Early Morning Tour

Here are some pictures I took yesterday morning. It is hard to get a good idea of what the farm looks like from just a few pictures, but maybe these will help.






These Canada geese spend a lot of time in our pond. There are three sets of parents, and the rest are babies. They were so sweet when they were small. We like to watch the geese, but we also have to watch our step!



The pond covers about three quarters of an acre, and it is very deep. Someday we'd like to build a dock so we can play in it, but we think the kids are too small right now. The morning mist often sits over the pond like this.



This picture is of some of the hay and corn fields, looking out from the top of the creek bank that borders our back yard. The bank falls steeply down to the creek, and these fields lie beyond. This is where we look to see sunsets.




Here is the creek that runs all the way through the farm. It has a steep, high bank in most places. That makes it kind of hard to work around, but also beautiful. Further up, the creek runs through a ravine full of old, old trees and big rocks. Gorgeous! The kids like to catch crawfish and other various slimy things in the creek. Once, Rachel caught a whole cup full of these awful, nasty, wet, sticky orange slugs! Horrible! My feminine daughter!



At the right of this picture, you can see the barn. The old, tall section faces the road, and the long, rounded back section extends away toward the back pastures. You can see the biggest silo in this picture, too.






This is the barn. The gray building is the milk house, and houses the bulk tank and the control equipment for the milkers. The tall red part of the barn holds hay and straw, as does the upper level under the round roof. The square doorway to the right of the milk house is the door we use all the time, going into and out of the barn. To the right of that doorway you can see three little, square windows. These look into the tie stall area, which is in the lower level beneath both the red part of the barn and the round-top section behind. (You can just barely see the near end of the rounded section at the right of the picture.) The cows come in to be milked in the tie stall area.



The milk house and bulk tank were installed here in the 1960's. Before that, the Dearborns used milk cans, and brought them out to the little block milk house at the extreme left of this picture. The milk cans were cooled there with spring water until the milk man came to pick them up. That is quaint, I guess, but I am glad we don't lug milk cans! The old milk house now houses the generator, used in case we lose power. The milk cans are on my front porch.

Missing Ya'll

We have been operating at a lower speed the last few days. The first crop hay is taken care of, and now we are literally watching the grass grow, waiting to start on second crop hay. We have done some errands, but not many. Jason has been weed-whacking the banks along the road, as well as some of the fence lines. The cows sometimes have a hard time seeing the fence if the weeds are high, so he brush-hogs or weed-whacks along both sides of the fence. That way, the cows don't get unexpected shocks.

The kids have been busy enough. The boys have cleaned out calf pens--no job for the faint of heart or nose. Rachel has listened to about a million hours of "Hank the Cow Dog" on CD. (Thank you, Jennifer Eason!) I really like Hank. He is truly funny. But I think I may be memorizing this particular story. Amanda is catching up on her sleep. Poor baby. Farm life is tiring for a three-year-old.

And Katie just keeps growing. I hope she learns to walk soon, because I am getting worn out lugging her around! I put in a couple of pictures of her, riding the horsie and standing on her own in the front yard. She has just about perfected this standing alone thing. Now we can't get her to sit down. The kids and I have about decided to get a parrot and teach it to say, "Baby, sit! Awk!"

I have been working on refinishing the metal porch furniture that was here when we moved in. When it is done, I'll put my before and after pictures into the blog. I am really excited about how much better it is looking! I have also been poring over back issues of quilt magazines. I would really like to start on a quilt, but I see why the old farm women did their quilts in the winter. Summertime work leaves no time for that! One thing good about living somewhere with long winters is that I'll get lots of time to sew. At least I hope so.

It is a little hard to know exactly what to put into a blog. I am new at this. Did you want to know I mowed the grass today? Or would you be interested in my philosophical thinking of the moment? I'll just write what I feel like: I feel good. I like it here. I just sometimes wish I could have brought my family and my church with me. I miss ya'll!

Darey Farmer's Busy Day

I really did have a busy day today. I was able to work in the vegetable garden and the flower garden, bring in the dry laundry from the line, weed-whack the creek bank and the road bank, run a couple of errands, unload several wagons full of square bales under threatening thunder, and even see the birth of a brand new baby calf. I also did things like wash the dishes, make beds, read to the kids, and change several diapers. I probably did some other things, too. It has been a long time since we woke up!

I was going to write about the day, tell you what I was doing and when, and all that. After all, isn't that what blogging is about? You would have been so proud of me.

The thing is, there was a lot of work going on in my heart today throughout all that activity. That zone (the heart zone) is always under renovation. I was proud of all my work. It was a lot of work, and I still feel good that it is done. But pride? Wrong. One of those simple scriptures I memorized a long time ago popped into my head as I was unloading hay as fast as I could, and then tripped over something in the wagon: "Pride goeth before a fall."

What I feel now, thanks to the work of the Spirit, is thankfulness. I am so thankful for this farm. We can have the joy of working together as a family, husband, wife and children. We can enjoy the beauties of God's creation day after day as we see the many different garments the land puts on: misty morning veils, golden blankets of cut hay, stiff green corduroy rows of corn. I am thankful that we all are healthy, and can do this work. I am thankful that we have the opportunity and the privilege.

Yeah, I got a lot done today. More than some people probably, but less than others. I didn't have to struggle with chronic pain today. I didn't have to worry about where my children were. I didn't have to face hardships alone. I didn't have to take any medicine. I didn't have to worry about bombs or bullets, or soldiers coming to the house. I didn't have to grieve today.

So having a row of nicely staked pole beans, a barn full of hay, sweet sleeping children in clean beds and pajamas, pretty flowers, a new calf, and the most wonderful husband in the world shouldn't make me proud. It should make me thankful to God, Who has given me all of this, and more and more.

Hay Day

Yesterday we made hay. That has not been very easy so far this summer, as the weather has been very rainy and cool. That is VERY cool, especially to our family, so recently transplanted from Alabama. Today is July 3, and it has been raining and in the sixties all day! Like everyone says while they are laughing at us, "welcome to western PA!"

Anyway, Jason and Mr. Dearborn were able to prepare two wagonloads of square bales, and Jason's Uncle John rolled twenty-something round bales for us, too. These pictures are of the unloading of the square bales into the barn. We had a lot of help yesterday, from family and neighbors. That is a nice thing about a farming community--everyone helps! That is Jason's brother, Brian, loading the bales onto the elevator.

I am also including a picture of Mr. and Mrs. Dearborn. Mr. Dearborn grew up on this farm, and ran it until he sold it to us. He has been out helping every single day. I don't think we could operate very well without him.

We Farm Now ?!

We have been farming now for almost two months. That isn't very long, is it? We have a lot to learn, but we are enjoying (almost) every minute of it.

Here are some pictures of everyone that we took yesterday over at the barn. (Well, there is no picture of me, but I was happy to stay behind the camera.)