Sunday, May 17, 2020:
Many states have been reopening for business. While there are plenty of arguments for or against this...it is what it is. I personally am cautiously optimistic for this. Our lives have been negatively impacted since March 20th, from the closures of businesses. I am ready for everyone in my household to return to normal work schedules soon! My son works in the AG industry and that is an essential industry so he was only off work for 30 days. My husband has been off since March 20th, while his job is part of the essential industry, his company works with contractors so when contractors were no longer allowed into businesses, there was no equipment repairs to be made...thus no work and layoff. My own fundraising and veteran events have been cancelled since March. Not to mention the volatility of livestock markets for our family farm. When the markets bottom out, the amount of loss from livestock and hay sales bottom out. When you can not sell items for even the amount you have in them, you lose your butt!
On a better note from all the closures, we got to spend 60 days with our bonus daughter, full time. We have been really close to her all along, but 60 days of full family time, brought us all so much closer. She had time to live and work with us around the farm. She helped us to raise a lamb on the bottle from the time it was 24 hours old until the day it was reintroduced to the other lambs in the barn. She got to experience all the sheep, lambs, dogs, cows and even our first calf of the year. She was able to see the garden work, and the planting. While it was a terribly sad day when she was required to return to Italy, I am especially grateful to know I have gained a remarkable, beautiful, and positive bonus daughter. We have missed her so much already, but time and distance are no match for love. Being around this young lady, was such a breath of fresh air. She was a quick reminder of the value of self-esteem and unconditional love.
Our family farm began making some pretty massive changes last summer. While the Winters around here prevent us from doing much outdoor work, Spring began with a ton of work. We began building new fences, eliminating some nonessential fences, building new drives, adding onto one shed, and emptying some storage trailers to get them out of here. Hubby is doing maintenance on the hay equipment to get it ready for hay season, and putting the loader on the tractor. I have been designing and planning for projects around the house. I am building a permanent fire pit area, relocating the pool, changing the yard fence, planning for a patio and permanent walkway(that will not be a constant mud pit). We are planning to rework our current driveway so that it will be bigger and allow for more space for vehicles and delivery trucks. Not to mention needing to add rock since most that was added years ago has now sunk into the ground.
We haven't really had to change much in our lives through the shut downs. We are pretty reclusive anyway. There is plenty of work to do around here every day, to keep us all busy. The biggest change has been having everyone home 24/7, the amount of dishes, food, and cleaning just quadrupled! I have taken time to go through closets and cabinets, to start eliminating clutter. We have several days before us that the weather is looking pretty crappy, but I'm excited to get back outdoors and set into my landscaping projects. My garden was looking pretty good until 2 nights of frost killed all my plants. So, once the weather cooperates, I will be replanting them and now is the right time to finish planting everything else. I am looking forward to more fresh garden produce, since we are getting fresh radishes now. I'm looking forward to tomato and lettuce sandwiches.
There's always something happening around here so watch our Facebook page and Instagram to see the updates. Calving season has begun even though there is only one new one born so far. We still have 1 ewe left to lamb. I love seeing all the babies! I never dreamed my life would be so rich with my kids and the overall farm life. While I don't mind visiting a city once in a while, I love my peaceful, quiet and simple life. I love being able to see the majestic sunrises and sunsets. I love walking out at night and being able to see a sky full of stars! The only noises I hear are crickets, frogs and livestock. It may not be glamorous, but it is so fulfilling!
I am not saying in any fashion that my life is perfect, because nothing is ever perfect! However, the lifestyle itself is perfect. There are plenty of personality/character conflicts. The most outstanding part of my life is raising children that not only know where their food comes from and the work that goes into that, but also raising them to be self sufficient.
Life is beautiful and turbulent, it's full of twists and turns, but the journey is an adventure!
Salli
