Growing up on a farm, it made no difference if you were a girl. There was work to be done. Lots of it. Easiest done in the daylight. My earliest memories of life on the farm were “driving” the pickup to feed the cows. Or making sure the calf in the bathtub was warm since his Mama died. Or picking rock, burning ditch, cutting corrugates, outrunning the rooster, rolling bales...
It wasn’t all work. There were lots of fun days swimming in the pond. Searching for golf balls, frog races, climbing trees, strawberry fights with Tayze, bike trails in the potato cellar. Oh the smell of the potato cellar. Still takes me back!
Fast forward to adulting. [Overrated, btw.] I wanted as far from the farm as I possibly could get. So, I married a car salesman. Moved to town. Moved away. Moved away again. And converted us into farmers! Kinda. It took a while. A long while. I wanted little to do with that kind of work. The never-ending-sun-up-to-sun-down kind of work. I still enjoyed Grandma’s cooking after 3 days of canning beans & freezing corn. But I yearned for a different kind of work. The kind where I could use my brain, not my muscles. I tried out several kinds before I came back to my roots.
The thing about trying different things is that you learn different things. Most are beneficial, at the end of the day. I was a bill collector for many years. Learned phone and sales skills. I was the girl’s librarian for a few years. Sharpened those organization skills. Then I found mortgage. Perfected my work-a-holic skills & survived one helluva recession. But I was never as satisfied in my work as the day I moved back to the country, planted a bigass garden and bought some pigs.
There’s something about getting your hands dirty, wearing braids and growing your own food. It’s the kind of work that feeds the soul, not just your body. I’m grateful I got the chance to return to my roots. Makes this farm girl happy.
Two Years ago, Bryce & I moved to Oak Harbor after months of searching for the right property. And while I’m one of the idiots that doesn’t love jet noise, I have come to love this community. We have been blessed with amazing neighbors and have found the people of Oak Harbor are some of the best people we’ve met. And while I say we are blessed to have found Oak Harbor, I think maybe Oak Harbor found us.
This has been the perfect place to realize our (my) farm dreams and we are so happy to present our gift to this community, Outside the Box farm stand. We are honored to feed your family and look forward to getting to know you better!!