So much of small-scale farming involves finding new uses for old things: the broken tent that becomes a canopy for the harvest truck, the abandoned disc harrow scavenged for bed-forming pieces, and the old garage door now used to keep the chickens dry. Even farming itself sometimes feels like an act of repurposing. Land that had once been meadow is tweaked, coaxed, and prodded into something that makes food for humans.
Frankie, too, has gotten into the repurposing spirit. Formerly used to house hay for the neighbor’s dairy cows, this little building is getting a new lease on life as a “no grown-ups allowed” clubhouse. Landon and Frankie spend an hour here and there slowly chipping away at her wishlist, although little progress has been made on the roof deck. With an architect for a grandpa and an auntie with a Masters in Interior Design, I can tell you that plans for this humble structure are getting pretty grand.
So next time Frankie lists all the pitfalls of farm life (long hours, dirty floors, too many vegetables) we can remind her of its magic–the power of transformation.