Something To Think About: Revisited

Four years ago I wrote this post about the family homestead, the land and what role we might be able to take on, to help preserve the farm and legacy. In the twenty-two years that Alex and I have been a couple, we've shared the goals of restoring the farmland and homestead and working with family to strengthen ties with mutual support, for us, for Alex's parents and sister, and for future generations. So for years we've been discussing the land with his family, a sometimes frustrating and complicated and always delicate process. All the family desired a good outcome, however, and with determination, plans were written up and some were dismissed, others were added, and most importantly, everyone was able to come to the table with a voice.




So yesterday, when we drove the two hours north for a visit, we walked the land and saw it with different eyes, as the newest stewards of this land that has been in Alex's family for so long. So we walked, Alex with his notebook, and we searched for property lines, put tape on specific trees, mapped the location of rock walls, markers, and buildings, and thus, with these very small steps, began our ownership, our realization of the tiniest of beginnings, of what we endeavor to build and shape and restore to good health- Bradstreet Farm.















As most Maine farmers find when turning soil over, we will encounter rocks and tree roots. With our family, the elders and the young, we will work to make way for new growth and nurture beginnings and endings. We will be bound by love, to each other, on this land that has been and is so important to us all.