Today is my Honey’s birthday—the Honey that I want on the trail with me that inspired this blog. To honor her I want to tell you about a special place that we visited for her birthday last year.

Before Loral and I met, she had been fascinated by the music of a particular artsy married couple. She loved how they looked at each other when they sang and just felt that they had something that she wanted some day with a Godly man.  She went to a few of their concerts and owned most of their CDs. This was her history with Over the Rhine—the couple: Linford and Karin.

When we began to date she introduced me to their love songs and their songs about Ohio (one of our all time favorite places is the Mawmee River in Grand Rapids Ohio).  I fell in love with their music too and it became a staple as we dated, got engaged and married.

Last year this couple, Linford and Karin, bought a farm in Ohio that they named Nowhere Farm. They had asked their fans to crowd source fund the rebuilding of an old barn on the property. It would be a place for musicians to come for training and a small venue. Their fans had crowd source funded at least one album in the past…Meet Me at the Edge of the World, I think.  We pitched in on this project to the tune of the price of two concert tickets and got invited to come see the place.

Instant birthday present! My Honey would rather have an experience than a gift. So we dropped everything and chased this birthday experience. Keeping the Edges Wild—a meaningful phrase that has made it into their music—fits well here for us because we are usually through planners. Linford would later tell us from the stage how his dad had advised them to leave the edges wild. And how they incorporated that into the cultivation of their land and into their music.

Hand in hand we toured the barn they are rebuilding. We picnic snacked on the pot luck style table of goodies and visited the outdoor barista. We walked the property and sat on the hood of our car staring dreamily across the pasture land and dreaming about our future…still pinching ourselves about how God had gifted us with the present.

Then the concert! What an experience for us—a couple of love birds getting to be loyal fans. We sang along outlaid and to each other like it was just us in the tent. The music was fabulous and the location was beyond charming. Karin told the crowd, “without you we’d be homeless” and Linford quipped, “Everything we own we bought with a song.” In their back yard about 500 of us enjoyed a concert. They told an interviewer later that they felt like we had truly celebrated with them.

We get to go back there later this year and will relive that birthday experience at No Where Farm. Happy birthday Honey! In our hiking adventures lets continue to Keep The Edges Wild.