Reminiscing

Today is the final day of the Covered Bridge Festival. The photo above is from Friday, when the sun lit up the leaves that suddenly showed their true colors over the past week. It looked like this five years ago on this day when Jeff took me on what I believed to be a photographic adventure.

“It’s the last day of the festival, let’s go take pictures of the covered bridges,” he said.

“Yes, let’s go at Golden Hour!” I grabbed my camera bag and tripod, and we wove through the woods to the five covered bridges near the farm.

When we reached the longest bridge in the county, West Union, a van parked in the way of the picture I wanted to make. The next best bridge at that time of day was Mill Creek, which my great-great-grandfather built. Jeff began driving the normally-10-minute route.

But every few feet, I asked him to stop the car. The setting sun poured so much beautiful light on Towpath Road I couldn’t pass up the photographic opportunities for close-ups of grasses, trees, and rocks. I even set up my tripod so I could shoot more steadily, something I rarely do when I’m in the field.

Jeff’s poker face was perfect, hiding the surprise that awaited at the bridge.

By the time we arrived at Mill Creek, the sun was nearly gone, and so was the light for good pictures. Yet there were still 15 minutes left for Bridge Fest, so we walked across the boards to celebrate another good autumn.

Near the middle of the arch, Jeff stopped our stroll.

“I need to ask you a question.” He gave me words I treasure, and then said, “Will you marry me?”

“Yes, yes, yes!”

We beamed as we sat beneath the arch for a while, watching the last of the festival traffic pass by.

We were married seven months later on the West Union Covered Bridge, and now here we are, five years after our engagement, with the sheep, goats, and llamas.

Whenever we pass through a landscape with only grass, trees, and rocks, Jeff asks me if I need to get out and take pictures of it so that I can hold up more important things. I have a feeling he won’t ever let me live that down.

Thanks for Reading!

And I hope you feel refreshed and rejuvenated for the week ahead with this moment preserved in picture and prose. Consider:

• How will you create a new start this week?

Share your answer and this newsletter with a friend who likes engagement stories.

If Sylvan Sundays was forwarded to you, welcome! To learn more about our farmers, check out “A New Year’s Introduction,” and to learn more about our name, visit “Being Sylvan.” Also, make sure to check out “This Week on the Farm” and “Farm Shop” below!

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This Week on the Farm

Sassafras leaves are among the llamas’ favorite treats. Even better are the ones on branches the sheep can’t reach:

As far as treats for the farmers, Bridge Fest offers many delicious options, such as milkshakes with cake on top:

And pretzels made fresh:

This week, we’ll be going to a workshop about wool pellets, a way to compress scrap wool into soil amendments that can be used for houseplants, gardens, and more. The wool pellets provide nutrients, retain and slowly release water, and repel pests. We plan to offer our own wool pellets in our Farm Shop, so this workshop will help us learn the process of turning wool that we can’t sell into something useful!

Farm Shop

Have a browse through our Etsy shop for your next fiber arts projects! And when you need to express “Surprise!” in a text, check out our free llama GIF: