Filed under: November 2017 | Tags: Compost, farm animals, fertilizer, manure, pride, satisfaction
November 5, 2017
How many times have you heard that a job worth doing, is worth doing right.? It always makes me laugh as I clean the barn…that is one job that just won’t stay done! I find it almost therapeutic. Cleaning the barn daily, makes it look and smell nice. I am sue the animals appreciate it too. In fact, I think they pay me with manure for keeping their beds clean.
I like the feeling of satisfaction I get as I apply fresh bedding and sweep the barn. It pleases me to know that all is well. The animals are in their stalls eating or have just been turned out to pasture as I clean. In any case, the clean, neat barn, gives me a sense of pride.
This wheelbarrow load of sawdust, old hay and manure is headed for the compost pile. It won’t get spread on the fields until next spring. This is the beginning of next years fertilizer. The pit is now empty waiting for the animals and I to fill it up again. The repetitive barn cleanings, just like daily chores, make up a farmers life. I love this life and wouldn’t change a thing!
Filed under: March 2016 | Tags: draft horses, making maple syrup, maple syrup, maple syrup season, memories, satisfaction, work
March 9, 2016
This was my view for most of the day yesterday. This was taken after our first trip through the maple woods. By the end of the day all of us were covered in mud and sweat. We ended up with 2160 gallons of the maple sap that becomes pure Ohio maple syrup. I even had to boil for a few hours last night to get all the sap to our inside tank. I shutdown at midnight.
Connie and I were back in the sugarhouse by 9:00 this morning where we boiled and canned for another seven and a half hours. It was a great day filled with steam and visitors. We are tired but happy as we continue to make very nice light syrup. The horses got the day off, but watched us from the pasture. I think they even chuckled a time or two!
We will gather again tomorrow for what may be our last time. Mother nature has decided to send us some warm unseasonable weather. The warm is nice, but we need the freezing nights to make good syrup. We will work as if the season will continue, but will do a whole bunch of clean up just in case our season is at its end.
The trees are dripping yet this afternoon, but have slowed down considerably. Yesterday, most of the bags were full or almost full. The horses pulled eight 210 gallon loads of sap using the new sled. I used three horses because it is hot, heavy work. They still have their winter coats on to boot. They were ready to be done as we brought the last load to be unloaded. I was very proud of my partners. They pulled willingly. They listened and they knew exactly where to put the sled to be unloaded. Yep, happy tired, describes us all today.
The horses brought in 1680 gallons. We gathered 30 more gallons from trees around the sugarhouse by hand and a friend brought 450 gallons for us to boil as well. It was a good time boiling with the doors open on the sugarhouse, but man do I need a drink of water! Keeping up with a roaring fire, feeding that fire every five minutes, while running the evaporator, makes for a busy day!
4-legged lawn mower
July 26, 2015
What a couple of weeks this has been! I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror yesterday and thought to myself, “Who the heck is that?” My eyes are red with dark circles around them. Someone stole much of my hair and what is left is almost all gray. My face and arms are sunburned except where my sleeves and hat sat. I even thought I looked a little stooped over. The only ray of sunshine was the glimmer in my eye from satisfaction.
The first cutting hay has all been made. The grain has been harvested and yesterday, I baled all of the straw and got it put away. We made repairs to our combine, poured a cement pad and erected a feed bin after making a trip to Indiana. There were chores that were done, gardens were weeded, livestock moved and grease fittings pumped at regular intervals. The push is over and we are all caught up……now REST…until the next jobs pop up 😮
Filed under: July 2015 | Tags: bible, Friendship, satisfaction, Small Farming, talents, visit
My almost 1-year old grandson helping with the harvest
July 19, 2015
At dark last night, our round bales were all off the fields. The combine was completely repaired and adjusted to take the speltz off. A new pad has been poured for a grain bin for additional storage. The chores were all done and the greenheads had finally stopped biting! It was a wonderful evening 😮
Getting all that work done was only possible because everyone helped. The combine repairs and cement pad would exist only in my mind, if it weren’t for great friends. Sure, I helped with both jobs, but I was chasing my tail keeping right with the hay harvest. The weather was perfect. Our dry hay, though made late, is some of the best quality that I have made in three years. I am very pleased with it.
There are not enough words to say thank you sometimes, when a friend comes along and bails you out. I only hope that I too am that friend to others. They don’t seek pay or even the thanks for a job well done. They simply want to lend a hand, use their talents and walk away feeling good. I know I sure felt good last night as I stood at the pasture gate and reflected on all that was accomplished this week.
I am grateful for friends who could stop by and even a few others who didn’t’. What I mean is, they knew I was way too busy for a visit, but also knew that when things slow down, I will converse, visit and run off at the mouth until I bore them half to death about this place I call home. I am also very thankful for my wife who fed extra mouths, kept the cold drinks coming and waited patiently for me to end my day…most nights after eleven o’clock
“Many hands make light work”, this verse from the Bible is especially true for work around a farm. The work can be tedious, monotonous, hard, dirty and hot. I love every minute of it, but it is sure a wonderful thing when friends lend a hand. It is a wonderful feeling when family and friends show up..it makes you think maybe you did a few things right after all 😮
RicelandMeadows 