Many years ago, a wise woman told me that the mark of growing up was recognizing the day when you switched from wanting to share everything you think you know to becoming aware of all the things you do not know. I suspect that when she told me this, she was thinking far more philosophically than I’m currently living; however, while I don’t know if I’m coming late to this particular turn in the road, it has struck me that every day we’re on the farm, I become more and more aware of everything I do not know. 

Take, for example, yesterday’s ice storm and our steep gravel driveway, at the bottom of which is supposed to be our garbage can out for pickup. I thought I had it all together ~ take the trash can down early on Sunday before the ice started, and my walk back up the driveway without it would be a breeze! Well, if not a breeze, easy at least. And it was! …but then I had to pull the trash can back up the driveway after it was empty ~ AND after the ice storm (but on the icy surface it left) AND into the wild wind that followed the ice storm (which slammed the garage door out of my hands into the wall). 

As I type this, none of this sounds particularly difficult. In fact, it sounds like I should be saying to myself, “and the point of this is…what, Tracy?” The point is, in suburbia, my driveway was short, flat, and paved, and my garage door opened easily and up.  I gave no thought to the effects of wind and ice except that it was probably not a good idea to wear 3 inch heels to take the garbage out.  Now, not only do I never wear 3 inch heels, I’m re-thinking the whole idea of garbage for the winter! I’ll let you know what I figure out.

Take, also as an example, the pump for our well, which runs on electricity. In suburbia, we were hooked up to a city water system that kept functioning if our house lost power.  No worries. Sure, the occasional water main pipe would burst, but we’d boil water for washing, and I kept a few large containers of water on hand, easily picked up at the local grocery store, for drinking and cooking. But we still had water for…well, you can imagine all the uses we still had water for. Here, if we lose power, we lose water ~ all the water; everywhere in the house; and in the barn. What we need, I told John, is a wind turbine to run the water pump! It’s on the list.  

What we don’t seem to need on the farm so far is a snow shovel ~ the wind blows all the snow for us! It uncovers the ice, but nothing’s perfect, right? And we don’t need to worry about the house becoming stuffy in winter because, well, the wind again. It slams into either the east or west side and freshens the air inside beautifully! And we don’t need to worry about getting enough exercise every day! Cardio, strength training, stretching ~ it all comes by taking the garbage from the house to the garage, feeding the cats in the little barn, or bringing in wood from the wood shed ~ that sits to the west of the house. Sigh. 

Yes, my list of things I don’t know may be very practical, not philosophical, but it seems to be a very long list ~ and I’m having a great time discovering what else is on it!