The Burning Barrel Farm

In my last post, I mentioned that everyone's journey is different.  Our journey began in childhood and has been tumultuous at times and smooth at other times.  It isn't easy.  I don't think anyone's journey is easy, whether they are farming, working in the corporate world, or have a blue-collar job.  All jobs are worthy of respect, and the recognition that they require effort and gumption.  The point is there is a story for every person and that story would be very boring if it were written with the same plot for the main characters (or protagonists).  In mine and Alex's story, we have quite a bit of rising action and many climactic scenes that keep leading up to a great falling action, and finally a resolution.  BUT, we are not quite ready to reach the end of our story.  Our short story turned into a novel somewhere along the way.  In this novel, we have lots of plot twists and some pretty great supporting characters to make this story go forward. We also had some

  Have you ever wanted to explain something, but cannot find the words to sufficiently describe what it is you want to tell?   Well, that’s me right now.   I wanted to do this long blog piece on how Alex and I got to the point we are right now (mostly because we have had a lot of people ask us), but I have so much to say that I completely stumble over exactly what it is that I want to say.   So, I guess I can start by saying that anyone can fall into a more simplistic lifestyle, but how you get there is something that is entirely your own journey.   Our journey began as children.   Alex’s childhood was filled with fond memories of playing outside, sports, and visiting his grandmother in Floyd County, Virginia.   All these things shaped Alex into a young man who loved to be outside and was independent in his actions and in his viewpoints.   He was a thinker and a problem solver (and still is).   As Alex grew older, he began to realize the impact of spending time with his grandmother a