the picnic at our farm after the ATV ride this month. We’d probably do it down in place where the Girl Scouts camped out, which you also see in that old blog post.

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A couple of silly-faced Merlin shots

 

Deb What has been your hardest adjustment to farm life? And your greatest joys of the new style? Any regrets?

Hardest adjustment? Moving to a farm has been a trip, for sure. There have been many adjustments. Many! But the hardest adjustment for me has been the distance to everything. It is at least 30 minutes to a grocery store. The church I like to attend is 30 minutes away. The school I drive my daughter to is 40 minutes away. If I don’t feel like cooking one night, I can’t just run out and pick-up Chinese food or a pizza. Those things are 30 minutes away. However, I love living out in the middle of nowhere and it is totally worth it. I have learned to plan. Always have plenty of coffee and toilet paper and cat food.

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Merlin loves my daughter. My daughter loves Merlin. But let’s me clear: my daughter is not a horse person or a farm person or a country person. So, she doesn’t ride or clean out the barn. She just loves on him, which is fine with him.

Greatest joy. The greatest joys come from my connection to the land and to the community. I was starved for time in nature and now I get it every single day. The community I live in is filled to the brim with people who are kind and helpful and generous. And have you noticed that I absolutely adore having horses? They were not on my radar. Until I was 50 I had no idea I loved horses. We fell into the horse thing because someone else’s horses were on our farm and they stayed for awhile after we bought it. Boy oh boy.

If you get a chance to know a horse, do it. Remarkable, magnificent creatures. They do something to your heart and soul, something indescribable. You can’t explain it, but you know it when it happens.

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Regret. On the regret question, I’m not one to look back and second guess myself. So I have absolutely no regrets. About anything, really. Is everything perfect? No. Will I live here forever? I thought so, but who knows? But no matter what, I don’t regret it.

Kimberly Any more encounters with snakes in the chicken coop? 

Kimberly, Kimberly, Kimberly, what I am going to do? This is something I cannot deal with. I am not handling it well. There are snakes all over the place here and I am obsessed with it.

The other day I got out of the shower and saw a snake beside the towel on the floor. I jumped back in and screamed, “SNAKE!” When my husband ran to help, he found that the snake was not a snake at all. It was a piece of silage or tall wheat that must have fallen off my jeans onto the floor (I can’t see anymore, btw!) I have lost my mind. I have learned, however, as I’ve dealt with the snakes in the chicken house that they want nothing to do with me. They do not want to bite me. They do not want to chase me. They do not want to drape around my neck.

It is ME. I am the problem. Just seeing A SNAKE hanging there on the rafter sends me into crazy-land. So, you know what I do now? I DON’T LOOK ANY MORE. I look where I put my hand and my feet, but otherwise, I do not look around me in the chicken house. I hum and I sing. We are working on fixing the problem. They are definitely living in the walls and we are working on the solution for this. I have named one of them BJ. Because they seem like Black Jello to me. I am also looking for a park or zoo where I can go to in order to have some personal contact with snakes. This phobia has got to go if I want to live happily on this farm.

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Merlin’s barn. He “lets” the other horses use it.

Cindy What makes your heart sing each and every day?

Cindy, this is a great question. So much makes me sing every day. Caring for and being in relationship with my animals is huge. This is our Rooster, who cock-a-doodle-doos all day long. He is sweet and kind and gentle, unlike most roosters I’ve heard about. He is also the most beautiful rooster I’ve ever seen.

Also, walking in our forest. The moving water in front of our house.

Nature. Quiet. I really need quiet lately.

Fire. Snow. Tea, iced and hot.

The old buildings and their history here make my heart sing. I wish I knew more about them.

This old barn and silo is still on our list of projects.

Do you want me to go on? Because I could…okay, I will. My heart sings when I write these blog posts. My heart sings when I pick up my daughter from school and she is smiling and excited about her day. My heart sings when I see my parents (I moved soooo far away). My heart sings when I pick a basket of greens from the garden. My heart sings when I put on a flannel shirt every morning to go outside. Okay, I’ll stop, but there is more, a lot more. I guess I’m a singer.

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Occasionally Merlin is asked to do something other than stand around and look pretty. He runs around and looks pretty. Angel.

JosAnne I’m wondering about your campout with your horse. Any stories?

Oh JosAnne! This was one of the most incredible experiences I’ve ever had. It was perfection. My friend, Ashley, went with me. Ashley was my riding instructor and she knows how to camp and hike, so she made it easy. We took her horse, Andre, and my horse, Cowboy Dan, and drove about 3 hours away to a State Park. We were the only folks in the whole campground, so the horses had the barn to themselves. The facility was quite nice. One thing that I learned is that I tend to worry a lot about the horses. I couldn’t relax thinking about how they were and if they were content. As far as I know, Cowboy Dan had never been stalled before. And he is a horse with a lot of anxiety. So, I went and checked on him several times in the night. Notice the eyes. See all the white? Denotes inward freaking-out for Cowboy Dan.

He was bug-eyed the whole two days and one night. He didn’t eat any hay (he loves to eat, by the way). In spite of all that, he did great on the trails. I don’t think I could ever take Merlin on an over-nighter.

But. That campout was truly one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done. Ever. We only spent 1 night camping, but we rode both days. Being in the woods on a horse was even better than just being in the woods. I had a ball.

Hmmm….Now that I think about it, I could write a whole chapter in that book I might write some day about my campout with the horses.

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I didn’t take my camera and my phone gave out, so I wasn’t able to take many photos. Next time, I’ll take my camera because I want to remember every second of it.

Pamela You are always so upbeat. What’s your secret?

This is something I am often asked. By people I know personally and online. I don’t know the answer. I have always tended to keep on the sunny side and am fairly consistent and even in my moods. My parents are extremely sunny and consistent and I really think that has a lot to do with it. That’s the way I grew up. We were pleasant and thankful at the breakfast table. That’s how each day began. I guess I just lucked out with genetics and example and environment. I also quote my Sweet Aunt Margie, who was such a bright light when she was on earth. She used to say, “God blessed me with a bad memory.” That’s me. I don’t remember what I need to be mad or sad or distressed about, so I just smile. Lincoln’s quote hangs in my house: “A person will be about as happy as he chooses to be.” I really do think it is a choice whether to be grouchy or pleasant. Hey, we’ve all got reasons to complain, but who wants to live that? I don’t. And to be honest, I don’t like to be around angry, bitter, negative people either. Sucks me dry. I know that I can be content no matter what. I try to be flexible and adaptable.

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(I can’t figure out why my husband and daughter think I’m obsessed with Merlin, can you?!)

Anyway, this week I had contact with my best friend from law school, Barry. I smiled all through law school too. I asked him how I should answer this question, he said, “Denial.” That may be partly true, too. But I doubt it. haha

Wendy Can I come visit?

I’ve always said, “If you’re coming to see the house, give me about a week’s notice so I can clean. But if you’re coming to see me, come on!” Someone once gave me a sign that said, “A messy house is a sign of a wasted life.” (I haven’t see it since I moved!) And, “You can’t expect me to be this creative and neat too.” My house is a disorganized wreck. It always is, always has been, and always will be. Same with my car. Am I alone with this? When I finally have a few moments, I’d rather be in the barn with my horses shoveling manure, digging in the garden, or mowing the grass than scrubbing the toilet.

Connie Will you write a book someday? I hope so!

Thank you, Connie! This is certainly one of my goals. I hope so too! But. Will it ever happen? I don’t know. I think about it, but don’t know how I’ll pull that off. LIFE IS FULL. When will I ever have the time? I’ve got such a long list of things I want to do. And it’s so complicated unless you self-publish. But I’d like to. This has been one crazy ride. Hearing from people like you who would actually want to read something I write encourages me big time. So maybe I will. Although, I’d have to learn to use a setting on my camera other than automatic focus because photos would definitely be a big part of it.

Frannie will you have a ‘gathering’ of ‘gurlfrenz’ someday? what fun that would be! 

This is also one of my goals. The answer is YES is you promise to come! One day, one day.

WE INTERRUPT THIS POST TO ADMIRE the setting. That’s the Church that serves as the community glue here. Those are our Christmas Trees on the bank in front of it. And that big Sycamore Tree is where the baptisms take place in the creek. That’s the little red run-in shed we built for who? Merlin, of course. But somehow Merlin’s not in this photo. That’s Andre. He is my friend’s horse who spent last winter with us. He’s a lovely horse too. They all are.

Until next time, Friends, savor the flavor of life!

Lots of love, The City Farmgirl, Rebekah

Leave a comment to enter the maryjanesfarm Magazine give-away. Or you can email me at rebekah@maryjanesfarm.com to enter. Either way, double entry if you admire my Merlin and say so.