My Heart is in the Home

~ rabbitpatchdiary.com

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Today is the first day of summer vacation at the rabbit patch.  This is my eleventh summer here ,on whats’ left of a once prosperous farm. There is a 4 acre yard, a patch of young woods and an old farmhouse, right at one hundred years old. There are seven barns, old trees and a garden. We have peach, fig, apple, pear and pecan trees as well as grape vines that have massive, old  trunks.  This is where my heart calls home.

I have worked day in and day out every summer that I have been here.  I have cleaned barns, cut vines and planted roses all over the place.  I have a nice herb garden that is naturalized well, now.  Perennial flower beds are tucked in mostly everywhere and there’s a white picket fence all around it. The rabbit patch is not short on charm. 

I know every inch of the place personally because I  have been there.  I know the birds that live here and what the sky looks like at all hours.  I know where the wild violets like to grow .  I am rarely surprised here these days with few exceptions.  A few years ago, some tanagers showed up that I hadn’t met-but mostly, days pass in old familiar ways.

It sounds lovely-and it is, but it is a far cry from easy street, to live on the rabbit patch.  By August, I usually have scratches from briers , bites of every sort all over and paint in my hair.  Still, I love being at home painting flowers on my barn and canning tomatoes.

The summer holiday has started off in a beautiful fashion.  Jenny and Lyla came for breakfast.  While Jenny worked on her college school work-I took Lyla to see Miss Sylvia, my neighbor and the first friend I made when I moved here.  Miss Sylvia is well known for her helpfulness to any and everybody-and for cooking “peach jacks”.  Up until recently, she fed all of the widows  in the community every month.  There is no telling what else she has done that I don’t know about.  She is eighty years old and was going to can string beans when I left.

On the walk back, I introduced Lyla to “Ace” -probably the first real horse she has ever seen.  Ace put on quite a show for us. I pulled grass for him, and Lyla laughed about that.  I never did convince her, that Ace wasn’t a dog.  When we were going down the drive at the rabbit patch, I stopped to pull grass from around a rose bush and Lyla laughed again.  I picked some gardenias and white roses.  Lyla smelled them for a while.  It was a perfect way to end a morning-the first morning of my summer.

I have big plans to plant basil this afternoon.  Later I will cook supper and take as long as I please to do so.  Christopher Robin, my kitten needs a bath and as always there’s grass in the garden.  I have to come up with a plan for some home repairs that needed to be done yesterday and I will vow again to downsize after that.

This life is not for everybody-but it is mine and I am quite satisfied.  I would rather be looking for the red tanagers, than taking pictures in Africa. I would rather hear Lyla laughing than hearing the mighty Niagara waterfalls- and Miss Sylvia is as good company as I  know of-Ace too.

This is the way  the summer passes, here on the rabbit patch. If you ask me what time it is, I will tell you it’s “June” and that it is a lovely time- a beautiful, ordinary time at a rabbit patch, with an old house on it that needs fixing. It is the place  where I live. . .  and  my heart  calls it home.

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38 thoughts on “My Heart is in the Home”

      1. That was just beautiful. I love the place were at and we try as hard as we can to make it home. We loved living in the Park. We had wonderful times and wonderful friends there but as time changed and children grew up our situation changed also. I miss it in many ways but we do love being in the country and enjoy the peace and quiet. I miss my scouts. That was a special time in all our lives. We had such a great group of young men and such great family support. We miss you too dear Michele. Hope to be able to stop by the rabbitpatch before to much more time has past. We have known each other since kindergarten and we will always be dear friends. Take care, watch out for the briars and such. Please continue to bless us with your wonderful thoughts and words. You are truly gifted.

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  2. Lovely post. My husband was brought up at a farm and was used to hard work. He never complains and if you ask him for certain dates he tries to remember but knows it’s spring or summer

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      1. I love to hear from you. Just image to be allowed into each other’s homes this easy. Writing and posting and reading and then we get such glimpses into our lives lived so far away

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    1. I am so glad I found your blog! I really am going to downsize too. I am 58 and single-5 grown children -but like you I am sure the smaller rabbit patch will feed my soul too! Thank you so much for visiting and I am looking forward to reading your posts!

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  11. As usual I love to hear about your life, Michele and your words almost make me feel as if I am there with you having that visit I long to have! Take care my cousin. I will think of you as as I inhale my own gardenias and pick my basil. I have some wonderful smelling lavender also. 😉 You make me miss my teaching days and having my summers more free!

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