Water Flows

Hope springs eternal.

Springs. Why do you suppose the word "springs" was chosen there?
Spring like the season?
Or spring, like water.

Hope flows like water. It seems effortless sometimes. When hope dries up, it's like a well going dry. In a way, water is hope, and hope is water.

Our valley is FULL of water! So much so, that there is a well (many locals are wholly familiar) that runs, just up the road from our house. People come regularly to get water. Some people call it "Jesus's Fountain," perhaps because no one really knows how long it's been there.
Turns out that well was an important piece to how the farm here was once managed.

Imagine, farming before electric and running water.
How?

Milking by hand is a given, naturally.
But once milk is collected, it has to be kept cold to prevent bacteria from forming. That may have been the only thing that was easier in winter - but how did dairy farmers do it in the summer?
With water.
At our old barn, there was a trough of water that cans of milk were sunk into to keep the milk cold. Sometimes, according to Uncle Hank, the water would "fail." So they took their cans of milk to the well down the road. At that time, there was a big trough here. Milk would be kept cold in cans in the trough here overnight.

If you've ever lugged a milk can around, you know they are not light. It doesn't get any better, once they are filled with milk! Horses surely pulled the cans by wagon to the trough, but you still had to get them on and off the wagon, and lowered into the trough, and then back out again.

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Thanks so much for your time reading this post! Work to begin restoring our old barn will begin this spring. To join or share the cause, please visit gf.me/u/w9mhpd

Zen Gardening

A warm, gusty breeze blows my hair wildly varied directions. My bare feet feel the soft earth beneath them. Warm sun on my skin as I fall into the gentle rhythm of my annual labor of love. Yes, this is one of the best times of year for me, without a doubt.

The beginning of my annual foray into vegetable gardening. I do not claim to be very good at this; but I do enjoy it immensely! My husband has tilled a huge garden for me, far bigger than I can keep up with! He uses a gas-powered tiller; I use the classic rake, hoe and shovel. I do not have much success with power equipment. The simple process of trying to pull start these items usually frustrates me to the point of exasperation. Then try to wield one as it rattles and vibrates your body into oblivion and the noise! UGH! You can’t expect to clear your mind over the din of a tiller.

I am even worse at field work at the farm. I haven't even attempted to help at that since I was a teenager! If you cannot back and tractor and manure spreader into the shed, don't even attempt to run anything else. I stick to the cows at the farm; but at home, I can pretend I am keeping up with the progress in the fields...

Zen gardening seems to be my thing. Spending endless hours raking rocks off the garden; my hands are well blistered before the first seed is ever sown! And yet, I find this gratifying. I have learned to put newspaper between the rows to help keep the weeds down, as I do not have the time or energy to keep up with their continual assault on my tender young plants. My rows are crooked and unevenly spaced. I will plant until it is too late in the season to plant more and I still will not make it to the end of the vast space allotted to this yearly endeavor! There will inevitably be an ugly corner of this garden that is completely overrun by weeds. Unsightly, to be sure!

But it will be fun.

My children will assist in the weeding and seeding of this plot for about five minutes every time I am out there. I do not make them help me. My garden is my happy place. If you cannot work happily in this space, you should not work there! If I am not happy working there, I stop for that day. For me, it is not about completing the task the fastest or growing the biggest or most plentiful foods (though I will say it is incredibly rewarding when that happens!). It is about getting out there and enjoying the process. Being outside, moving and making something that will benefit everyone in my home.

By summer, when the kids are snacking on snow peas and I am enjoying endless varieties of spinach salad, I will be completely immersed in my Zen state. No need to drive to the grocery store, just walk barefoot to the garden and choose your perfect snack or meal. Yup! This is bliss!

Now, where in the heck did I put the seeds?

Shower, please!

It is spring and as the grass gets progressively thicker, so do the dates on my family calendar. This week, I have a meeting, appointment or extra-curricular activity marked on every single day of the week, a relatively new occurrence. Babies don’t play t-ball or need to be registered for Kindergarten! So another aspect of this new phase of my life is beginning. However, I refuse to put a “Mom’s Taxi” sign in the window of my car!

After spending years at home with little ones, it was incredibly refreshing to begin working at the farm. Grown up voices began to replace the indelible strains of Dora the Explorer and the continual loop of alphabets, shapes and colors were replaced with discussions of politics, newspaper articles, and soap opera recaps and predictions. My brain had spent five years existing on what amounts to mental Fruit Loops and suddenly it is savoring thoughts as sophisticated as dark chocolate!

Like a parched throat gulps water, I thirst for adult conversation. I also chatter like a mad squirrel! It’s good to hear my grown up voice using big person words – hey, I AM still in here! That’s a relief! I leave the barn feeling refreshed and ready to be mommy again.

Then Facebook came into my world. Now there is grown up talking and the intelligent thoughts of people I know and can relate to right at my fingertips… OOOOOHHHHHH that is addicting! So this is who I chat with every morning over coffee – and what a wealth of different personalities to choose from, too! 111 of my favorite people, and they never fail to disappoint with their wit, candor and informational posts. If you have a Facebook account, you can almost skip the news. You will find sports scores for your favorite teams, the details on the latest legislation congress is working on, the passing of whatever actor just OD’d, you name it!

When I first logged on, I feared Facebook would amount to little more than a huge time suck! Guess what? It is! I spend too much time on it. But spring is going to force me to cut back. Mom’s going to have to start spending her mornings preparing for the afternoon activities or my children will not get to bed at a time conducive to waking up happy and ready to board the bus in the AM.

As if getting everyone off the bus and ready to go to their respective after school destinations on time isn’t enough of a magic act, I have one other little thing that heightens the degree of difficulty: I must shower before we go!

I am not being a diva here, at all. This is for the public good! Because after spending the afternoon in my most favorite place, I do not smell like anything that blends well in a ballet studio, school or doctor’s office! I love all the great smells on the farm (diesel, silage and boot disinfectant are truly among my faves!) But putting them in any sort of enclosed setting is just wrong… and other people are not nearly as appreciative of those smells as I!

So my shower time begins as an act of public service. Then, as I savor the smells of shea butter and coconut, my shower becomes another time suck. Ooops! I set timers for my kids so they get fair turns playing computer games and their teeth have quality time with their toothbrushes daily. Now the kids are going to have to start using the timer on me! Thank goodness my son is in t-ball – I am much less toxic to the noses of my fellow moms in open-air environments! Luckily, the calendar is full, so I’ll get lots of practice. I’m hoping by the end of May, I’ll have this daily kiddo karting down to a science.