A Day in The Life

I thought I would take you along with me to do the morning chores. You'll have to bundle up, it's freezing outside. Ten degrees with a wind chill of much lower....we'll be out for about 2 1/2 hours, so dress warmly!

A warm hat and warm, waterproof boots are essential.

We'll get the gator rolling and drive down to the barn...arriving just as dawn breaks. It's a still and peaceful time of day....my favorite!

The bigs are hungry, so we'll throw them a couple flakes of hay first.

Then we'll open up the fancy chicken pen, replenish their food and water and clean up the night's accumulated manure.

Can you hear Rod crowing? Let's head up to the hayloft and open the barn door a bit. There he is...."Good Morning Rod!"

You might have noticed that the barn kitties are under foot.

Let's feed them next.

By now the horses have had enough hay, so we'll give both the Bigs and the Littles their grain.

Next we head up to the goats and the rest of the chickens.

Everyone gets food and water.

The chicken coops are cleaned....especially the nesting boxes.

My chickens have a habit of pooping on and in their boxes....so we'll clean them out before today's laying begins.

One last chicken house to check....the babies.

Again some food and water and a bit of cleaning.

Now back to the barn to put the Bigs out to pasture and the Littles into the dry lot.

Later this morning we will go out again and switch them around.

Last but not least, we will muck the dry lot....cleaning up the night's accumulation of manure.

Then off to the manure pile to dump it all.

I don't know about you, but I'm starved. Let's head back to the house for a big breakfast of farm fresh eggs and home made bread with jam from last year's blueberries. Fresh Bee Haven honey for our tea......and all the work is worth it! We have a few hours free now, until we head back out to do it all again in the late afternoon.

And so this is life on the farm....up with the sun....there is never a question of what we will do each day....it's pretty well mapped out. But there is a certain comfort to the rhythm of life. It's hard work in sometimes brutal weather....but I wouldn't have it any other way!