The Happy Place

The Clearing

Before I came here and made this place my own, it was a simple clearing in this forest - a small area of grass and wildflowers, embraced by trees and graced with fireflies; too small to be called a meadow, but big enough to distinguish itself from the rest of the forest.   

This forest has been here since before I was born, but I've only delved this far into it fairly recently.  I've never truly needed it until now.  This forest, this clearing, is a place where I can live in peace.

As I've come here more and more often, I've adapted it to my liking.  The forest is extremely giving, if you know how to ask politely.  In the center of this clearing lies my cottage; in the south, my farm; and in the northeast, my bridge over the creek.

My cottage has two rooms: a kitchen and a bedroom.  

The kitchen is the larger of the two.  In the center of the kitchen is a fire oven which is neither grand, nor humble - I use this to do all of my cooking.  Eggs, corn, and vegetables are by far the easiest to cook here, but nothing is particularly challenging to cook, either.  You'll find that the shelves and cupboards are packed with herbs, spices, and dried flowers.  These things are used more than anything for tea making.  The lights and the small refrigerator are powered by the solar panels on the roof.  When it's stormy, the room is lit by candles and the refrigerator cannot be opened - but that's okay, I have bread always ready just in case of this happening.

The second room is directly behind the kitchen, and its floor is carpeted with soft wool rugs, pillows, and blankets.  There are four sets of bunkbeds - I am not alone in this cabin, and truthfully, this cabin isn't fully mine.  It belongs to those who feel that they don't have a real home in the world and to anyone who needs it.  Shelves in this room are stocked up with novels, notepads, sketchbooks, journals, and folded up maps.  There is one window facing eastward.  Everyone living in this cabin must rise with the sun.  There's too much work to do to be sleeping in.

Surrounding the entire cabin is an all-around porch.  This porch has handmade rocking chairs and small tables to set drinks on.  It's used to sit and talk when the day is coming to a close, to watch the sunsets and sunrises, and to watch the rain.  It's very hard to be unhappy when you're watching nature from the porch.

I mentioned earlier that just south of the cabin is a farm.  This farm is humble, but sustaining.  I have a row of corn and two rows of wheat; I have carrots and potatoes; I have an apple tree, an orange tree, a lemon tree, a blueberry bush, a pear tree, and a peach tree; I have cucumber and strawberry vines; and I have a black pepper plant.  When it comes to animals, I have four sheep, four pigs, six chickens, two cows, and two goats.  There is a farm dog to round up the sheep, and a farm cat to keep away mice.  There is also a raised garden containing all of my flowers and herbs, like lavender, mint, geranium, sage, and parsley, to name a few.  

Northeast of the farm and the cabin lies the creek.  This creek is where I get almost all of my water - mind you, I also have a rain catcher on the roof of my cottage, but the creek is a gracious provider during the stubbornly sunny days in autumn.   I purify the water using sand, rocks, and charcoal; then I boil it.  I have not once gotten sick from cleansing the water this way.   The creek is also a good place to sit and relax when the day's work is done.  I sit and I watch the water run, and the small minnows swim.

The final thing I need to tell you about is the pathway.  The pathway is how I get around, since the grass is tall and a hassle to walk through.  It's a fairly shabby dirt path, made only from being trodden on so often.  It surrounds the cottage, winds through the farm, and it leads up to the bridge over the creek.