I have farm envy.This is not anything new. My brakes frequently light up at red outbuildings, generous lots and dilapidated farmhouses. Farms with For Sale signs put me at risk for whiplash. Over the years I have learned to live with a certain level of farm envy and consider it my normal state of being. Then I watched The Fruit Hunters a couple of months ago and the desire for a couple acres ratcheted up a few notches immediately.Fruit trees take time to produce fruit, years in most cases. Berries too. My mind began to consider the idea of a couple of acres that I could start a little orchard with blue, black and raspberries on the land while I bide my time in the burbs between now and when I would be able to live on this imaginary farm full time.Then I visited Cozi Farms on a beautiful fall day yesterday and the farm envy reached an entirely new fervor.
On over 60 beautiful, rolling acres, Suzanne is growing beef, milk, eggs, broilers, lamb and turkeys. It was inspiring both in aesthetics and what she is working toward - sustainable agriculture that improves rather than depletes the land it is on.While I don't want or need that many acres and have no interest (currently) in raising large meat animals, it nonetheless made me homesick for the little farm of my dreams...a few acres with chickens and maybe ducks, hopefully a small pond stocked with fish and plenty of raised bed gardens that I can grow most of what I need from while I watch the sun make it's yearly transit from high overhead to low in the southern sky each year.