A Day All to Myself

Summer is drawing to a close and I am cherishing every day. The pressure is on to "make things" to sell at the few shows I do, which are all in the fall it seems, so my days aren't totally free...but it's still so liberating to stay in my pajamas a while, cut out a bag, spin some wool, wander through my big old barn with my coffee cup and ponder how in the world I got here. I know how I did, just grit and gumption and elbow grease. It took a lot of nerve to quit my tenured job at the upscale high school where I worked at my age. (I was replaced by a 22 year old.) But I knew if I wanted to stay in sheep I had to do something drastic. I haven't looked back. My only regret is that I didn't do it 9 years ago. I wasted so much time and money trying to be a farmer in the tri-state area. But I didn't know this slice of affordable heaven existed (enter Lisa Merian from Bainbridge who told me to look in Central New York.) This time last year I was sitting upstairs in the haymow, fighting off flies. The guy who came to attach the phone and computer line couldn't find me. He said he wandered around for an hour (why didn't he blow the horn?) and charged me an extra $40 to come back and do it. The trailer was still up on the hill, and I had a sofa and computer table in the hay mow. I was bathing in the stock tank, then washing my clothes in the bath water. Hannah and Luke came to visit last August, but Annie sent Eric here to make sure everything was suitable for two little kids. These were Boy Scout people (Eric is a career Boy Scout) who are used to roughing it but they were still concerned. The kids had a ball and we survived the flies. Matt kept telling me that I had to go back to New Jersey and get on the unemployment line. After all, I paid into it and I earned the benefits. Finding a job here was easier than doing that. I made one call to the beautiful new high school down the road, and they were full, but they called BOCES and told them there was a special ed teacher looking for a job. BOCES called me and I had a job. I love the girls (and guys) I work with and hope the job lasts. Enrollment is low I hear, and I am keeping a positive outlook. One side of me wants to stay on the farm, but until we have universal health care (go Hilary!) people like me have to work. It's good to see my friends at the school every day. They care about me and want my farm to be successful. I remember thinking if I fell off the hay mow ladder the BOCES people would be the only ones to realize something was wrong when I didn't show up for work. The health benefits I left behind at Voorhees would cost me $1,200 a month!! Matt is always getting sick or hurt and uses my benefits more than I do. It's a big responsibility to keep this place going, and my job is a farm subsidy I am not getting from the government. Poor farmers have to do it all themselves. I better get to work subsidizing Maggie's Farm.