THE Farm

I don't come from a farm background. I grew up in the suburbs. So sometimes people ask me how I came to a farming life.

The answer to that question, as with most big questions like that, is not entirely straightforward. But I know at least one part of the answer starts with THE Farm.

The Farm was a place where my brothers and I spent a number of our summers growing up. It was in Connecticut, not far from where my parents grew up. Our family rented/care-took the place for the Katz family, who would spend each of their summers in Ireland.

The Farm was old -- built in 1790. And there were donkeys and horses and chickens and geese and bees and a goat and even some turkeys (before the foxes ate them). Plus a big garden. Plus a lot of Tintin and Asterix books. And the beach and fishing in Long Island Sound were not far away.

Here I am riding a young donkey in my typical summer attire.

My brother with a friendly chicken.

Me and my Dad cleaning out stalls.

My younger brother Geoff and I goofing around with our uncle Dave.

Here's my Mom, her mother (my Gram), and her brother, playing some backgammon under a shady tree.

A lot of crazy things happened on the Farm. My Dad almost burned the place down once. There were these white turtle doves that lived in the barn, but would come waddle into the house the during the day to just hang out with the humans, mostly in the living room. Ashby the goat was absolutely uncontrolable. We would eat the world's best fried dough my Mom made. My folks would throw big summer parties. A donkey had a baby donkey one summer. My older brother ran over my younger brother once on his bike and broke his leg (in my older brother's defense, we were throwing dirt bombs/rocks at him, and I don't think he meant to actually run us over).

But the best part was my Mom would send me and Geoff to go get eggs from the chickens in the morning, and we wouldn't come back until about noon -- there were just too many adventures on the way. It was a good start for a farming life -- clean air, clean living, and a fair amount of work and fun. But mostly fun.