Today is Good Friday.
It’s the day Christians remember Christ’s death on the cross while we strain forward eagerly, anticipating, longing for the celebration of His resurrection on Sunday morning.
This year, Easter looks a bit different for all of us. Whether you are a Christ-follower or not, there are no large Easter Egg hunts, so sunrise services, no homes full of neighbors and friends laughing and loving and feasting together. No live sports matches on the TV to watch. We are forced into smaller more intimate arrangements, solitary days, immediate families, time to walk, read, reflect.
In lieu of easter dinner celebrations and feasts with friends, we are doing small things, like supporting a local bakery who made these awesome hot cross buns. And supporting the local chocolatier who put together some incredible treats for a fun grown up Easter basket. 🙂
I know you’ve seen and felt the pressure to make the most of this time, learn a new language, play an instrument, complete those home projects. My hope in this time is to not just go from pressure to pressure but to sit back and enjoy the gift of peace that is there for the taking.
Please, understand, this isn’t to make light of those who are severely affected by this crisis, people are losing their lives, their jobs, and are putting themselves at risk to serve. If this is you, if you’ve lost a loved one, your job, or are a medical professional or first responder, please know that you are seen, you are loved, and that I am doing my best to help by staying home, supporting local business, and checking on at risk neighbors.
But if you, like me, find yourself able to work from home, are still well and able, and also like me love nothing more than ticking off to-do lists, please hear me say, you have permission to REST. If you laughed out loud at that because you are crisis schooling the kiddos, learning how to teach online, study online, work online, I see you. But please give yourself some grace to just be, when you can. And yes lots of people will say this time is great, and they love being home, guess what? It’s okay if you don’t love it. Its okay if you’re sick of it. If you’re grieving the loss of your social life (any other extroverts out there?)
It feels right and good that this weekend is Easter. That our yearning and longing for a return to normalcy is echoed, amplified and uplifted in our yearning for Christ’s resurrection and the new life He gives. Scripture says all the earth is groaning for His return, and I think we see that now in a way we perhaps weren’t able to before.
So let us groan and long together.
Long for the celebration of Christ’s resurrection, while we also long for the time when we can join together with our friends and family, not through a screen or phone call, but through a hug, a hearty handshake, an arm around a shoulder, and clasped hands around the dinner table.
Here at Hidden Meadow we are missing you our friends, and we are counting down the days until we can open our doors to guests once again. In the meantime, we are balancing resting in the peace of this time, with welcoming opportunity to move forward in the good stewardship of this farm. This is possible because Tim is teaching from home and has more time to get ahead on our spring and summer projects. On the docket this weekend: Building the timber frame around the terraced vegetable gardens (videos and photos to follow). Below is a shot of the trenches we’ve dug for the first two 9ft terraces.
(8ft and 16ft 6in timbers on the right, fence posts on the left, and gravel for the french drain in our gardens)
Once that is done and filled with topsoil and compost the fun can really begin. I can’t wait to plant tomatoes, peppers, blueberries, raspberries and so much more.
Next on the list will be digging and sinking our 70 fence posts around our first 1 acre pasture. This is proving to be more and more of a necessity as I nearly impulse bought a filly a couple weeks ago. 🙂 A farm in nearby Forrest VA is selling off nearly 60 horses and I dangerously went along with a friend who was buying a filly. I fell in love at least 3 times with some gorgeous young OTTB (Off the track thoroughbreds for the uninitiated). Below is one of the pastures we visited with 20 or so lovelies.
Below on the right is the sweet filly who choose me by resting her head on my shoulder for a solid minute and then followed me around like a puppy. To the left was a stunning bay mare who was also incredibly sweet. Both were very underweight, covered in rain rot and badly needing their hooves trimmed. So much potential though. It worked out for the best in the end as we are not set up yet for more horses and the owner was not willing to come down on the price on my sweet filly. (He emailed after we left that he would meet my price if we took two horses…so stay tuned)
Otherwise, here are some shots of life on the farm recently. Atticus looking regal as per usual in the tree, Tim is now firmly a dog person. Side note, it’s been so fun to see him experience the joy and love of a pup after not growing up with pets. Hearing him laugh as she licks his face and ears is my favorite thing ever.
Between the animal cuddles we’ve been working hard, clearing brush and trees and trying to reclaim areas long neglected or overlooked. Stay tuned this weekend for some more updates.
Until then, stay well friends, celebrate the small things, and rest when you can in the expectation of what’s to come.
We’ll see you soon.
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