. In regards to my farming choice, I have to say it goes back to being a kid. Some of my earliest memories are of farming experiences. For example, my parents and my uncle used to raise chickens for meat. I can remember going over to their house, and while my dad and uncle were in the basement doing chores, the kids would lay on the floor upstairs and stare down through the big black grate in the floor at the peeping chicks. Their little fuzzy bodies milling around in the what seemed like a giant homemade pen. I can still recall the sound of the peeping down in the basement. I can remember raising meat rabbits in the basement of our apartment building, and turkeys. I recall, one ill fated chicken slaughter day. My dad and his brother had raised some meat birds together, my mother and aunt did the cleaning of the hens in the kitchen, and the kids ran the headless chickens up from the coop to the house and shoved them through the window. On this day, I saw my first headless chicken run around the yard, after being dropped by one of the kids hauling it to the house. I am pretty sure I screamed. Seeing a headless chicken run is quite a scene. I remember the call to Dad, to see if he wanted to bottle feed a baby piglet. The runt of the litter was being pushed out, and Dad having a reputation as a softie when it came to animals in need, set out to bring the piggie home. I can remember the box in the living room with the little piglet in it. These reasons and many others like it are why I want to farm. There is something to be said about raising your own food, working the land and seeing your root cellar full to the brim with a bounty that you had a hand in producing. I feel like being a farmer will continue to mold me into a more caring and understanding human being. When you have a farm and raise animals, on a everyday basis you deal with a range of emotions and situations. During kidding you have real highs, and super duper lows, the key is to take the experience for what it is and move on. Don't dwell on the sadness of a death, or live birth. Be thankful that you have more good than bad. You have the highs of the first bits of spinach poking out of the dirt, and the first cherry tomato coming ripe. The lows of a drought or an onset of disease or bugs. The circle goes round and round, but in the end its probably one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. I think I am really appreciating it more and more, especially this winter. My husband has challenged me to put away most, if not all of the food we will need to get through the winter next year. My heart is a flutter at the challenge, as I know its a daunting one, but it is my intention to come through with my end of the deal. The thought of potato bins and boxes of apples, canned meat and veggies in the root cellar, frozen goodies and cold frames for the freshest of produce when we want it. I am beyond excited to get started. So for me, this has been part of my makeup since I can remember, I continue to daydream about the picture perfect little farm in hopes that someday I will see a photo spread and write up of my farm in Hobby Farming Magazine. I am practicing the art of being thankful, and feeling abundant and those feelings come so much more often in the midst of a farm and growing and producing your own food. So folks, be thankful, for even the tiniest of moments in your life, you never know where it might bring you, or what feelings or passions it may bring to the surface. Never forget where your food comes from, buy fresh and buy local. You could be getting your food from...............
the friendly female farmer...Thanks so much for reading, and I will chat with you again soon.
well said.
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