Today has been a day of conflicting emotions. It hasn’t been a bad day, just a day where I can’t seem to be on my true path. I know how to fix it, just need to talk to the Man upstairs. I’m afraid I ain’t gonna like what he has to tell me, though. It happens.

I am such a procrastinator. I still haven’t sent in my taxes. I did purge some things this weekend- not as much as I had hoped to. I stay on top of most of my stuff, for the most part. Got rid of several pairs of shoes, though. Is anybody interested in wedding dresses? I have two very beautiful ones. Of course, this is my opinion, but I think you’d be crazy not to agree 🤣 I was hoping to donate them to a good cause, so I first thought about the angel baby gown people. I asked Angela if she knew of any locally, since she’s in the sewing machine circles. She didn’t, but sent me a link for gifting to military brides. I liked that idea a lot, but they only accept gowns less than four years old that have been professionally cleaned.

Ok. I get it. You don’t want these 1980s puffy long sleeved lacy yellowing monstrosities with matching hats. But I’m pretty sure my 2001 couture A-line corset back ball gown is still posh. And my 2012 taffeta cupcake dress is still plenty en vogue. They weren’t accepting right now, anyway. Then I reached out to another friend who sews and has had her own angel baby. Sure enough, she knew of a local branch. They are taking them, and if they’re not, they sell them to make money to cover shipping costs and whatnot. They want clean dresses, too, understandably. They say toss them in the washer on delicate.

Ummmmm. I’m not 100% sure either of my dresses would even FIT in the washer. They both had 4’ trains. They also want $25 per dress to cover one angel gown shipment. I understand, I promise I do. But damn. These dresses total about 5K. Sure, I could eventually sell them on Marketplace or Poshmark but I don’t want to deal with all that. I want to feel good about their future. I don’t want to donate them to Goodwill and some crackhead get them. My dresses deserve a happily ever after, even if I didn’t get it.

So I’m dealing with that, something I should have dealt with forever ago, but they’ve just been hanging out in my spare closet in their zippered bags. If anyone has a suggestion, or would like some positively gorgeous material, or maybe want to dye a dress for another occasion, I’m your girl. Just promise me they’ll have another happy day.

In other news, I have a friend who’s selling the family farm.

Do. NOT. START.

Do you wanna pay land taxes on fifty or a hundred acres? Do you even KNOW what land taxes run on that size of place? Do you even mow your own yard? Yeah, the dream is nice: live off the land, watch the cattle graze, grow some tomatoes, have a little farm stand out by the road for excess okra and chicken eggs….{move to the country, eat a lot of peaches 🎶🎵} Here’s the bottom line: you probably couldn’t afford the fuel it would take to bushhog that size place. If it’s wooded, what good is it? Oh, you wanna run cattle on it? Cattle don’t eat pine and cedar trees. Cows eat grass, grain, and hay. And a lot of it. So you gotta grow or buy hay. Well, that’s expensive too. Equipment is outta sight. Plus baler twine, there’s hydraulic fluid, fuel, and oh yeah- rake teeth. That’s all annually. You need a barn, a barn for that high dollar equipment and hay. And how about fences? You priced 6’ t-posts lately? Wood posts? Barbed wire? Electric boxes? Hi-tensile and insulators? What about a chainsaw to cut the trees off the fence when they fall? And they WILL fall. And you’ll lie awake on those stormy, blustery nights wondering if your investments are out in the road. And what if they are? You’ve got a day job in town. You’ve gotta be there. Someone depends on you. The farm depends on you.

You don’t have enough time. You don’t even have enough time when the weather is perfect and cooperative.

Say goodbye to those vacations you so look forward to. You can’t leave, you can’t quit. The cattle are calving now, or it’s time to vaccinate. You’ve gotta have equipment for that, too, to handle them safely. Wanna price that stuff? Check out Priefert or Powder River’s website. Get a load of that. Plus the annual cost of vaccines. You know what it takes for your dog to see the vet, quadruple that per cow. Hmmm, what else? Oh, a little garden? Sure, nice thought. First, find you a spot. Till it. I’ll wait.

Tilled it? Great. How many blisters you got? That was the easy part. The weather is nice, huh? Fantastic. Please be overzealous and plant every variety of vegetable you’ve ever eaten in your life.

Now it’s June. It’s 100 degrees in the shade and the weeds and Junebugs have taken over. The turtles, cutworms, and coons have ransacked what the morning glories didn’t get. You’re having to haul water just to keep some semblance of faith, because of course you’re dependent on God and Mother Nature for sunny days and rain showers.

Don’t talk to me about not selling farms until you’ve been out there in the driving rain pulling a calf, till you’ve been out there in a foot of snow and more coming to fix fence, don’t come at me spouting how we should be ashamed when the only time you set foot on the place is once a year with a professional photographer to take pictures of your kids in the manicured fields or among the corn stalks. Save the farms, yes. That’s my business. That’s my heart. But some people have their own dreams, and to achieve that they have to sell the dream that was never theirs. If it’s your dream, find a way to buy it. But be prepared- those Destin vacations and Lululemon leggings are gonna be a distant memory.

It hurts, it’s bittersweet, but a farm that’s not being utilized is no farm at all. And if somebody hadn’t sold, where would you be living? Where would you get your groceries? Your clothes? You beloved Hobby Lobby and Starbucks?

Stars are nice tonight, go look.

Love from Appalachia,

~Amy