Farm, that’s an interesting one. Farm? It’s been a really long time since I’ve been to a farm. The last time I spent much time on one was when I was in third grade. We took a week long trip and lived in yurts while we worked on and learned about living on a farm. It was interesting. We learned about milking the cows, making butter, and many other things, I’m sure. We did a lot of interesting things at my school, a Waldorf school. Waldorf schools generally teach by doing/experiencing, so we saw and did many exciting things throughout the years. In 4th grade we studied all about the history of our state, and therefore we took our class trip to a ranch in the mountains, where we hiked, learned about the mountain men, made items by hand, and stayed in an old style bunkhouse!
All of those things aside, the very first thought that popped into my mind when I read the word farm on the rdp site, was thinking about when my boyfriend and I went trail riding. He had never been before, and I hadn’t been in over a decade, but I loved it. It was magical! I want to do it more and more often. My horse, Smoke, was so sweet and responsive. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. The other horses in the corral may have gotten a little jealous because I gave him lots of pets and love. In fact, the horses that hadn’t been on the ride immediately trotted over, happily, when they saw the post ride nose rubs that he got. It was such a special experience! I could truly go on and on and on about the whole experience and how much it meant to me, but I won’t bore you with all of the details. I will say this: the serenity, the green grass, the quiet, the wide open spaces, the beauty of the forest, the space to breathe, to think, and to just be, was incredible. Whenever I get stressed now, I think back about how it felt to have the room to be with these majestic animals out under the beautiful sky, while enjoying the experience with my love made me feel liberated on the inside. I’ll never forget it. It was life changing, and I recommend that everyone should have the chance to experience this.