My friend Ben Osterhaudt and I went over to the possible New Bedlam Farm this morning, and it was very meaningful and meant a lot to me. Ben and I have been through a lot together. He is a carpenter and restorer and he, more than any other human, is responsible for the work done on Bedlam Farm – the barns, maintaining the property, repairing the wood and water systems. He is something of a throwback, a Marlboro man, a strong, competent quiet craftsman who loves to work alone, hunt,  be outdoors, who can master almost any tool, and sits for hours in bitter cold with no jacket or gloves, puffing away on his cigarettes. We have worked together for years, and always comfortably. Ben is reasonable, doesn’t much like estimates, and never overcharges. He is shockingly strong, and as honest as he is competent, and we are so lucky to have him around. He could write quite a book himself about his time at the farm. Maria’s Studio Barn screen door was falling apart and came came over with his truck yesterday and found some old barn wood and built a new door in an hour or so.

He and I went over to the place we want to buy and we talked fences and heating and grounds, pipes and water, roofing and pasture. I loved it, one of the guys, talking animals and fences. He was very enthusiastic about the property and we walked the grounds – there is an old barn there – and figured out how he could dig out a pasture with his tractor. Ben loves nothing more than to be alone in his tractor for days and if we end up in this new place, he can do that for weeks, if not months. I feel Ben’s presence was very ratifying. Things that looked difficult were very doable to him, and made me feel easy. I said we had to sell Bedlam Farm, of course, and he just laughed. Oh, that will not be a problem, he said. It’s a great place. I am very lucky to know Ben.

He likes the new place, and thinks it a good fit for me, and for Maria. It is not a simple or easy place. One woman wrote that she thought it was good to move to a simpler place as we get older, but I do not believe that, at least not for me. I think it is good to be challenged as one gets older, and the new farm is, in many ways, more physically challenging than the existing Bedlam Farm. Lots of work to do there.