Farming 101

5:30 Steep a cup of tea. Curl up in the overstuffed chair in the sun porch to watch the dawn. Then head upstairs to check email. Dress and take some time to read My Utmost for His Highness, my Bible, and spend some time knitting on my prayer shawl as I discuss the day with God and intercede for those around me. After a few minutes of exercise doing Core 15, I head to the kitchen.

7:00 Some days we eat cold cereal, but I prefer to scramble a few eggs or set a pot of hot cereal on to boil. If I arrive early, I make panakucken or bread pudding. We are reading through the minor prophets for family devotions, and we always take time to read and pray through the World Mission Prayer League's prayer letter. Dishes.

8:00 Farm chores.

My older son does the heavy work of lifting buckets of corn. He feeds the bulls, replacement heifers, club calves and the cattle in the medical pen. He fills their water tanks and carries water to the animals in the medical pen.

I walk the pastures here on the home farm to check to see that all of the cattle are healthy and to make sure there are no cows trying to calve. Penelope, our donkey, watches to see if I have brought a carrot. Sometimes she follows me around the pasture like a shadow, placing her fuzzy head on my arm to ask if she has been forgotten. The cows are protective of their little ones, and I must always be careful not to get too close to the babies--and especially not between mom and baby!

I feed and water the laying hens and Cornish Rock chicks. Collect eggs.

Snails, a steer we purchased to show in the fairs this year has been sick. First he had problems with breathing. We medicated him. Then his digestive track shut down and he began to bloat. We put a stint in his side to let the gas out. Finally he developed foot rot. We medicated and twice a day I filled an old rubber boot with a solution of Epsom salts and water to slide over his hoof. Poor boy--his hoof fell off this weekend. I hope it will grow back.

I found a calf with the scours. This is his mom's first calf, and she is not doing a good job of mothering. Each morning and evening I give the little guy a bottle of electrolytes, Pepto Bismal, and milk replacer. To do this I have to catch the calf in a halter and tie him to a post. Then I throw a leg over him and hold him between my knees--if he moves backwards, I end up straddling the halter (fell into the muck one day because of this); if he moves forward, he can wipe his dirty back side against me. Ugh. I grab the little one's mouth and attempt to get the nipple of the oversized bottle between his teeth. He drools and snorts. Then I tip the bottle up so that he can get some milk--hopefully he gets more on the inside of him than I get on the outside of me. He does not know how to suck on the bottle, so I have to gently pump his slimy little jaw and nose open and closed to help him. He swallows and bucks. We repeat the process for several minutes until I finally relent. The remaining solution is poured into another bottle, but this one has a long tube attached which is put down the calf's throat so that he can have the milk delivered directly to his stomach. Finally I let the little guy back into his pen with his mom who also has a baaaaad case of the scours. Careful. She squirts...

Back in the house I shower and dress for the day. If time, I put some order to my household and throw in a load of laundry. My daughter has been helping with meals since I'm outside so much right now, but I like to help her plan ahead to be sure meat has been gotten out of the freezer.

11:00 Lunch and dishes. I like to slip up to my computer if I can.

12:00 School. I start with Jacob; then I work with John Mark. I end the day with Bethany. Grade papers...

4:00 Farm chores. Repeat what I did in the morning, but also drive over to the old farm's pastures to check those cattle.

6:00 Back home. Thankfully Bethany usually has supper going. The evening is filled with various activities from tutoring an English as a Second Language exchange student to ironing clothes to help my hubby pack for the next work week. Sometimes I watch a favorite TV show or read a book and scratch a cat's tummy. If I'm not too tired, I check to see if the sky is clear so that I can spend some quality time with my telescope, and then I crawl into bed. Bliss.