Good morning everyone! And what a good morning it is, too.
I'd like to introduce you to my new series of blog posts, called "A peek into (random sibling's) morning". I will be following a certain sibling around with a camera, capturing everything they do in their morning farm chore routine. Yup, you'll get to see all the nitty gritty! What's more, I'm going to be interviewing them as we go. Sound like fun?! The only negative is that there is a ton, literally, a ton, of pictures in these series. So a big group apology to those of you with slow internet connections. Bear with your ol' Bessy or avoid this series!
Alright everyone, let's get bundled up for the morning farm chores!
I'll randomly select Michael to be my first victim.
As you can see, he was a good sport about it.
Okay, let's go! Mmm, smell that crisp clean morning air!
First step: crack any ice off the end of the hose and put on nozzle.
Q) So, how long do the morning farm chores take you?
A) "About an hour and a half."
Next, bring the other end of the hose inside and hook up to the warm water. Get the liquid minerals/enzymes (EMs) from the house.
Q) So what do you like most about farm chores?
A) "Being with all the animals."
Fill up water buckets, adding EM's to each.
Give water to calves and goats.
Q) What do you like least about farm chores?
A) "Buddy!" (laughter). (Buddy is our over zealous bull.)
Q) What really?
A) "Hmm, nothing."
Q) Would you rather trade your farm chores for inside chores?
A) "No."
Then give the cows EMs and water.
Q) Would you rather trade your farm chores for any kind of other chore/job?
A) "No."
Herd the cows over for their morning drink (so the water doesn't freeze before they get to it).
Q) Would you rather trade your farm chores for a morning school bus ride?
A) "No. Not.
Absolutely not."
Q) Who are your favorite farm animals?
A) "Danny (ram) and Summer (milk goat)."
Q) Who's the cutest farm animal?
A) :
(Danny.)
Q) And the ugliest?
(laughter)
I actually think he's pretty cute. The boys just have a vendetta against him.
Now we just simply sit on the fence and wait for Buddy to finish his water.
...Just sit there and breathe... stare into the back pasture....
Next, stick the hose in the horse trough to fill.
While the water is filling, collect the mineral buckets from the pens and bring them in to fill.
Now say hi to everybody again, as you feed out the minerals:
I want to interject that these pictures and words simply don't do the experience justice...
The smells are so sharp and clean...
The sun is so bright, the colors all really vibrant....
The sounds are all gentle and tickling to the ear...
The animals are all so cute and soft to the touch...
Your senses are all aroused, yet somehow calmed at the same time. It's a really neat experience.
(Walking out to the horses... and back again.)
Now, the horse water tank is full, so it's time to unhook the hose and drain it.
Okay now, last chore. We gotta climb in the goat house and milk....
And this is the reason he has the chore.
He fits the bill, well, hole.
They've given up using the gate for whatever reason and now just crawl through the milking stanchion.
Step 1: Give goat grain to keep her there.
(btw, this is Summer. Mike's other favorite farm animal.)
Step 2: Milk goat by squeezing on teats.
Next: talk to the twins in a cute goaty voice. Tell them their turn is next--just be patient. (He's very good at this step.
)
Repeat steps 1 and 2 with twins.
Then climb out, being careful not to spill your hard earned milk!
Q) Do you realize how much you contribute in your farm chores?
A) "Yea..."
All done!
Q) So what is your feeling after completing farm chores?
A) "Lifted, um, in my spirit? LOL I feel successful, like, um, what is the word?"
"Accomplished?"
"Yeah."
So, I'm sorry if I bogged down your computer, but hopefully I lifted your spirits!
I don't know when I'll get to my next series... it depends on the weather and my mood.
Who do you propose I should follow next?
"Come on guys, it's time to do farm chores!"
It's Michael's warning to Buddy if he ever gets out of line (they're deer legs from a recent butchering).
[Some days I'm jealous, but other, bad-weather-kind-of days I'm very grateful that I don't have a membership card, if you know what I mean.
]
Q. So what do you like most about farm chores?
It's not a major problem and only a couple of our chickens have them. They can cause stress though, and less egg production. Stephen just started the D.E. in the chicken house, so hopefully it will be remedied quickly.
"Good Grief, I'm leaving."
