Day 1 at Weston Red Barn Farm was Brandon's 31st birthday and right off the bat, we knew these were amazing people. We mentioned it was Brandon's bday in talking and they all signed a card for him, most of them before they'd even met him. That day we met the lead farmers, Margaret and Paul. Margaret was a small fit girl, with an animal science degree, who ran marathons, owned her own farm and you didn't want to F with. She took us on a farm animal tour and asked us how much we knew about animals, Brandon said, "I know what wines to pair them with." We later realized how much these animals meant to her (and eventually to us) which was why that wasn't funny, whoops. Paul was a giant, burly, soft spoken man with a love for memes and amazing with kids. One of our first encounters with him, was him moving 80lb wood benches alone so he could bushhog around them. (Yeah, we use words like bushhog now). We also met Colleen, the Country Store manager, who was bubbly, snarky with a smile, hated marbles and loved the Chicago Cubs WAY too much. Steve and Cindy are the farm owners, they bought the farm in 1992 and have since grown it to one of Kansas City's biggest agri-tourism farms with farm animals, a pumpkin patch, pony rides, and two wedding venues with 6 weddings a weekend! Steve is a santa-looking man with a killer sense of humor, the biggest heart and often too generous to everyone. Most of the younger kids working the farm were terrified of Steve, but maybe that's because they never had a crown and coke with him like we did. Cindy, is a tiny lady who commands the room, has more wisdom and advice than anyone I know, is amazing to hang out with and we consider a second mom, she'd go to the ends of the earth for the people she cares for and she loves light beer, so we got along great.
As we worked that first week, Steve, being the generous guy he is, offered us to park the RV and sleep at the driveway of their unused house across the street, known as Boogies. That ended up saving us a ton of money and allowing us to work more, it was a win-win.
I worked the country store mostly and Brandon drove the tractor hayride, but we also picked pumpkins, did farm chores, hosted school field trip tours, worked weekend weddings, and so much more. Sometimes it was the hardest work, pumpkin picking in 87 degrees with 90% humidity, and sometimes it was the easiest, setting up pumpkin arrangements on an old truck, but it was all awesome.
We'd later go on the meet all the people who help the farm run during the fall, and let me tell you, fall on the farm is crazy! Renee, Judy, Nina, Karen, Jeanne, Kasey, Jane, the school field trip ladies. Zoe, Amy, Cody, Agi, Carol, Sophia, Wyatt, Quintin, Military Terry, Grain-Train Terry, Collen's parents and sister, Joe and Lisa of Last Supper, and all the people who work the store and pumpkin pricing. Jacob, Gabe, Zach, Jordan, Daniel, Madison, Sarah, Tyler, Braden, Honkey Tonk, and all the other high school kids who work the weddings and help with farm chores. Each of them were crazy in their own way, but made our fall on the farm memorable.
Donovan, Steve and Cindy's son, was the wedding manager and so much more, he worked non-stop from the second we met him. He and his family, live smack in the middle of all the farm chaos in an old farm house right in the middle of the pumpkin barn. I became friends with his awesome wife, Kate and as much as we don't like kids, even Brandon grew to like theirs. Their oldest is 13, the most talented ballerina, so sweet but with the sassiest attitude, and their youngest, 2, is the smartest, most fun kid I've ever met who became best friends with Sushi, and renamed her Baby Sushi. They also had a new puppy, Mochi, who was too crazy for Baby Sushi, but has the most amazing, smiling grin and loved me and rough housing with Brandon. Kate had us over for drinks and made us dinner multiple times and could not have been more amazing. One night while swapping stories over some whiskey I mentioned the 'pep talk' and she revealed she wasn't so sure about Donovan hiring 2 hippies who lived in an RV to come work the farm. I'm sure glad our husbands didn't listen to our doubts!
Fall season ended November 1 and our last day on the farm was my 30th birthday, kinda cool to start on Brandon's birthday and end on mine.
Since leaving the farm we have met up with Steve and Cindy at Disneyworld, text with Donovan and Kate regularly, and still receive terrible memes from Paul. We don't know where RV life will take us this next year, but we definitely know it will be Weston Red Barn Farm next fall.