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Writer's pictureHayley Parker

Our Forever Home


December 1, 2024  marks nine years since we were handed over the keys to our forever home. Time is a trippy thing. We were just kids. I will never forget the moment we thought this could be all ours.  We walked up the path alongside the upper field, Zack and I looked into eachother’s eyes with big wide smiles. Zack half jokingly asks me “you want to buy this house?” We hadn’t even looked inside the old federal style home built in the 1850’s, only walked the property before we had that knowing feeling. It was one of those times where the world seems to be conspiring for you before you even know what you want for yourself.

It is true what they tell you, you overestimate what you can do in any given day, underestimate what you can do in five or even 10 years time. I look back on what is now closer to a decade and could never have guessed the way my life has panned out. Zack and I would choose to be farmers, my brother and sister-in law to be our neighbors, to have a part in the farm with us. Who would have thought our farm would move from self-sufficiency and the joy of living close to the land to become a business for us to help feed our community and offer our goods?  Who knew it would all come about learning to raise farm animals and wild children all in the same season? Who knew? 

But, I guess it all makes sense. When you think about the flow of decisions that wind your way through days, months, years, you can then follow the trail of how everything added up. You can gather how all the people helped along the way to lead you to the present moment. For me it has been an easy thing to stick by my intuition even when trust has ebbed and flowed. One thing I know to be true is that both will never steer you wrong and are the foundation of everything. 

We are rich in land within our family which now spans over 100 acres on our family compound and it feels like the games have only just begun. That’s land we have worked hard to have and are able to give back into. Raising pigs, chickens, making maple syrup, raising a goat herd and making goat milk soap products, we all know our roles all too well but where to next? I cheers to another ten years feeling gluttonous in my aspirations and humbled by knowing every challenge and slow yet necessary moment it will take to enjoy the way there. Hope you can take an inventory of your highs and lows to see that they have led you right where you are all in perfect timing. 

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