Farm and Family

We all have that difficult dance of balancing work life and home life. Making time for family while making sure we keep the job that provides for that family. But what happens when they must cross over? What do we do when a kid can't go to school, but today is the only day we have to plant a field or work cattle? It's going to rain, or we have to select cattle for sale that happens tomorrow, or animals are in the road. We can't phone that in.

One of the blessings of farming is that you can take the kids with you, unlike at the office. Labor day was a very recent example of a day when work still needs to get done, but Little Bug was not at school. Animals still have to be fed, let out of coops, and moved to different pastures. Pastures had to be mowed. Pumpkins had to be watered. Water had to be taken to cattle in a pasture where the tank was dried up.

My situation is still a bit different from many farmers. I had the chance to stay home and enjoy some time with my family, like many of you with a day off. However, this is what our day would likely have looked like if we didn't have Golly, Gampy, and Papa to make sure things were covered.

Little Bug would go with me to the Little Farm. We would open up the chicken coop to let them roam. The little chicks still can't go outside yet, but they need the door open for air flow. Indy needs halter training, so we would get her up close and practice. Lastly, the dogs need to be fed.

Then we go to open up the Big Farm. Feeders and bulls need to get fed. Little Bug stays close, but watches patiently from behind the gate. She is such a good helper. Then we make sure the chickens are out of the coop. They come flying out when we open the door, and she giggles at their silliness. We fill buckets with feed to take to the cows in the pasture. She stays in the mule while I pour the feed into the troughs, but she makes sure to tell every cow and calf hi before we drive away. Sometimes they need to be moved to a new pasture, and she helps with the gates when she can. If we have to put out hay, like right now, she sits patiently in the tractor while we get the wrap cut and the bales put in the rings.

There are 2 groups of cattle right now, so we have to make sure both groups have the grass, feed, water, and shelter if we do somehow get a storm. Their version of shelter is trees. We make our way back to the barns. Those are just the chores. Now we get moving on to the real work. Since we have Little Bug there are a lot of jobs we absolutely cannot do.

Working cattle is out of the question. It's too risky, and she will get bored quickly becuase she can't help. If she was still an infant that I strapped to my back, maybe. Anything that requires power tools is difficult because our attention is too split between the task and her location. She also can't help and will get bored on this too. We can do some tractor work, or repairs. She seems to enjoy being in the big machine and watches all around us. She doesn't tollerate it long, though, because she has to sit still. Soon she'll be big enough to steer, though! Fence repair is possible. We can transplant trees, water pumpkins, pull weeds, build/take down rope fences. There's just not much else we can do, and nothing can take too long.

We are so blessed that if Little Bug is sick, we have people around us that can make sure the necessities get done without our help. Many farm families don't have that help and have to take sick kids along with them. We are also incredibly blessed to be able to raise her in an environment that shows the product of hard work. She gets to see the baby calves born, the plants that grow, the eggs and honey we collect. As she gets older, she will be able to participate in reaching our work goals. These outweigh any difficulties we currently face in having farm and family.

Farming is hard. Family can be hard. It's difficult to balance work and family with any job. There's ALWAYS work that has to be done on a farm, even if it's just getting the animals taken care of. But we are thankful every day for the opportunity to work at both. What is the balance like in your life? What blessings do you see in work and family life?