Some lovely friends needed farm sitting! YEAY! They get a break and I get a break. They have land as well, but with a "real" house that is a work in progress. They also have livestock.
While they are off, actually about 30 min drive from my place, I'm up here, 90+ min from my place, sitting at their place. They are camping and I get to be in a house with plumbing (plumbing with parts missing, see above "work in progress"). We all get a break.
Caring for livestock, sheep, horses, dogs, chickens, and cats, just for a weekend reminds me that livestock are a lifestyle choice. Fence, shelter, feed, water, and minding. I think for me the "minding" component would be the toughest. I like to travel. I like to know that if I need/want to stay elsewhere for the night, I can. The bees will be fine.
While I'm enjoying their house, I also get to really see what I"m missing in my home. I'm missing having a proper kitchen. I don't mean one with ALL the modcons, but a stove I can just turn on and cook in more than one pan would be super. I almost have that. I've actually used the fridge a bit, but just for fun...cold brew and some overnight oats. Convenient but not important to me (but I must say...those oats were fine, more on them later).
I'm also having a netflix binge and will be glad to get away from TV when I leave. It's fun for a while, but I don't want/need to watch every episode of "Chopped" in a row. I did see some inspiring documentaries, but again, I can get those from the library if I want to watch them when I'm not here.
Getting away also let me rethink my next cabin plan. I got too tied to one idea that was making the whole plan less comfortable. On the drive, and knowing I didn't have any work tasks with me, I was able to think back through my varied plans and go back to the best one. The one that I drew and thought "I would love to come home to that." It shows off the kitchen, keeps the main entry as its own event. It makes it slightly harder to put a summer kitchen in, but not much. The overworked recent plan madeit awkward to enter the house every time. So, back to the other one and let my personal architect (hi Jon!) work his magic with the summer kitchen. The older plan also makes room for the solar equipment (batteries, inverter, etc) in a utility area rather than intruding on the living room . Those need to be in a closet, batteries preferable outside so they are fully vented. The inverter makes noise and clicks and has a light. I'm in love with the dark. The electronic lights at the farm sitting situation, as few as there are, still impinge on the dark. I want DARK.
I'm glad these friends have what they like and are making it more so. And weall respect each others' choices about what we like. None of us would impose the choices on another of us. (same with my other friend who has a new home: Hi Ange!!!). Her home is different and perfect for her. What we both have in common is that we come home and say "I can't believe I get to live here." Yeay us.
So, the "work in progress" bit. The place I'm farm sitting is an old unarchitected home. My friends are redoing itasthey go. Mostly it's great, but the adhoc bathrooms need updating. So the old homestead house now has a beautiful bath with a repainted clawfoot tub, wood tongue and groove paneling on the walls, a toto toilet (low flush, easy on the septic), and some lovely primitive benches for the soaps and towels and whatnot. The sink isn't in yet, but the tiles are placed to be grouted into a mosaic. Very pretty. They found towel racks, a light fixture, and toilet paper holder made of pipe. Looks perfect and clean and goes with the house.
I think they will appreciate my future kitchen made of old table leaves and iron shelf supports and enamelware table portions. They like eclectic and interesting too.
No comments:
Post a Comment