This is my third planting season on the farm. I took some time to reflect on the past 3 springs I've spent in Stony Point, and I reflected on it briefly in my Instagram post yesterday. I also wanted to publish those thoughts here.
My first planting season was really half of one. We got married on May 4th and I officially moved into our house on May 12th, the day after we got back from our honeymoon. Harrison got back to work immediately after getting back home. I rode in the tractor with him and visited fields, but I was kept busy putting together our house and getting ready to start my job. Plant '19 was over before I knew it!
Last year was the best. I was around a lot more and had so much flexibility thanks to COVID. I know it was horrible for so many people, but it really gave me some irreplaceable time with Harrison on the farm. I acted as Harrison's personal seed tender, I rode, I took meals to the farm. I basically did anything and everything I could to be part of the activity, and I loved every second of it.
This year has been different and harder in a lot of ways. Work has picked back up for me and I've had at least a handful of evening meetings every month since February. We started planting in March and it was slow going for a while. It was too wet, then too dry. Harrison was in the field sporadically. It picked back up a few weeks ago and they've been going pretty strong ever since. I haven't had as many opportunities to ride or to take supper to them. The loneliness of planting season has really set in this year. I tend to get discouraged and bored when I'm home alone. Instead of putting that boredom to good use, it's really easy for me to hole up on the couch and scroll through TikTok instead of doing something productive. I've really worked to change that over the past week or so. I've put more of my energy into the house and I've managed to get my garden planted and the yard straightened up somewhat. Being alone until 9pm or later many evenings out of the week can really wear down on you, but I've tried to focus on the positives. If I need to get out of the house, I can go stroll the aisles of Dollar General (the rural girl's Target, truly) or take a drive with the windows down (that has been so nice here lately with the perfect temperature in the evenings and beautiful sunsets!). Sometimes I'll take a ride out to the field they're working in and wave or say hi. Sometimes I'll ride for a bit, but Harrison has been working with the John Deere 4440 most of this season, and the buddy seat situation is lacking, to put it nicely! My booty falls asleep before we finish one pass... which isn't too far in some of our fields!
I truly am so grateful for this life, though. I'm reminded every day of just how blessed we are to work the land and to spend our days outside. I'm thankful for my role on the farm in this season, which is mostly keeping Harrison's and my person affairs in order, and helping out when I'm needed. I want to do my best to be joyful and appreciative of what each day brings me!
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