Settling in, falling in love

Perhaps I shouldn't be so easy.  Perhaps I shouldn't fall so hard, so fast.  

I'm only a week in, but here's the truth: I am smitten.  

I love Maine, I love this farm, this way of life.  Upon leaving the city I was telling an astute New Yorker about my plans, and she said, "That sounds so nice...  you can actually have your thoughts back."  And I feel that bearing out.  I feel like I have gained oodles of space and time and, in my semi-rootlessness, I am beginning to feel rooted in myself.

One week in, I am starting to get a feel for the rhythm of the farm and living in my camper.  Here's how the days typically unfold:

5am - Dawn breaks and the birds starting singing.  I lay still in my bed, eyes wide open, cocooned under many blankets until I am ready to throw off the covers and bear the early morning chill of my camper.  Winter is slow in retreating this year, and a handful of nights have been below freezing temperatures.

5:30am - I bundle up, step into my rubber boots and stomp through the muddy field over to the yurt.  This week, the crescent moon has still been visible in the sky as the pink sunrise begins to filter through the trees. I do a 20 minute yoga routine in the yurt, fully bundled, and begin to wake up my body.

6am - I return to my camper, stream NPR Morning Edition through my phone while I prepare coffee and breakfast.  In the early season, farm work begins at 8am, so I have plenty of time to sip slowly, wash up, and get ready for the day.

7:45am - I commute to the barn via a 5 minute walk through the field and I check in with the crew for our game plan for the day.  The work is varied and continuous: my first week of tasks included trimming about 1000 onions, repairing the high tunnel, digging holes for new trees, clearing a thicket of brambles, potting up tomatoes in the greenhouse and thinning brassicas, building a new low tunnel, and assembling a shelving unit.  Some of the work is quite physical and repetitive, and some is very focused and detailed.  I find that I am quickly able to get "into the zone", and love the tasks that for some would seem tedious.  I can work with little seedlings for four hours at a stretch and feel a deep sense of presence and peace.

12pm - We break for lunch.  I generally retreat to my camper and prepare something quickly - a sandwich wrap or heat up some soup.  If it's nice, I'll sit outside on my "porch" for a few minutes, or if I'm tired, sneak in a 10-15 minute nap.  On Thursdays, someone from the crew cooks lunch for everyone.

1pm - We work for another four hours, solid.

5pm - Day is done.  I cook dinner in my camper and then spend most of the rest of the evening in the yurt, where there is a woodstove and I can stay warmer.  I build myself a fire, heat up water for a cup of tea, light candles and the oil lamp.  I cuddle up on the sofa under a wool blanket and read for about 2 hours.  Then around 9pm I do another 20 minutes of yoga and make my way back to the camper, using my headlamp to light the way.  I'll often spot deer leaping through the fields at night, and I always marvel at the abundance of stars.  I quickly get into my long underwear, pajamas, and burrow under a sleeping bag and 4 blankets and nod off around 10pm.

And when I wake and hear the birds start singing again the next morning, I smile and think, "It's so good to be here.  This is the way life should be."