We Bought a Farm: First Family Vacation

I wrote this post as we prepared to leave for Vermont. But since I don't tell when we go on vacation ahead of time, I pulled the post. But I am posting it now. This is how I felt getting ready for our first family vacation since buying the farm!

We have not left the farm for a real vacation since we moved here in May of 2015. In March of 2015, before we moved to the farm, we took a family trip to Disney. Since moving here, I've taken a trip with the kids, and we've taken a night here and there as a family and also as a couple, but we haven't left, for a significant period of time -- all six of us -- since we bought the farm.

Oh am I ready.

But leaving is HARD.

Firstly we had a WWOOFer scheduled to be here for the month of August cancel on us. It was for a good reason, but I had specifically chosen this time for a family vacation because I felt confident in his presence here.

I managed to secure a previous gal, Deborah, a local high schooler, to return to the farm while we are gone. It isn't that Dad and Mom couldn't handle the farm. They definitely can. But it would be very challenging for them. And I didn't want them to be overwhelmed while we are gone.

But leaving for over a week is challenging for another reason and this has to do with the nature of moving animals. We rotate our animals to new pastures every few days, and JB is the primary brains behind this operation. This means that today -- Sunday -- we have to get everything ready to be gone. All animals need to get on fresh pasture, and he also needs to have another move prepared for Dad to do while we are gone. Dad is full capable of this (way more capable than me) but it is still a lot for one person to do on their own, and so JB has to get it completely ready for him to do the final work.

I have learned that in order to do this new life well, I have to give myself plenty of breaks. I try to plan some sort of break every four to six weeks. This may mean a night by myself, with a girlfriend, with JB or with the family, but something that I can put on the horizon to look forward to as I go through the grind.

Especially when we don't have a WWOOFer and JB has just done three nights in a row at work, and I have to carry a heavy animal load. (Dad and I basically split the animals in half when we don't have a WWOOFer and JB is working.)

All that to say, we are ecstatic for our upcoming vacation. I'll fill you in more on where we are going and what we are doing later on, but for now .... the countdown is on. Nine days away from the farm as a family for a vacation!

I can't wait!