I Said "Yes!"

Spoiler Alert: This once upon a time story is not about Jocelyn saying yes to a marriage proposal, but rather, saying yes to live on a farm!

When Tyler and I started dating, Tyler always talked about his dreams of getting a piece of property and farming it. His great grandfather had been a dairy farmer in upstate New York, back when owning small dairy farms was a common means of living and everyone received their daily milk portions from a local farmer. Though Tyler never actually mentioned wanting cows or other livestock, in the early period of their courtship, he had fanciful farm life ideas. As a Jersey girl at heart, I would always shake my head and wonder who would ever want to live on a farm.

Several months after we were together, Tyler mentioned a 42 acre piece of property for sale up in Orange County, New York. The property happened to be directly across from Tyler’s brother and sister-in-law’s house, and they knew the owners. One day Tyler and I were visiting his family, and after some coercing by Tyler and his brother, I was convinced to take a walk across the street and check out the property.

The three of us looked both ways, crossed the street, and began walking down the longest tree-lined driveway I have ever walked down. There were large fields to the right and left (and was that a horse in the field?), and after making it halfway down the driveway, a white house with green shutters came into view. Tyler’s brother explained this was the main house. Not far from the house was a barn, and across from it, another barn, and believe it or not, down a little ways there was yet another barn. It was as if we were in one of those historic villages that people pay to visit, except this wasn’t a tourist attraction, this was an actual working farm with horses, hay, chickens, and who knew what else.

When we returned to Tyler’s brother’s house, the inevitable question arose, “Soooo, what did you think?” I thought about it for a moment, and then replied that while it was lovely, it mostly seemed overwhelming (like what in the world are we to do with all those barns?!?), and quite frankly, not the kind of place I envisioned myself calling home. With that, we abandoned the idea of owning that property.

We spent the next six months searching for a house to call home - we looked at apartment units, condos, houses, dozens in total.  We wanted to find somewhere to live with some privacy, a little bit of property, and of course, the house itself had to meet our standards. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to stand out or hold up to the value of the asking price, and we were becoming quite discouraged.

During this time, Tyler and I started becoming very aware of how developed Rockland County was, which was the area we were primarily trying to make our home. We started lowering our standards and justified places we never would have considered before: a house that was 15 feet away from the neighboring house (but it had a decent - sort of - yard!), a house that was so close to a major highway that you strained your ear to hear and your throat to talk (but more trees can be planted to create a sound barrier!). You get the point.

One day, the realization came that the area of Rockland County, which used to be farmland just like everywhere else, was now utterly suburban. The additional, and more profound realization, was that the conversion of farmland to residential houses was progressively moving north as areas closer to (and including) New York City were stretched to its capacity and bursting at the seams.

Somewhere along the way, the commodity of living near a large city became more coveted than living in an area that allowed for self sufficiency and a oneness with the earth. The convenience of buying from supermarkets far surpassed the emphasis on the skills of growing and preserving one’s own food. “Buying local” was no longer the norm, rather, it was the new trend that one could partake in by frequenting farmers markets and certain sections of food stores.

The answer was obvious. After months of searching, I, Jocelyn, finally said “YES” to that 42 acre property. Tyler, of course, was ecstatic. The both of us had no idea what living on a farm would mean, but the importance of preserving that land, history, and lifestyle, far surpassed the need to have all the answers.  

Jocelyn