After the long winter we’ve had it is so good to finally feel the warmth of the sunshine and to see blue skies. I love this time of year when everything is “new” again—the grass is a brilliant shade of green, my magnolia and dogwood are in bloom, and my lilies, tulips, and hostas are all poking up through the ground. In addition to the changes in the temperatures and the foliage, there are many other things going on at our farm. It seems several people I know, including us, spent last week building new fence for the cattle. We have also had 11 newborn calves so far this spring, with three more expected. I’ll admit, despite the fact I have lived on a farm most of my life, I am not a fan of cattle (but I love pigs)! To put it nicely, they are not the brightest of animals. What other animal will go to the farthest boundary of the field, next to a steep hill, to decide to give birth? Apparently ours do, and then what ultimately happens is the newborn calf rolls down over the hill clear to the bottom and can’t get back up to its mother. My son has performed two calf rescues this season, both of them taking place while we were on vacation. I’m glad he was home looking out for things and, thankfully, both babies were okay and are now thriving. I do have to admit that even though cows are not my favorite, the little calves are very cute to watch when they are running and playing in the field.
In addition to the new babies being born, it is also time to start thinking about planting a garden. We have planted a garden every year that we have been married except one. There is nothing like eating a fresh tomato picked out of your garden—they just don’t compare to what you buy in the store. I freeze and can almost all of the produce we get from our garden, so it does save quite a bit of money at the grocery store. In addition, I have the satisfaction of knowing that I am feeding my family a quality product that is all natural and organic. Since I have a lot of produce still left over from last year’s garden, this year we are changing things a bit and although I will still plant some of the usual green beans, corn and tomatoes, I am not going to plant quite as much. Instead, we are going to do a section of the garden just for fun and plant pumpkins and gourds to use for fall decorations.
Living on a farm and raising livestock and produce is a never-ending job—there is always something to do. Your livestock will require medical care; hay will need to be cut and baled to feed them in the winter, which means fertilizer will need spread on your fields; barns and stalls need cleaned out regularly; fence and farm equipment need maintained; your garden will need plowed, weeded, fertilized and watered, etc., etc. The chores on a farm are varied and many, but all of the hard work can be very rewarding. So the next time you go to a grocery store and pick up some produce or a package of steaks, someone, somewhere, put in a lot of hard work to bring that food to your table—and they probably wouldn’t change a thing.
;)
