The Simple Life

Several weekends ago, I had the opportunity to gather up some of my girly friends and travel north.  We hit the road anticipating visiting a farm and learning to make some goat cheese.  A simple little day away, we were going to learn something new, check out some goats (my plan) and have a little lunch and come away with a new experience. 

I think we got more than we bargained for.  To this day, I’m not sure what all I experienced.  The whole day was woven together by an exchange of events that really made you think about how simple life really could be.  With all the madness in the world today, it gave us a glimmer of hope. 

After a hour and a half drive we traveled down a little dirt country road.  Following our directions we arrived at Melissa’s farm, a little early, but that didn’t seem to be an issue.  We were greeted by her neighbor, who welcomed us and said Melissa would be out soon, she was making coffee.  We tiptoed through the muddy pasture and we were greeted by a menagerie of farm animals.

Goats and their babies, a variety of sheep who were just days shy of getting their annual haircuts.   Horses, chickens, dogs, cats, bees…oh my!  I was giddy.  An instant calmness came over me and I felt like I was transported into a story book.  My only worry was keeping my patent leather loafers free of animal crap!  Soon the screen door slammed and Melissa made her way to us.  The instant the animals heard her coming they began to sing!  A chorus of goats and sheep calling her name, rushing for the gate, looking for their maaaamaaaa.  We introduced ourselves and she continued the tour of the farm by showing us her milking goats.  This, of course, is the reason we ended up here.  I thought it would be a good idea to learn a little about goats before I brought any home.  I found out I need a milking stand, a playscape for them to play on, and I think I need a little lamb!  She let us milk one, and I found out I’m a natural.  Ha Ha 

On to class….
We all gathered around the table in the old farmhouse to get down to business.  Today, we would learn how to make cheese, and we would make our own lunch.  So the 6 of us piled into her 10 x 4 kitchen and began to learn.  She gave us each a job and like little bee’s we just instinctively began to get it done.  It was weird!  As Miss T. said “she let us slip into her life with such ease.  It was like old friends of hers stopping by for the day”  and that we were, a bunch of friends who began to work our way around the kitchen.  If we needed something, we did not ask, we just opened the cupboard and looked for it.  We washed dishes when we needed to, put the scraps in a bucket for the pigs down the road and poured our own coffee, a very comfortable feeling.  After we made several cheeses, soup, vegetables and a salad it was time to head back to the dining room table to enjoy our feast. 

This was not a well oiled machine.  She was disorganized, missing ingredients and her DISHES DID NOT MATCH, but we all decided that was the charm and bemusement of it all.  A couple of bottles of honey mead, a sampling of cheeses, our lovingly prepared meal and we were smitten!  
Time flew by and as we said our goodbyes we gathered into the car and reluctantly ended our visit at Mej’s Mystical Meadows Farm.   We drove out of the handmade gate, that the neighbors made to keep the animals in, and down the dirt road.  The sun was shining and we were under the “spell”   We are not sure what we just experienced, but it was a delightful way to spend a Saturday….   


As we continued  towards home, the sky darkened up and the rain began to fall.  Ahhh, so close but so far away.  It was just another strange coincidence that things were so different on the farm than in our city lives.  I think I prefer the sun!