It is hard to believe that it has been 6 months since we got married, and yet, there are days I wonder how it has ONLY been 6 months.
A lot has happened in these past 6 months. It has involved moving to a new state, setting up house, church hunting, acclimating a grumpy cat, sickness, trips, work, snow, movies, food, tears, laughter, school, many plane tickets, bills…you get the idea. To say it has been a full 6 months would be an understatement. Through it all, though, we’re 1) still happily married and 2) learned a lot about each other and what married life is really like. Here are 6 lessons compiled by G and I that we’ve learned these past months.
- Support each other’s hobbies--Read this also as take some alone time. We love spending time with each other and have a lot of the same interests, BUT we both really enjoy doing things alone. You can find G playing games on the computer some evenings while I knit or watch a baking show. Just because we are newlyweds, does not mean 24/7 together is goals. Garrett Note: Doing our own things while sitting on the couch together is way better than the bachelor days when it was just me.
- If you want things done a certain way, do it yourself–A week into living together, we found out that there were things we did differently like loading the dishwasher and cooking. I’ll be honest, it caused a few spats. What we realized, (coined by Garrett) is that if it is that big of a deal to do it your way, then do it yourself. You’ll quickly find out what really matters. He washes dishes and I fold clothes now.
- Pillow control–I’m a girl. As a girl, I like decorative pillows on my couches and beds. Garrett is a dude. As a dude, he finds additional decorative pillows pointless and annoying. Garrett Note: Extra pillows look great on the couch until I want to sit there, then they just end up as decorative floor pillows. Lesson learned: control the urge to buy even more decorative pillows and guys, tolerate a few.
- Leave expectations at the altar–Expectations are pretty tricky and a lesson that we are still working on. It is natural to come into a marriage with expectations for the other person or for the marriage as a whole. However, that isn’t always fair or realistic. We are learning to check our expectations and make expectations as a team. Marriage is a game of who can give to the other the most.
- 70/30, the split of the closet–I know this one seems obvious, but I honestly had every intention of an optimistic 50/50 split and a realistic 60/40 split. No matter how hard I tried, it didn’t work. Garrett Note: I couldn’t believe it…. she just kept moving in more boxes of things.
- Decorations are give and take–Maybe I’m unique in that I got a husband that has a decent amount of opinions when it comes to decorating. Regardless, I was a little surprised. We had to come to several agreements, and it was a definite give and take situation. For example, G finally agreed to get rid of the worn out, plaid, fraternity house couches (Garrett Note: If you’re reading this, sorry Colin). We went shopping together and chose couches that both of us liked. I finally agreed to hang a 5 foot metal green dinosaur (thanks Chris Garrett Note: Chris, I love you man!) in the house. It now hangs in the guest bathroom with its head peeping in the shower.
There have been plenty of other lessons learned like don’t buy peas for dinner and when the cat is bad, she’s my cat, not our cat, but at least I can say that it’s his fish when the tank needs cleaning. Some lessons have been fun, while others have been frustrating, but they’ve all made us grow together.
So, here is to 6 months of marriage. Let’s see what lessons are yet to be learned.
Gus didn’t win overall champion ram, but he did win his fleece class.
Believing in someone or something can go a long way, especially when hope is involved. Gideon and Gus won on that, and now, I think Gus is staying on Countryview Farm.
It was different in more than the airplane ride this year, though. This is the first year in 16 years of showing at the fair that the Lintons have not shown a goat at the fair. What?! There was a time that I never thought I’d say that. Granted, there was a time when I swore I’d never own a sheep. Here we are, bringing 18 of them to the fair. Never say never. This was also the first year that Alec didn’t show. Adulting, man…it’ll get you. He was able to join us after the sheep show to help us load sheep and eat fair food.
Yet another aspect that was different this year was that the fair closed the first day due to Hurricane Michael. Guess who had a flight scheduled to land that day? This girl. Thankfully, the storm had blown over by the time I arrived. Somehow, I managed to miss the five inches of snow Lincoln, NE got and the hurricane rains. I did bring fall temperatures with me (your welcome NC).
The rest of the day was spent catching up with friends and running around taking people’s photos. Thank you to all who entrusted me with taking pics of your kids. You helped pay for my plane ticket to be there!
The day at the fair concluded with me showing in the performance hog show. Ya’ll, I’ve been coaching the boys on showing pigs, but showing them yourself…man, I felt rusty. Nonetheless, I had a ball showing the barrow and ended up with a Reserve Champion Market Performance Hog for See Farms. My day was made complete with a trip to CookOut. They don’t have those in NE.
The second day at the fair was a bit different than the first, but it was still busy. My Fit Bit let me know that I achieved 8,000 steps that day. Instead of showing, I was on the job for the Sale of Champions. I helped check buyers in, took photographs, and videod the sale with my partner in crime, Emily. It was a record-breaking sale, bringing in $190,000, some of which goes to scholarships. It is always a ton of fun to work the Sale, and I often pinch myself that this is my job! Once the sale was complete and the truck loaded, Emily and I headed to the Golden Arches for dinner at 10 at night followed by a tour of her new apartment. I got home around midnight to get up the next morning for a sunrise engagement shoot for some friends. It was early, but amazing lighting and so much fun!
The next few days were spent washing and clipping 18 sheep. Let me tell you, this is no easy or speedy task. It took us a solid 2 ½ days to complete. The sheep, of course, despised us, but didn’t look like a hot mess for the show. One sheep, Cain, even did a flip in the air and landed in the mud—he got washed twice. Mom, grandma, Isaac, Gid, and I clipped until dark while Dad and Alec built a divider for the trailer. The guys also built a new sheep stand, that made much easier. Those nights, we didn’t eat until 8.
On Wednesday, Mom, the boys, and I loaded up the truck with all our feed and supplies and put all the sheep in the trailer. By the way, that is simple to write, but not simple to do. Catching sheep isn’t always a walk in the park. Thankfully, I have brothers who are excellent sheep wranglers.
We were off to the races…errr… show. The fair had decided to rearrange things a bit which meant no backing trailers for this girl. I approved of the new set-up. The vets were super helpful, and we got the 18 sheep checked-in in no time. After some last-minute touch-ups, we headed back home for some Brightleaf hot dogs (because you can’t get those in NE either), grabbed our bags, and headed back to Raleigh to stay in a hotel. The show was early, and we didn’t want to deal with morning traffic.
Ultimately, we couldn’t be more thrilled with how it all went. We came home with many top 3 in classes and a few champion banners! Our top honors included:
Each of the boys is attached to a certain sheep. It does my heart good to see them cheer on their sheep as much as I cheer on the boys. Isaac’s prize sheep is Astrid. While she didn’t win a banner, she did win top NC Born and Bred in her class. She is, and always will be Isaac’s Astrid. Gideon has bonded with Gus, our only natural born ram this year. Well, Gid and Gus won not only their division, but took home the top honor of Grand Champion Fleece, beating out purebreds (we always get odd looks at our crosses, but we also get results) and people out of state. 
It was a wonderful day! We packed up by 9, and headed home. I caught a flight the next morning at 10am back to NE. I now sit here in between the classes I teach, reminiscing on the 2018 NC State Fair and time with family and friends. While I wish I were back to be with them, I’m also happy to be back with my husband who had to lead a bachelor life while I was gone and deal with the very needy and moody Callie Cat. This was also our first state fair not together.
Needless to say, this NC state Fair was a tad different than years past, but it still holds all the wonder as before. I still made memories with the people I love, and still enjoyed the fried food and livestock shows as much as ever. NC State Fair, you are worth every mile I traveled to reach you, and while there’ a lot of changes happening in life right now, you stood pretty constant.
Every week, just about, someone in our family drives to the Nahunta Feed Supply to buy feed for our livestock. It isn’t just a store where we pick up a few bags of feed, though.
It is a place where we and everyone else are greeted with a smile, a “Hey!! How are you?!”, and maybe even a token word of friendly advice. The Nahunta Feed Supply is warm and inviting. The office is filled with homey touches and tons of pictures of friends, family, and youth who the feed mill supports. There is always a candle burning, so it smells more like a house than a mill. 
Most days, Mrs. Gale is at the counter to check you out. Somehow, she seems to make writing a check more enjoyable. Her husband, Roger, runs back and forth between their farm and the mill. 
My family and I have loved getting to know the Pittmans and those who work at Nahunta Feed Supply over the years. So, before I moved, I wanted to capture the mill, store, and the people behind it. In typical fashion, they were accommodating, gracious, and more than welcoming.
“Daddy continued to grow with land and business and expanded into a feed mill, growing hay, and selling fertilizer. He would buy crops from the farmers too,” said Mrs. Gale. 
The feed mill is at least 60 years old and is filled with history and heritage. In January of 2007, Gale and her husband Roger took over the store and mill and renamed it Nahunta Feed Supply. 
Today Nahunta Feed Supply provides feed, hay, and other supplies to the local community. They also serve up smiles and joy. It is evident they love what they do.
“I get so attached to my customers. I do really like it because I get to interact with people, and they become like your family. My customers are my family, and I love the country life,” said Mrs. Gale.
You can find the Pittmans at local livestock shows, supporting their customers who enter the ring. They love to see how the kids take the feed they purchase from the mill, feed it to their animals, and then show those animals off, and sometimes win! Not only do the Pittmans like to watch, but they have also made it a point to support the shows financially. No one can say that they do not give back.
We learned lots of interesting facts; for example, we discovered corn is ground more coarsely or more fine, depending on the type of feed and animal being fed. 
In addition to touring the mill, we also saw various types of equipment and the warehouse. A lot of the feed at Nahunta Feed Supply is made from crops grown by the Pittmans on their 687 acres they tend. They also grow and sell a large amount of hay for customers (182 of their 687 acres is hay). 
If I have come away with anything from my many visits to Nahunta Feed Supply, it is that it is much more than a feed mill. It is the people inside who run it, the passion in which they work, and the care in which they show to all of us who visit!
Rural Ris 