Friday, April 20, 2012

Goin' Back to My Roots


Well, just as the title says, I am going back to my roots.  Many people that know me may know that I grew up on a farm, but a lot probably don't.  I will admit that I took a lot of my upbringing for granted.  I didn't appreciate the life and the skills that I was learning on a daily basis...sometimes hourly.  Maturity has had an appreciative affect on my life.  I grew up on 20 acres and we raised everything from cattle to pigs, sheep, goats, and horses.  We always had a few dogs and cats, which are a staple on a farm. We never had chickens and I was always thankful we didn't.  Now however, I really, really want them.  So next Spring, Lord willing, we will get some chicks and start our chicken adventure.  Not a huge fan of birds, but I LOVE farm fresh eggs.  Plus, my kiddos will love having some smaller farm animals that they can care for. 

In my growing up years, I didn't have the average kid life.  We didn't go an a lot of vacations and never went to Disneyland.  Our yearly vacation was going deer hunting in the fall, which also required some work, but we LOVED it.  My sister and I would wake up early every morning to go and feed the animals and make sure everyone would be set for the day.  In the Winter/Spring we would get up once or twice a night and check to see if any of our ewe's were lambing, and if they were, we had the task of bringing them into the barn and put them into a lambing jug.  (A jug is a small pen that ewe's have their lambs in.  We are able to monitor/help easily due to the confined space.)  At night we would go and feed animals again.  Our weekends were spent maintaining fences, trimming hooves, giving shots, and etc.  My sissy and I were also in 4-H so our summers were spent showing our market and breeding animals at Shasta District Fair and Siskyou Fair.  I will admit, I loved the fair.  It was kind of like our reward for a year long of hard work.

I loved the animals, but I had the mindset that I would rather be playing.  I now wish that I would have paid a little better attention because I am having to re-learn a few things.   :)  All this to say, I am so thankful that my parents gave me the opportunity to grow up on a farm and learn the meaning of hard work.  I know how to work, and work hard at that.  You don't have the option to be lazy when you have 40+ sheep depending on you, other animals to care for, a garden to weed and pick...you get the idea. 

I am now thankful that the Lord has granted Seth's (Seth grew up in the country too :) and my wish to move back to the country.  We have been living the city life for 10 or so years and we are glad to be back to the country.  I don't think anything is wrong with living in the city, it's just not for me.  My kids are now going to have the same opportunity Seth and I had and I am thrilled.  No, they probably won't have the average kid life either, but that's ok.  They will know where their food comes from and how to take care of themselves and be good stewards of God's creation.  They will know how to work.  They will acquire all the skills that a country kid needs and thrives on. And we can do all this as a family.  What a blessing!

*Here are a few pictures of what I spent time working on yesterday.  I moved our posse of animals from one field to this one.  I fixed some fence, due to Flora, the escaping sheep.  And I thoroughly enjoyed my time outside, in the sun, thanking the Lord for all that He has blessed my family and I with.

The white faced ewe is not mine, but the rest of the posse is.   ;)

Apparently, watching me fix fence is hard work for my Franny cat.  Look at that grass!  It's amazing and we are blessed to have this kind of grass grow here.  It will make for fast growing animals...and hopefully lambies next Spring!
Here is an updated picture of my girls.  Sorry it's not better; they refuse to stand still.

I'm not a fan of self portraits, but I figured I'd add one in since it was such a nice day and it's nice to see a human in a photo every once in a while.  :)

2 comments:

  1. All I gotta' say is AMEN sissy :). Lord willing, we'll be joining you in the next few years. I love you.

    ReplyDelete

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