Hannah was very patient the day we visited the garden and found Chris Kupris outside about to leave for work at Wal-Mart. Chris took over this farm with his brother after their father died. The brother had a heart attack and Chris went under due to a variety of circumstances. I love listening to his stories. He is a wealth of information about all kinds of things having to do with the history of the farm and agriculture, along with local history (and his philosophy of life, civilization, etc.) Today Chris told me the man who purchased the farm from him when Chris was in a pinch, and who turned it over to speculators prior to my coming along, was trying to sell it to an outfit which would turn this farm into a race track!!! They wanted it for the flat areas for a round track and the hills for obstacle courses. Heaven forbid! The thought of it makes me shudder. The racing outfit decided they didn't want it because the farm is too far off the beaten track. Thank Goodness! Then I came along and bought the heart of the farm - the barn and surrounding land - and a real estate speculator from NJ bought the rest and best land for farming. He got here before I did, and fortunately didn't want the barn! Wish I had it all, but have to be content with the idea that this beautiful land is still being farmed...and the barn is alive with the bleatings and baaaing of beautiful, happy animals. I asked Chris this morning if he is relieved not to have all that hard physical labor to do every day, milking 150 cows twice and day and raising all their food. He tells me that hard physical labor made him stronger than any other person his age that he knows. When there is a tough job to be done at Wal-Mart they always say, go get Chris. I hope all this physical stuff I do serves me well in old-age.
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