The nature of farm living is that it’s tough work. Last night, after a day full of hard labour, my skin was stinging from scrapes, thorn pricks and a pretty decent sunburn.

My muscles and grip strength were gone. At one point, Matt had said, “Pull!” as we were stringing the fence in the garden. And at my response–“I’ve got nothing left!”–he just laughed.

It was after 5 o’clock, and the dog still needed his afternoon walk–a daunting prospect.

But the nature of farm living is that there’s also an incredible setting, right in our backyard, so Baxter and I headed for the pond trail.

Matt cut this trail for us last year. Some of our hard work earlier earlier in the day had been  sharpening the mower blades (with help from my parents), attaching the deck to the tractor and mowing the grass.

In addition to doing the lawn, Matt did a pass over the trail, so Bax and I had a lovely space to hike.

We walked alongside the lilac hedge that leads from the house down to the water.

We turned left and followed the trail along the shore towards one of our old apple trees. This tree is a showstopper this year. Absolutely covered in blossoms.

From there, the trail heads into the small pasture behind the barn, following the fence at the edge of the marsh.

It loops around past the manure pile and then up to my favourite tree.

We took a detour by the garden to check out the new fence.

And as I headed to house, Baxter decided he was going to stay out for awhile yet. He laid down beside the garden and gazed back down the trail and across the farm.

The view is fields and forest and trees and marsh, and it’s worth any scrapes, pricks, burns, aches, hard work and exhaustion.

The payoff–this farm–is exactly where I want to be.