Dreams

We are pretty content on this little (tiny) farm of ours for the moment.  Chickens, bees, gardens, a cat and three children seem to be just the right amount of craziness to keep us happy for now.  And since happiness is my main priority, I do want to be careful not to cross that fine line.  But at the same time, I'm still dreaming... 

Probably the animal I dream of most, that is ironically the farthest away from reality for us, is a cow.  A nice brown (brown cows are so beautiful I think) Jersey (or Minature Jersey) milking cow.  The morning milkings, fresh milk, cheese making... all of it sounds heavenly.  But not right now of course.  And not anytime soon, if I want to enjoy it anyway.  So sheep (Cheviot is what I'm thinking) and goats (Nigerian Dwarf) seem to be the most realistic possibilities for the next additions to our farm.  Again not right now but perhaps we'd be ready for one or both of those animals in a few years.  So for now I'll just continue to enjoy the reading about/learning about/planning stage, which is also pretty fun.

Interestingly, as I was recently going through every single thing in our bedroom after the fire, I came across all my old journals.  This picture below is of one of my journals from 12 years ago.  It was part of a collage of "my future farm".  I had almost forgotten how long this farm dream of mine has been alive for.  It even has the brown cow in it.



Also in that journal I found this list of wants (again from 12 years ago, just out of college)...

1. I want to get married up north in Crosslake and make a whole weekend out of our wedding
2. I want to be successful at work and create a good job for myself
3. I want a hobby farm with lots of trees and on a lake or a river (does a pond count?)
4. I want to live in a cute older house that we will fix up as we can afford it (yes, I honestly wrote that... really Amy, this is your want list, you couldn't have just put "a cute older house that has already been fixed up", or "that we will easily fix up with the piles and piles of money we have")
5. I want to be an art therapist
6. I want to take a trip around the world
7. I want to publish a book
8. I want to have kids and spend a lot of time with them
9. I want to have a happy life with Ryan

How fun to come across this list and realize how many things I could check off, or that I'm close to checking off.  Really just that pesky book left... I better make some more writing goals for myself...