My dream farm

Some day I will own a farm, and when I do, I think it just might be here. I drove through the country with my brother when he was in town, and it made me fall in love with this area all over again. People often think that Modesto is a bummer place to live, but they are wrong. I live in Eden, where everything grows, the land is inexpensive, and I’m just over an hour a way from three big cities. I get all the benefits of both country and city life.

I’m pretty much a city girl. The country life would be a big learning experience for me, but I’m eager for it. I can’t stand the suburbs. To me that’s like all the worst parts of city life without the freedom and space of the country. If I can’t live in a loft downtown, than plunk me down in the middle of no where.

This area is La Grange, an actual ghost town about 20 minutes outside of Modesto, and closer to Bear’s work than our current spot. I think we’d buy something tomorrow if we felt like we were going to stay there forever. Right now we’re still feeling a little up in the air to commit to something as long term as a farm, and it would have to be very long term because I have some big plans.

I want a huge orchard with three or four trees of a whole bunch of different fruits and nuts. Cherries, peaches, nectarines, pears, apples, almonds, all grow beautifully here. I want a massive herb garden done up so I can relax with a book among my favorite smells. I want yards and yards of vegetables, a barn with a sheep and a goat and a whole mess of chickens, and honey bees. I want berry brambles of every kind so I can make pie after pie oozing with juice. And I want a little cabin where I can steal away to write undisturbed.

I want Atti to be able to play with animals and have incentive to move and work that comes from something natural. I want to teach him to appreciate where food comes from, teach him to not be afraid of work, and I want to build a house that fits our family without Atti having to tackle stairs. As he gets bigger I don’t want there to be any part of our lives that is off limits to him, so that means we need a place without a second story, or a basement. Which means building it ourselves.

But that’s part of the dream too. Being able to custom design a house from the ground up, in a way that exactly fits the needs of our family. Until that day I’ll just have to take the occasional drive and think about what I would do with all those rolling hills.