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Having left Spirit Hill after living there for two years, I understand even more acutely why so many guests return to stay. There is this world, and then there is Spirit Hill Farm. The other night there was an almost-full moon, and I stood outside and looked at it and tried to connect to the […]
I’m almost all packed. I told my friend I was taking the chickens when I leave Spirit Hill on Sunday. I came to visit for a week because my friend Carolyn, the proprietress of Spirit Hill, wanted me to finally see the place she’d been telling me about for years, and I was going to […]
Dear Claire, We knew you were special the moment we saw you. You weren’t just after our eggs! You came into our pen to see US! How did we know? Because you didn’t want to leave even though we are starting to molt and all four of us squeak out a total average of one […]
I have my rituals. Friday through Monday, when I can, I get in the car with Bird and head to Freestone before the line at Wild Flour gets a chance to form. That means getting in the car by 7:40 AM. If I get there by 7:55 I am almost guaranteed to be one of […]
“There’s something about this place,” a guest said to me. “It’s the energy.” She took a deep breath and sighed. I smiled. I have heard this before, often. It’s why I’m here. You can’t stay in your tightly-wound-up stressed mind while you are here because Spirit Hill calls to you. It says, Slow down. Be […]
Spirit Hill is located by the intersection of three streets. Where the three streets connect, a pair of black sneakers dangle from the telephone wires. The sneakers have been there, seemingly, forever. They move in the breeze. They bug me. I have tried to think of how to get them down. Get a gun and […]
A couple of weeks ago I learned that if a tree falls in the middle of the night at Spirit Hill, no one hears it. Well, the chickens must have, since it fell on top of their house, but they’re still not talking about it. Who knows, maybe they are heavy sleepers and they slept […]
As farmer-in-training at Spirit Hill, I have learned that whatever I plant is as much the birds’ and the animals’—deer, turkeys, chickens, moles, gophers, birds, insects, for example—as it is mine. Growing things at Spirit Hill is a good exercise in non-attachment. Hello, three sunflower plants I bought at Harmony and love so much. Hello, […]
I had a friend who had her face resurfaced. If this doesn’t make you wince, imagine someone sandblasting your face and then saying what looks like a crime scene will translate into youth and beauty in…weeks? Months? Let’s be truthful (but I hope she isn’t reading this): Never? I’ll leave it with the fact that […]
The roses are here! It seems like it happened over night. One day I went to feed the chickens and things were winter bare, and the next day an explosion of color had happened. And I hadn’t heard a peep in the night. Roses must rose very quietly. The thing I love most about the […]