Had a girlfriend pick me up today for a lovely lunch and visit and on the drop off, ended up having a little walk about, and I looked at my farm with fresh eyes.. it kinda startled me, but then it tends to do that..

Its messy, and there are compost piles here and there, there are pens that need to be cleaned, they only have a few days to a weeks worth of chicken, duck poo in the outdoor one’s and normally I would not even notice it, I would just huh, its rained (poured really) and its all wet and I will wait for it to dry and because typically I let all the birds out to free-range, I don’t worry about it to much, the ducks will all bath in the pond and the chickens will dirt bath.. Turkey’s so tame that they will sit to be petted, but lots of molting going on at the moment and a few ragged looking hens that are sitting..

Then the sheep, would they come when called, of course not, they were to busy hanging in the barn or grazing to care that I called them, so instead of a flock of healthy sheep with lambs, friend only gets to see the one sickly sheep up by the house, tied out.. home in a little pen, tried to put a tarp over top, dang wind kept ripping it off, so in the middle of a storm, we hauled out and put in a huge sheet of plywood, works like a charm, but wow looking at it with fresh eyes and I have a pen with a sick sheep with healthy lamb at the side with what looks like a makeshit (or was that make SH$#^ roof in there for them)

Of course the truth is, she gets extra grain twice a day with no issues from the other sheep that don’t need it, and she gets pick of the yard moved twice daily which means that she gets the best choose fresh feed on the farm.

Gave her a super cute well handled 3 coming 4 week old bunny, clean, heathy and bright eyed but as I did it realize, we still have not fixed that lid (needs a new hing) we have been holding it down with a big old rock,, talk about makeshifting as you go..

Then hit my garden, I am well aware that my garden does not look like anything you will see in a book, there are patches of nettles, there are all kinds of things that look wild and overgrown and everywhere you look its ground cover or green cover, there is hardly a spot in the whole garden that shows bare earth.. it looks like a jungle, and it is.. a huge messy jungle that will grow and produce amazing amounts of food..

Head out into the front yard, have a peek at some of the different wild fruits, planted fruit tree’s etc but again seeing it with new eyes, it also looks like a overgrown mess, but I see horestail, and wild strawberry, wild galic, wild violets, ditch lilies, different kinds of soft fruits rhubarb, and milkweed just to name a few, all things I pick, collect and use but to the naked eye.. wow, mow and then mow some more.

But the one that made me finally just let go and start laughing at myself and my farm was the shit covered pants by my front door.. what can I say, he was cleaning barn stalls, stunk like what he was cleaning and I refused to have them enter my house, never giving it a thought when I left, just I will get a “work/farm” load together soon enough, until I looked at them with fresh eyes.. only on a farm where the work is done by hand and not in a tractor would this be a true issue and then it jumped me right back to my childhood and the amount of times, my mother said.. Cloths off, and rince off in the horse trough or use the garden hose before setting foot in the house..

Cuz to be honest, I like my farm, my peace, my quiet and if I had to choose between a tidy front step with those pants in my house or a messy front step until I am ready to give them a wash, I know which one I will choose every time..

O good heavens old fashion by hand farming is a messy business, but the rewards are so sweet!