When I Bought the Farm

Buying a farm that exists only in your imagination is both easier and harder than you would think.

For me, it is acknowledging that - just maybe - I will never be able to cure my perpetual case of 'BarnHeart' (h/t to Jenna), and that the only pasture I will ever populate with heritage breed livestock will be the one that I create solely with the raw power of imagination, not muscle. This is practical honesty; I don't view it as giving up on a long-held dream, just acknowledging that at this time of my life, buying a farm might not happen.

So on the one hand, an imaginary farm is free: risk-free, financially, and crop-wise, and stock-wise. (I don't use Facebook but I would imagine this might the [hopefully more creative] version of Farmville.) In this way it is easier. I am not waking every day at 4 a.m. to milk a cow or haul water.

But on the other hand, it might be harder. Because I have all options on the table, as it were, I can make Birdwell whatever I want it to be. I am going to create a farm plan, here on this blog, and post by post, am going to proceed as if Birdwell was real. Because it will be real to me.

So step one, I buy the farm and christen it Birdwell.

(I might or might not have a glass of something bubbly to celebrate.)