to engage more , after many years of building our company . We were always community involved , but it was mostly through providing jobs , and helping out where we could , serving on the board of the farmer ’ s markets and donating to a lot of local organizations . Now , we try to do more .”
And throughout , despite the hard work and family , the business and the planning , the creativity and heart of these entrepreneurs prevails .
On the death of Orion , Luke wrote :
“ Orion ” was our first goat here at Big Picture Farm . Indeed , it would be accurate to say our farm was not even a farm until Orion arrived here the day before Thanksgiving , 2010 .
I drove to New Hampshire with my younger brother in our grandfather ’ s blue pickup truck and when we returned hours later , we released the latch and out hopped Orion , followed by a second all-white Saanen goat named , “ Fern ”. Orion was not quite two years old and Fern just shy of a year . Timidly , the unfamiliar creatures followed us into the far fields , a flurry of snow filling in our footprints as we went . Fact : nothing was ever the same again . In just a couple of hours , chores , would begin in earnest ( and then never stop !).
Orion and Fern marked the beginning of our life as farmers . The founding goats . There were times , especially during our second and third years farming ( which were the most challenging and demanding in our experience – the accumulated realities and exhaustion settling in , our farm and business accelerating so unwieldy that it felt as if the wheels were going to come whirling off the wagon at any moment ), when , accompanying the goats back to their new pasture after milking , I would find myself alongside Orion , who always took her place at the very back of the single-file line , as herd-queens often do .
We ’ d arrive at the new pasture together and I would close the gate behind her . Afterwards I would wait and watch her take her first bliss-bestowing bites of dinner in the pre-dusk splendor .
I marveled at the pure joy she took in those first mouthfuls of purple vetch or sheaf of maple leaves or swath of bluegrass , dragonflies brimming overhead , the buzzing insects embedded all around , the silent jazz of her interminable beard brushing softly the heads of seed stalks .
Setting the standard for the next stage of life
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Join our active 65 + community today and embrace a more carefree lifestyle .
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