Nesting

I am so happy to say to you all that Shae Lynn and I got married on Tuesday! As I mentioned before, we are living off of our savings right now and can’t afford a reception, but we had a wonderful time being married at the county assessor’s office.

I am anticipating a large number of admonishments for this, but we started our day with building the prototype for our mobile chicken shelters. I had thought it would be fine to do farm work so long as we had an hour to get ready. At first I was a little skeptical when Shae asked to stop working a full two hours early, but I quickly was reminded that I should never doubt her when I saw how gorgeous she was.

We had to make sure the chicks were fed and safe before we left and a couple of trouble makers ended up getting us behind schedule. We also had to stop at the post office because Shae and I (really just me) had forgotten to get me a ring so we ended up ordering one online gambling that it could reach us with overnight shipping by the afternoon of the wedding. Amazingly it did, and after I was scolded by the postmaster for buying a wedding ring on the internet, we made it to the office on time.

The ceremony was obviously small, but we were amazed by how much of an asset that turned out to be. Having just the two of us there made us feel like we were saying our vows directly to each other. There was no audience and no expectations. It turned out to be very moving and something I’m really happy we did.

To celebrate, we had Shae’ brother chick sit so we could have dinner at Pasta Moon in Half Moon Bay. Pasta Moon is an incredible restaurant about 20 minutes up the 1 that really values and seeks out local and sustainable food. Further, they are going to be the first restaurant to serve our chickens and turkeys! When we arrived they had a couple of glasses of champagne waiting for us at our table along with several sincere congratulations from the staff. The owner, Kim Levin, was raised on a farm herself and has a genuine interest in finding food that has the full flavor she remembers. She has been so excited about our chicken and such a phenomenal supporter. The dinner was superb and at the end we were completely surprised to learn that Shae’s mom had called before we had arrived and paid for our meal. The gift made us both beam.

When we got home we were exhausted and had to feed the chicks again, but we made a point to turn up the car’s stereo enough so we could have our first dance under the stars in the driveway.
All in all the day was just a great reminder of how special small can be. We still want to have a reception next year, but it was really moving to be able to spend our day together.

P.S. We are having a great honeymoon. I dragged Shae out to this amazing retreat where city kids like us can spend some serious time learning about local agriculture and where food comes from by waking up early, feeding chickens, eating fresh food, and building farm structures all day.

(Shae is really tired right now and when I showed her this I got a slug in the arm. I am sure we'll find a time in the next 10 years to take a little honeymoon.)