I recently had the kind of experience artists might have while visiting a museum. As a gardener and small farm operator, I always love seeing how other people design, strategize, and bring their outdoor visions to life. I can glean something from anyone, no matter how little else we have in common. It’s all good and useful. But once in a blue moon, I get to visit a property that speaks directly to my soul. Huffman Family Farms in Choctaw is like this. It is to “small farms” what the French Quarter is to “neighborhoods I’d move to.” If you have ever visited Kathleen and Lucinda’s private glen of paradise, you know why I walked around almost in tears and why I went home with full-body vibrations.
Come with me.
We parked on the road and walked along the wide, winding driveway, beneath a canopy of unmanicured, beautifully wild Oklahoma trees, toward happy voices. It was a dark, moody June morning, with thunderstorms on the horizon, so we already felt a touch of magic in the air, but immediately I felt something more. Do you know that particular sensation of pure creativity hovering around you? I felt that. Vividly. Hand-painted signs, castoff metal art pieces, upcycled treasures, serpentine garden beds, and explosions of color and texture everywhere. Without an agenda or clear direction, I stood still. The place immerses you in beauty with a million possible places for your eyes to rest. Before going further, I felt my first urge to cry.
One large metal building with open doors and a driftwood arbor beckoned me. It was an immense workshop. Filled to the gills with art supplies, works in progress, finished pieces, and dozens of well-curated collections of anything beautiful and interesting you can imagine, it was like exploring an artist’s brain in 3-D. I did explore and snap a few photos, but then it suddenly felt terribly intimate, intrusive.
I moved to the next room, where our hosts had set out tables filled with products from other local vendors. Iced coffee, pastries, fresh honey, and jellies with fresh sourdough bread were available for everyone to try. Around the corner, there was a small, artsy kitchen where we could skewer bright, juicy tomato samples. I saw refrigerators where they held fresh produce for sale. People milled around, introducing themselves and chatting about their favorite parts of what they had seen so far.
Then they invited us outside for a tour.
When I say that the entire property tugged at my heartstrings and brought me to the brink of tears, I am not exaggerating. Every curve entranced me. Every new space we happened upon had a theme and often a hand-painted sign. Kathleen and Lucinda had woven purpose and whimsy into everything, and it showed. It all vibrated with such palpable Love.
Huffman Family Farm is a ten-acre property built by hand and cultivated naturally. They host events to encourage honesty and reflection on social issues, and, as Kathleen put it, they value initiating conversation over teaching classes. They sell gorgeous, clean fruits and vegetables, of course, and provide space for other local vendors to sell, too. Honey, fresh bread, and much more can be snagged here. But at its heart, the property seems to be about people and creativity. The marriage of science and art, and you see it everywhere.
Walk through the heavily mulched pathways, from garden to hoop house and from meadow to fallen tree trunk, and you will see wildflowers cohabitating with gladiolus. Bumblebees feasting on bee balm. Specialty four o’clocks. Outdoor rooms bursting with tomatoes and patty pan squash. Crepe myrtles. Casual herbs and flowers fill in wherever the pine trees allow enough sunlight. Wild grapes reach across the aisle to adorn a rusted sconce. There are places to sit and talk. Places to simply breathe deeply and absorb. Places to collect food. Places to give thanks, as I did silently the entire time we were there. Art and food and beauty everywhere.
Everywhere.
As we chatted with Kathleen, Lucinda, and more of their guests, I got fairly emotional. My husband said to someone nearby, “She has found her people.” Ha! It’s true.
How inspiring to see all of that good energy poured into just ten acres of otherwise average Oklahoma farmland. Woods, actually. Just ten acres previously smothered in Bermuda grass and cedars. Kathleen and Lucinda have massaged it gently into a place.
They have created an aspect of heaven on earth, and I feel so lucky to have seen it. I plan to return as often as possible, and you should too.
“What you do makes a difference,
and you have to decide what kind
of difference you want to make.”
~Jane Goodall
XOXO
It was absolutely a beautiful gem!!