There is a
reason why my farm is named HeartSong. It came to it honestly. My patch of ground
literally makes my heart sing! My Celtic roots have subconsciously instilled
a sense of belonging to the land and the importance of having my own piece of
it. As I walk about my place, all 5.61 acres of it, I feel a sense of peace. As
I mow, seed, disc, fertilize I feel a sense of purpose. These acres are mine!
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| At the backyard gate of HeartSong Farm |
This is not
the first HeartSong Farm. The very
first, though it was never officially named, was 30 years ago in central
Illinois. It, too, was around 5 acres,
and was a first attempt, a trial run if you will, by me and my husband to live
outside of town away from the hustle and bustle of subdivisions and strip
malls. He wanted to be able to hunt on
his own land, and I wanted to plant and raise things. We did a little of both, even built a barn
and a pair of pastures. He hunted
squirrels, rabbits and pheasant. I
raised ducks and geese and 2 lambs along with my two young sons and a
tri-colored collie named Fancy. We were
located between corn and soybean fields to the south and a hog farm to the
north, on a small rise of land that caught the fierce winter wind and
snow. We were there for only 3 years
before being transferred again, back to the suburbs and city life, but we began
to look for “our dream farm” in the Ozarks during that time period. I do not know how truly serious he was about
that dream farm, but I know I was! I
dreamed of homegrown vegetables, chickens, guineas, ducks and geese…of horses,
sheep and goats and ….. llamas!
Our next
stop was the Nashville, TN, area in another subdivision and there I practiced
growing flowers and shrubs and playing with landscaping. Then in another 3 or 4 years we were in
Connecticut where almost everyone is a gardener and the weather and soil are
amazing. The short growing season caused
everything to bloom with gusto and I practiced growing all kinds of wonderful
English garden flowers and plants among the rock ledges and stone walls on our
2 acre lot in a small town along the shoreline.
From May to October there were numerous u-pick farms where I experienced
the joy of picking my own blueberries, apples, plums, peaches and pears. The fresh just-picked flavor was wonderful
and I wanted my own fruit trees on my dream farm. We went to a local farm and picked out our
Thanksgiving turkey each year and I decided that the taste and texture of a
fresh, never-frozen bird for our holiday table would be a must from then on.
The time
came to leave Connecticut and we had found that dream farm in the central
Missouri Ozarks. The big move was made
in April of 1997 to 344 acres of wonderful rolling fenced and cross-fenced
countryside, half wooded and half open, with 11 ponds, a house with full length
front and back porches for sunrise and sunset viewing, and a substantial
barn….out in the middle of nowhere! For
me it was heaven on earth, truly!
This place
called out to be named and, for me, HeartSong was more than perfect. My heart sang loud and joyously of the fresh
air, the possibilities, the freedom, and the wide open spaces. I ordered my chickens, guineas, ducks and
geese and they arrived before I even had a place for them. Big mistake, but they survived and
thrived. I planted a small vegetable
garden and some flowers and dreamed of where I would put what, and when I would
acquire the livestock and life was good, it seemed, on HeartSong Farm.
But
apparently not so for my husband who was entering his mid-life crisis (I
suppose), and by August of that same year, after almost 26 years of marriage,
he decided he would be leaving, and HeartSong Farm came crashing down around
me. Hopes, dreams, joys ……swept away
from me like dust before a broom. I
tried to hold on. I pretended I could
survive all by myself on my “dream farm.”
I went ahead and bought my foundation herd of six female llamas, and my
herd sire, Smokin’ Jaguar. I watched the
seasons change, I grieved for what was lost, and by the summer of 1998, with
the divorce final, I gave in to the appeals of my parents to come back to East
Texas to take care of them in their old age.
But I was determined that I would
be bringing my llamas!
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| Lulu & Razzle in back pasture of HeartSong Farm |
And I did
bring my llamas with me to a new farm, a much smaller and less picturesque farm
but one that I could afford and handle on my own. And I named it HeartSong! It has taken quite a number of years for that
name to feel right for this patch of land.
It certainly is not my “dream farm” by any stretch of the imagination,
but it has grown on me and I have grown to love and embrace it.
I sit in the back porch swing and look out over the back pasture and watch llamas graze and interact. I see the foxes come out of the dense woods at the back fence line, I hear the coyotes yipping at night. I watch vultures circle on the air currents in the sky above me while dragonflies cruise over the pasture grasses during the day and fireflies dance in the summer twilight. And each fall for the past five years, a red-shouldered hawk I have named “Token” returns to spend its winter and grace my world.
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| Barn swallow nest on back porch ceiling of HeartSong Farm |
I sit in the back porch swing and look out over the back pasture and watch llamas graze and interact. I see the foxes come out of the dense woods at the back fence line, I hear the coyotes yipping at night. I watch vultures circle on the air currents in the sky above me while dragonflies cruise over the pasture grasses during the day and fireflies dance in the summer twilight. And each fall for the past five years, a red-shouldered hawk I have named “Token” returns to spend its winter and grace my world.
Life is good
here at HeartSong Farm.
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| Red Shouldered Hawk hunting in front pasture of HeartSong Farm |
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| Red fox in pasture on HeartSong Farm |
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