If I Had a Hammer...[on the farm]...

The worst and greatest moments in my life took place on Carter Mountain. I enjoyed a successful career as a professional trumpeter, amateur cellist, farmer and home educator. My most important role was mother.

I collected the worst memories and recorded them in my memoir – my graduate school thesis – Ballad of a Sandwich Girl – which waits on the shelf for the right time

Why did I homeschool for nine glorious years? I homeschooled based on classical reasons...simply because 'I could'...not because I was anti-establishment (okay, just a little)...I did not home educate because of the religious 'Let's protect ourselves from Satan' mode. I wasn't holed up with 10 years worth of supplies waiting for the feds to come in and do battle. Although somehow those people got my address and supply catalogues about survival and making your own bombs out of fertilizer managed to find my mailbox. I glanced over the articles about how to stock your cellar...build a bunker...decode government messages...all that stuff ... I wasn’t preparing to go to war with the government, even though they have felt like the enemy of late. I maintained a rustic and self-sustaining lifestyle, but not in the name of revolution.

The blend of farming, home education and music proved to be rewarding and character building for us all. We [children and I] did everything together, including building the goat pens, the chicken coops with roosts and nesting boxes and the bunny hutches (appropriately renamed as bunny bitches). Honestly, that part was quite amusing...Maryjane with a hammer. However, the real lesson in this undertaking was about teamwork and never giving up. If you saw me with a staple gun, which (with chicken wire) I grossly overused, you would comprehend the humor and our efforts.

We worked tirelessly. The result was, well… interesting...but it worked.

After we completed the construction, my crusty ex husband – who had been watching with great amusement since the farm was my sole endeavor by way of agreement – came in, tore the inner structure down, and re-built a beautiful chicken coop, goat pen and feeding station. Thud.