From husslin' goats to bending
over a sink for hours, cleaning off shards. From lovin on a dog, to
cornering a cow and putting a harness on it. From gathering warm
eggs, to pulling weeds all morning...there's no end to what needs to
be done on a farm. But every little bit makes a difference. Every
little detail is important for things to work. And each part of it is
worth it at the end of the day when you sit down and all the aching
sets in. When you get your dinner ready and suddenly realize you're
hungry enough to eat one of the cows you just fed earlier. But
ah...that sure feels good. The real tiredness you feel when you lay
your body down to rest (or just pass out, like me!) on your bed at
night, when everything is put away. It's wonderful.
As some of you may know and many of you probably don't yet, a couple weeks ago my Mom and little brother and I finally moved out of our trailer. We're living temporarily on a farm with some friends who offered us a spot on their land to put up a camper where we would live for a short period...just over the summer. It will help us financially, and we'll be learning a lot of farming tips and guidelines to build in the future.
I've gotten the pleasure of feeding the animals each day and getting to know them all. ;)
The range of animals goes like this...Cows, Goats, Sheep, Turkeys, Chickens, Guineas...and two sweet Great Pearneys which each have the job of guarding some of the animals. One watches the outside chickens and the other guards the sheep.
In the morning I get up and put on a t-shirt and my farmin jeans, pull my work boots on and head out to the barn. I throw about half a bale of hay out to the mother cow and her baby that are kept under the barn. Then I turn on the water by the house and stick the hose into the closest trough by the fence, filling it to the brim and then switching to the trough inside and filling it up as well.
Next, I go inside the the barn and gather a half canister (they use those red coffee canisters) of food for the guineas who by this time are squawking at me noisily cause they want that food! Opening the screen door a bit, I toss the food in and close it back up again so no one gets out. Then I check for eggs in the container with straw in it where the chickens lay. Sometimes if I'm early, they'll still be warm! The dirty eggs (the ones that got pooped on, or if they were found by rats there might be a hole gnawed in one) get tossed out to the turkeys.
Then I go to the long shed on the other end of the house and get a half full canister of dog food for Tobijah which I take, with a full canister of chicken feed to the chickens and turkeys next to the barn. I toss the chicken feed out over the fence and while the cluckers are busy with pecking the ground, I sneak in the gate and pour the dog food into Tobijah's bowl. He's always happy to see me and I give him a good rubbing and a "good boy!" before I go.
I go by the barn and get an armful of hay and I run by the shed to get a canister full of goat food and head out behind the house where the goats are behind the chicken house back there. The baby goats are always excited to see me and follow me closely all the way through and around to their awning behind the chicken house. There I put their hay and the goat food I pour into a trough which they immediately begin to gobble up. Their mother is shy but has begun to come boldly to get the food, now that she's become more accustomed to seeing me bring the food.
Now I check for eggs in the chicken house and took food to them which is kept in a can inside. Since by this time I have several eggs, I put these on the porch while I finish up the feeding.
Before feeding the other dog, Hoatz, I always stand in the shed and call out for the cat. "C'mon babyyy, where are ya! Here babyy!" I call to her and if she's nearby she'll come and meow to me and I mew back. :P We talk sometimes and I ask her if she's hungry and she says "Mrowww" and does figure-eights around my legs. I scratch behind her head real good which she loves, and then scoop out a little bit of food for her and she follows me to the bowl and almost keeps me from getting to it in her eagerness. I pet her again and then half-fill a canister with dog food for the last time.
My favorite part of the feeding where I get to feed my favorite dog, Hoatz. He watches the sheep in the pasture that is a bit farther from the shed on the right side of the house. All alone over there, with the sheep. I reach through the fence and he sniffs me out and looks at me happily as I bring his bowl closer to the fence. Then I pour the food over the barbed-wire and kneel down to pet him. She sheep stand at a distance and make obnoxious bleating sounds to their heart's content but I ignore them, since I came to see my "puppy dog" and not them.
All that's left then, is to check the water trough for the sheep and goats and then head back to the house to clean up and have breakfast.
Now that's a normal morning of feeding for ya, around here.
Then there's gardening.
The harvesting of the beds gets done a lot faster with the lady and my mom and me doing it together. She was excitedly reporting that we got done in one evening what would have taken her all week to do.
One day, we got back a bit late from town and running errands, and had to hurry out to harvest peas, beans and shards from the gardens before it got dark.
Actually, while they started on that, I was a guinea pig for a friend who works in a beauty shop in town and needed to practice a french-cut manicure on somebody before the next day. So, I got volunteered (somehow I always end up as the one that everything is tried out on...lol) and she did my nails. Since I told her I didn't care for my nails being painted and that it was a bit too girly for me, she took if off after she'd finished what she was needing to practice, and just gave me a clear coat which suits me just fine. Of course, I was abot to go out and help with the garden beds and the dirt and stuff, so I kinda laughed at myself getting all primped up and then just undoing every bit of it in the dirt. Oh well!
When I got out there to help, there was just the shards to do and I got the job of cleaning the lower dead leaves and excess off as they picked the big leaves off and put them all in bowls which soon filled up. Then the lady turned to me and asked "do you have pants on under your skirt?" I replied, "Yeah..." kinda wondering what she meant. "Well, take off your skirt, I wanna use it so we can have more room to carry these shards." Now things were getting interesting. Haha! It was darkish and we were in the backyard, so what could it hurt. I pulled my skirt off and she laid it out on the ground and emptied the bowls of the huge amount that had been picked already. And there I was, stripped of my dignity, picking the plants and pulling weeds in the dusk, laughing to myself. The things people come up with that I have to carry out....
It was already past dark before we got the shards all pulled and headed back inside to get them washed off along with the beans and peas and some fresh lettuce. This took a while longer since they had to be cleaned and then rinsed twice and the slugs had to go (nobody wants to have sluggish shards, now do they? ;P) back outside. It all took awhile and I was feeling it in my back cause my mom and I were standing on the concrete, just washing leaves and picking the bugs and stuff off them so they could be eatable.
When we finished up, we ate some food and then after chatting a bit at the table, I went into the bedroom, combed my teeth, brushed my clothes and changed my hair with all three brushes and crashed on the bed. Brain.Is.Dead. Must.Not.Think...Anymore.
As some of you may know and many of you probably don't yet, a couple weeks ago my Mom and little brother and I finally moved out of our trailer. We're living temporarily on a farm with some friends who offered us a spot on their land to put up a camper where we would live for a short period...just over the summer. It will help us financially, and we'll be learning a lot of farming tips and guidelines to build in the future.
I've gotten the pleasure of feeding the animals each day and getting to know them all. ;)
The range of animals goes like this...Cows, Goats, Sheep, Turkeys, Chickens, Guineas...and two sweet Great Pearneys which each have the job of guarding some of the animals. One watches the outside chickens and the other guards the sheep.
In the morning I get up and put on a t-shirt and my farmin jeans, pull my work boots on and head out to the barn. I throw about half a bale of hay out to the mother cow and her baby that are kept under the barn. Then I turn on the water by the house and stick the hose into the closest trough by the fence, filling it to the brim and then switching to the trough inside and filling it up as well.
Next, I go inside the the barn and gather a half canister (they use those red coffee canisters) of food for the guineas who by this time are squawking at me noisily cause they want that food! Opening the screen door a bit, I toss the food in and close it back up again so no one gets out. Then I check for eggs in the container with straw in it where the chickens lay. Sometimes if I'm early, they'll still be warm! The dirty eggs (the ones that got pooped on, or if they were found by rats there might be a hole gnawed in one) get tossed out to the turkeys.
Then I go to the long shed on the other end of the house and get a half full canister of dog food for Tobijah which I take, with a full canister of chicken feed to the chickens and turkeys next to the barn. I toss the chicken feed out over the fence and while the cluckers are busy with pecking the ground, I sneak in the gate and pour the dog food into Tobijah's bowl. He's always happy to see me and I give him a good rubbing and a "good boy!" before I go.
I go by the barn and get an armful of hay and I run by the shed to get a canister full of goat food and head out behind the house where the goats are behind the chicken house back there. The baby goats are always excited to see me and follow me closely all the way through and around to their awning behind the chicken house. There I put their hay and the goat food I pour into a trough which they immediately begin to gobble up. Their mother is shy but has begun to come boldly to get the food, now that she's become more accustomed to seeing me bring the food.
Now I check for eggs in the chicken house and took food to them which is kept in a can inside. Since by this time I have several eggs, I put these on the porch while I finish up the feeding.
Before feeding the other dog, Hoatz, I always stand in the shed and call out for the cat. "C'mon babyyy, where are ya! Here babyy!" I call to her and if she's nearby she'll come and meow to me and I mew back. :P We talk sometimes and I ask her if she's hungry and she says "Mrowww" and does figure-eights around my legs. I scratch behind her head real good which she loves, and then scoop out a little bit of food for her and she follows me to the bowl and almost keeps me from getting to it in her eagerness. I pet her again and then half-fill a canister with dog food for the last time.
My favorite part of the feeding where I get to feed my favorite dog, Hoatz. He watches the sheep in the pasture that is a bit farther from the shed on the right side of the house. All alone over there, with the sheep. I reach through the fence and he sniffs me out and looks at me happily as I bring his bowl closer to the fence. Then I pour the food over the barbed-wire and kneel down to pet him. She sheep stand at a distance and make obnoxious bleating sounds to their heart's content but I ignore them, since I came to see my "puppy dog" and not them.
All that's left then, is to check the water trough for the sheep and goats and then head back to the house to clean up and have breakfast.
Now that's a normal morning of feeding for ya, around here.
Then there's gardening.
The harvesting of the beds gets done a lot faster with the lady and my mom and me doing it together. She was excitedly reporting that we got done in one evening what would have taken her all week to do.
One day, we got back a bit late from town and running errands, and had to hurry out to harvest peas, beans and shards from the gardens before it got dark.
Actually, while they started on that, I was a guinea pig for a friend who works in a beauty shop in town and needed to practice a french-cut manicure on somebody before the next day. So, I got volunteered (somehow I always end up as the one that everything is tried out on...lol) and she did my nails. Since I told her I didn't care for my nails being painted and that it was a bit too girly for me, she took if off after she'd finished what she was needing to practice, and just gave me a clear coat which suits me just fine. Of course, I was abot to go out and help with the garden beds and the dirt and stuff, so I kinda laughed at myself getting all primped up and then just undoing every bit of it in the dirt. Oh well!
When I got out there to help, there was just the shards to do and I got the job of cleaning the lower dead leaves and excess off as they picked the big leaves off and put them all in bowls which soon filled up. Then the lady turned to me and asked "do you have pants on under your skirt?" I replied, "Yeah..." kinda wondering what she meant. "Well, take off your skirt, I wanna use it so we can have more room to carry these shards." Now things were getting interesting. Haha! It was darkish and we were in the backyard, so what could it hurt. I pulled my skirt off and she laid it out on the ground and emptied the bowls of the huge amount that had been picked already. And there I was, stripped of my dignity, picking the plants and pulling weeds in the dusk, laughing to myself. The things people come up with that I have to carry out....
It was already past dark before we got the shards all pulled and headed back inside to get them washed off along with the beans and peas and some fresh lettuce. This took a while longer since they had to be cleaned and then rinsed twice and the slugs had to go (nobody wants to have sluggish shards, now do they? ;P) back outside. It all took awhile and I was feeling it in my back cause my mom and I were standing on the concrete, just washing leaves and picking the bugs and stuff off them so they could be eatable.
When we finished up, we ate some food and then after chatting a bit at the table, I went into the bedroom, combed my teeth, brushed my clothes and changed my hair with all three brushes and crashed on the bed. Brain.Is.Dead. Must.Not.Think...Anymore.
For now ;)
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