The farm life is a life of passion and excitement! (Sometimes the excitement is not the fun kind, but there is never a dull moment!) Here are my top ten favorite things about living and working on a farm.
10. No Traffic And Comfy Clothes
If there is anything that symbolizes being in the "rat race", it is morning commute traffic. I wake up in the morning, get dressed (to not impress) and drink my coffee. No car, bus, train or bike is necessary for my next steps.
Never fear, though! I know what the morning rush can be like! Rushing kids to get ready, listening to the radio for weather and accident reports, and sliding into work minutes before (Or horrors, minutes after) the deadline. So much panic, stress, and rushing can be involved! I don't miss it one bit.
Expensive, stain free work clothes are also a thing of the past. One or two decent sets are fine for visiting "town". But I don't really have to maintain a wardrobe anymore! I can feed the sheep in my pajamas if I want to! Comfy clothes and shoes are in! Stuffy, high maintenance work wear is out.
9. Variability in Work
No two days on the farm are exactly alike. And somedays that is a good thing! But most days there is such a variety of things to choose from and enjoy, I almost have to pinch myself! To top it off, every season has a strain of its own delights.
- Winter is a time of animal chores and wood and water hauling, but time also for homeschooling, maple syrup, and seed catalogues by the fire.
- Spring is a time for planting and the return of milk and babies!
- Summer is a time of weeding, bees, tractor repairs, hay and cheese making.
- Fall is a time of harvest, wood gathering, and socializing with friends and family.
Peaches never taste so good as when they are ripe from the tree. Work in its own time and season has so many delights, not the least of which "the best things come to those who wait!" Aside from that, variability keeps things from getting boring and short attention spans never have to wait long for the next exciting thing to come along.
8. Nature Is Part Of The Experience
Nature is out my window! Nature is in my barn! Nature is in the pastures and fields! Whoops! Nature is eating my chickens! We experience nature all the time and it is one of the highlights here....except when it is not. We get to watch so many things unfold, the ebb and flows of weather and nature's natural system of checks and balances.
Each year we strive to live more in tune with nature's ways, rather than fighting it with chemicals and machines. Each year we appreciate nature's systems more and more and delight in the intelligence of it.
7. Lots of Babies!
I love babies! Baby plants! Baby sheep! Baby cows! Chicks and goat kids are a blast too! In almost every season, there are babies to cuddle and dote upon! This makes for exciting times, all the time!
6. Flexibility
Have a short attention span? Wait a few minutes and we will be on to the next adventure! After insuring the basic needs of the farm's sentient beings are met, our family really can do what we choose. A picnic in the field or an appointment in town can many time be easily arranged. This helps so much in meeting business deadlines, as well, as we can juggle many farm tasks to different days to meet the needs of clients who may have less flexibility. As long as the work gets done, there is usually some wiggle room as to when.
5. Good Food
One of the reasons I started a garden, long ago, was that fresh, nutritious food was expensive. Well, it is still expensive. The only thing that seems different now from back then is that we grow even more of our own food. We eat what we raise and can feed a family of ten comfortably on $500 a month at the grocery store....half that when times are lean.
The children feel so proud when the table is laid with our own labors. They will also be more willing to try new things if they grew it. Trust me! They are more adventurous in their culinary tastes than I am! Chicken hearts, gizzards, and livers are a thing to fight over in this house! Some veggies never even make it to the house as the children graze on them as they weed or just play.
This year I was super blessed by one of my children taking an active pleasure in gardening big. He took the lead and we expanded into corn and melons. (Corn can mean war between man and coon!) It was fun to watch him make connections between soil health and harvest. I look forward to what he will accomplish next year, Lord willing!
4. Family Time, All The Time
Sitting at my grandmother's table, snapping beans, I always knew I never wanted that feeling of teamwork and family to end. Grandma always tried to keep us busy with trips to the lake and park when we visited, but my favorite times were really just being at home, with her. We sewed, we canned tomatoes, we took walks, and climbed the apple tree. (Ha! Me, not her!)
Farming has given me that life. Granted, my children don't always appreciate this life, but I hope it will give them some good memories to be a springboard into their next adventures. For the most part, I think we enjoy working together. We sure do accomplish some pretty great feats!
3. Hands On Classroom
All of us are always learning something new. When the bees are struggling, we are googling away! When we butcher chickens, the children learn to identify anatomy and in turn its purpose. When we find new plants and animals, we take pictures and learn all about them. The children learn to identify trees by their bark to find the best firewood. WE ARE LEARNING ALL THE TIME! New hobbies and adventures abound!
How do I tan a hide? How do you hunt rabbits? What can we do with the all this wool? Life is never a bore!
2. Cheap Bills, Rich Life
There are so many ways to put a value on our precious time. What is your time worth? Is it worth more to you than it is to your employer? We can't make more time or get any that has been lost, back. It is one of our most precious resources. We don't make much money! In a good year we might get a little over 30k. But we live richly and our time is our own!
We have a lot of things running in our favor to help make life work for us. Not the least of which is a family and community that has pitched in when we run into trouble. And we aspire to produce a few more dollars to lay up as we get older, but we don't want to sacrifice the joy of now, for a time that may never come. Here are just a few things that have helped keep our expenses low...
- Country living has fewer building codes and we have been allowed to do most of our own construction work.
- Wood heat saves in the winter. Someone always has treetops or fall downs to harvest. We have never paid for wood. Plus it serves as a cooking source for our maple syrup and everyday meals.
- Food is available! A neighbor might have a cow that broke a leg and needs to be butchered. We can grow a garden and many things don't even need canning to save for the winter! (squash, sweet and regular taters....)
- There is lots of free entertainment out here! Go to the creek or to the woods! Choose your own adventure!
1. Be Your Own Boss
The best part of this life is that my time is my own. I can choose to fill it how I desire! Some of the time, that is happily spent producing income. But once our obligations are met, I might want to do something else! Guess what? I CAN!
I don't have set hours! I can fill them, how and with what I want to! Sometimes that is packaging cheese till 3 A.M. and sometimes that is spending the day at the lake.....while everyone else has to show up for work.
Too hot to weed the garden today? Ok, spend the day sewing! Too tired to do the fencing? Do it tomorrow! Can't wait to try out the new camera? Let's do it!
Homesteading / farming, has so many rewards! I am living my best life, everyday....even when times are tough. My family learns so much and I look forward to telling many good stories to the grandchildren, Lord willing! I encourage all to seize the day and do whatever it is that they love!
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