Growing a Farm

Off and on for the past two years or so, I have been sketching and planning the farmhouse I want to build. I pull bits and pieces out of my brain and scribble them on scrap and notebook paper. The bits and pieces look fine but when they are together I am never satisfied.


I literally spent a week sketching out my perfect kitchen. The cabinets will be made from inexpensive, maybe even free lumber from old farm houses or barns or other out buildings. The cabinet doors will be reused wood, cut to size with small panes of glass. The oven, stove, refrigerator and dishwasher will all be conventional, low energy appliances. There will be a stone island with a large cutting surface on top.


The layout will be large and open and have a small table and wood burning stove in one corner, right next to a large pantry fashioned from the same type of lumber as the rest of the room. The floors, as with most of house, will be hardwood. A bar will separate the kitchen from the dining room. Above the bar will be an overhead cabinet held in place by rough 4-by-4 wooden pillars.
All of the counters will be smooth, dense concrete. In short; this is a functional kitchen, made to stand the test of time.


As I assembled the other rooms in my mind, discouragement set in. How would this or that fit? How would I ensure a good southern exposure to the living room and eastern exposure to the master bedroom?


Continuing to the out buildings, uncertainty raised its head. How would it all fit together? A million “what if's” rang in and out of my mind.


Then, about three weeks ago I read this: http://www.angelicorganics.com/Stories/storiescontent.php?contentfile=barn It is all about how farms and farm buildings, not to mention the farmers themselves should be individualistic.


Farms and their supporting buildings should not be preplanned to the last nail or brick. Each one should grow from the surrounding environment. Specific bits and pieces, like my kitchen, are perfect building blocks, but only the surrounding environment can determine how the pieces fit together.


Yes. I get it! A farm and its buildings must organically grow from the land, not just propped up there. Perhaps that is the same with people. A person can't simply be plopped somewhere and expect to be functional or individualistic or unique.


Yes, yes. I get it now.