By Julie Reardon

When you’re a young child, 25 years ago is not much different than 75 or 100 years ago, it’s all the olden times and stories of what life was like back in the day fascinate them. Plus, the telling of those tales gives the old folks a chance to remind the young whippersnappers how good they have it. If the stories contain some embellishments, so much the better. We’ve all heard about walking uphill to and from school in blizzards instead of getting a text in early evening that classes have been canceled for predicted and not actual snow, never mind blizzard.

As this year is the 25^th anniversary of when we bought this farm in Fauquier County, I am reminded of how fast our world is changing and how many things are different than just 25 years ago. Since I don’t have children or grandchildren as a captive audience to describe and embellish the olden days when we first moved here, I’ll describe some changes here for you.

We signed the contract for the farm we still live on late in 1999 and moved here in early 2000. Back then, the big worry was Y2K. No one was sure but there was plenty of uneasiness of what devices or systems were going to crash. It turned out to be a lot of hand wringing over a non-event. And there were some great fireworks shows on that last day of 1999, certainly more memorable than any inconvenience from the year change.

Settling into our new location was easy; we’d only moved 15 miles south of Middleburg in rural Western Loudoun to the boondocks of northwestern Fauquier County. We had dial up for internet, cumbersome and slow, but so did everyone else so we didn’t feel we were missing out. Looking up anything you wanted to know on the internet wasn’t yet as common as it is today. Nor was working remotely from home and not as many people commuted from the area of our new home in the Orlean area to DC and Northern VA jobs. To us, it didn’t feel like the boondocks, but just another pretty rural part of Virginia.

The biggest change for most are the farm chores and maintenance that once came so easily when we were in our late 30s and 40s. There’s not much change even into your 50s but once you pass 60 some or many body parts are not as cooperative as they once were. Many just wear out. At least half my contemporaries have had or need knee or hip replacements, shoulder surgery or other major surgical repairs. It never used to faze me to carry a 50-lb bag of dog or horse feed from my vehicle to the feed room in the stable, only about 25 yards from the drive up a very slight hill.  Now I’m really glad for that nice wide gate into the stable area so I can drive almost right into the feed room.

Any chore that needs to be done from a ladder such as painting, tree trimming or gutter cleaning, is best saved for the paid help you’ll need more of in your golden years. Balance does change, and not for the better, and a fall over 60 can have a far more damaging effect than one in your 40s. Allergies you never knew you had might join your list of woes as aging lungs are not able to fight them off as easily as they once did.

Mowers and power tools require extra caution, for those who use them and work on them regularly. Some may be better off paying others to mow, cut wood with a chain saw or other chores that once came easily.  There isn’t really a one size fits all approach to when you should stop using dangerous power tools, but you’ll know when you need to decide.

If the farm corners and in/around clumps of trees gets shaggier than what you’re used to seeing on your land, sometimes it’s easier to pay someone to clear and clean those areas a few times a year. Likewise, your garden may be smaller than it was in your younger days, but it’ll be more manageable. Raised beds and containers are wonderful to allow you to keep your hands dirty, vegetables growing and flowers blooming. In summary, like teenagers that think they’re 10 feet tall and bullet proof, in our 40s we do too, but in a different way. We think we can do it all forever but it’s best to be able to adapt to change in order to age in place on a farm.