That farming in winter SUCKS!!! Really BIG! I just have to be honest here. If no one wants to see an honest blog post, then go elsewhere please.
I used to love winter. When I was younger. But now I just don't like it. All the mud and mucky mess everywhere.I guess if I didn't have animals, it would be a whole different world here. But I have 18 sheep. 5 goats. 2 alpacas. 35 chickens. 6 cats. And 2 dogs. The 2 dogs live inside, most of the time. So when it rains, they go outside for a few minutes to do their thing. Long enough to come back in sopping wet. So they know the drill. Sit on the kitchen rug so I can wipe them down with a towel. Which I really don't mind too much. It gives me some time to really love on them. Which most of the time I'm just too busy to do. Because of all these other animals.
Now I have some favorite blogs I go to almost every day. Most of them have goats and sheep and chickens too. Most all are farm blogs. Some have dairy cows too. And donkeys. I don't think I have ever seen or read about the crappy parts. And I'll give some examples here.
Like a few of them feed their sweet clean little goats cookies. I do that too. But I have never seen a picture of them covered in mud from when the goats jump all over them. Or when they are knocked down by those precious little kids., trying to get to that cookie before another goat gets it. And taking turns? HAH! Ever seen a goat be nice and give a cookie to another goat? Mine would kill the other goat first. There is NO sharing among goats. Or sheep either. It's all for one. That's it.
Or when the sheep almost knock them down trying to get to their feed bowls. Like when the gate is opened and they all try to get through all at once. It really is funny. But not when you're in front of that gate. I have come pretty darn close to having some broken knees. I'm not saying it'll never happen either. And I have been knocked down several times by sheep, crazed by fear because I am giving them a drench of wormer or something. Sheep are crazy. Yeah, I said it. Sheep are CRAZY! I have seen them leap 10' in the air to get away from a human who's only trying to help them. Never seen that on a farm blog.
And I love the blogs where there are children. I have never heard anyone say how many times a child has been head butted by a goat. My grand daughter was. Right in the belly. Knocked her 3' away, on her back. And I have been rammed by a ram. NOT fun. It hurt really bad. The ram was gone a few days later.
Or people being spit on by Llamas or kicked by donkeys. Why don't people just be honest and tell the world how it really is on their perfect little farms, in winter.
And, in winter, while I'm not milking, my milk room looks like a tornado went through it. It's a mess! I don't care either. Not right now. I will get it all cleaned up soon enough. There's no goats going in right now, so they don't see it. They'd probably roll their eyes at me and call me lazy.
Yes, it's raining again here at Outback Farm. Like we need more rain, right? I can hardly walk out there for all the wet clay. Did you know when clay is wet, it's like skating on ice? I slide all over the place. I just want a few concrete trucks to come in and concrete this whole place right now.
My personal weather man just informed me it's going to RAIN ALL DAY! And we have to go to a doctor and run some errands. Yay!
I would just love to see the crappy parts of winter farming on some of these pretty blogs. Just to know I am not the only one who hates farming in winter. And farming in winter SICK? Even worse.
But, we're on the downhill slope now toward spring! It's just not like this in spring, summer or fall. And I do apologize for being so negative. But really, all these perfect farms with red barns and wreaths on the barn doors and perfectly clean nice little goats that wait their turn for cookies. It just makes me want a farm like that. And it ain't gonna happen.
13 comments:
Haha Kris! I'll have to get some pictures of my soggy, grey, bleak, muddy mess. I need to go out and milk but I'm still sitting here in my pj's because it is cold out there. Not Manitoba cold, but a hazy wet cold that seeps through your seams. I ask myself, should I go collect that quart of milk or should I throw some alfalfa at them and park my tail in front of the fire.
PS, I really want some oversized overalls that I can throw on over my pajamas. That way I can just stay in my warm flannels while keeping the mud off.
Another honest comment: I do go outside and do chores in my PJ's. A lot. Just too lazy to put on clothes. I wear my big ole Carhart jacket over them. But way out here, no one would see me. Although, one time the post man came up with a package.
And I should have said you are not one of those farms I'm talking about, Kristin. I know what you go through on yours. It would be nice though, to have one of them, right?
Isn't "Honesty" a Billy Joel song?? You two crack me up. Easy for me to say sitting in the house and hooking a rug. Spring can't come soon enough.
And another thought...I sure loved your 2013 reflections. It was a pretty lousy year around this house so it was great fun reliving all of your Outback Farm adventures again. Looking forward to part two. ;) You are always one of the highlights of my day.
We are muddy hear also. It rained all night and now its turning to snow and the temps are dropping.I am having a hard time doing chores in the mudd and only having one good hand to do them in. I totally understand. I put wood shavings and wasted hay and made paths to walk on. It has helped some but had not solved the problem totally.
Kris do you still have a kumbocha going? I wanted to try to get another scoby and start one up again. After reading the Ferm. books I understand what I did wrong last time.
Well I hope your mudd either freezes for you or the sun comes out. Take care and be careful.
Linda
I definitely understand where your coming from.I feel like I am always complaining about the hard work & unenjoyable parts of farming in my blog.
not sure if I am one of the farm blogs you are referring to...
but I dislike Mud and rain. I would rather have snow.
Right now it is freezing!! below zero temps.
I have to keep a positive outlook or I would quit :)
I have rarely been knocked down by a sheep or goat, but have been surprised by a Ram! Not fun!
I hope things dry up for you soon.
I am hoping for some above zero temps.
Kristin, Linda and Sandra, I was NOT referring to your farms at all! I know yours are all hard working farms and probably a lot like mine. So no, don't worry. I was going to put this in the post somewhere but forgot.
Sandra, I think you know one of the places I was thinking about. And of course Martha Stewart's. And if I went outside wearing something Mary Jane Butters wears on her farm, I might as well throw it away!
Hahaha! Nothing is certainly perfect here, but can you please send me some of that rain. We need rain sooooo bad. We got rain once about three weeks ago, and previous to that maybe 1 month before. The crazy wind came up immediately afterwards, and dried things up even worse. When it rains I go skating on horrible slick clay too.
Want to know a secret? I'm not allowed to show the 1/3 of our property that my Dad has packed with rusty items. You know antique broken tractors, and things like that. They are his loves ; )
And last winter I fell in the yucky, churned up cow poop mud in the front of the pasture when my mud boot got stuck. No their were no pictures. I wanted to get my hands and arms washed off of the green yuck.
Kimberly
Linda, forgot to say that I do still have Kombucha. There was a great article about it in the Chatt. paper a few days ago. I have to drink this stuff or I can't move my hands hardly. It's hard to ship, but if you need some, let me know and I can bundle it up real good and send you some.
Kimberly, I sure am glad there aren't any pictures of me when I have fallen all those many times! It's quite embarrassing for sure. But thank the Lord, I have never broken anything yet. And I love old farm machinery on farms. Makes them look like really hard working farms. You should take pictures of them. I'd love to see them.
All I really needed to read was your first sentence. Thanks for the laugh!
Glad I could help, Tami! I really enjoy reading about your life on your blog. keeps me laughing. Alot!
Post a Comment