Farming in the shade

Yesterday we moved the cattle from one pasture to another--a total move that had to be close to half a mile. It was a hot day, one of many hot days this summer all strung together in a row. If you've ever picked a field of green beans, or hoed a field of pickles, or followed a potato digger, lobbing the freshly-unearthed taters into a nearby receptacle, you'll know what this summer feels like. You look up from what you're doing and think, "Didn't I make any progress at all? The end is still so far off..." And then you realize that once you reach the end of your row, you will turn around and start back across the field to where you started. That's what this summer feels like. Are we there yet? We watch the weather, hoping for a break in the heat, or the relief and refreshment brought by rain. People comment to us: "This is what we wished for in February!" And they drive off to their cottage or the beach, while we move our animals and pra...

The oppressive heat of the past few weeks has finally broken. Tonight at dusk I head outside, wondering how long it will take The Farmer to finish planting. I see bats swooping for their supper. I hear individual insect sounds blend together into one distant drone. I feel an old black cat rubbing her friendship against my ankles. As I savor the summer nightfall, the tractor pulls out of the field and heads for the shed. One alfalfa field planted. Tomorrow is another day. "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." --Lamentations 3:22-24 NIV

After days of preparation, everything was ready. The food was prepped, the tents were up, the grill was lit. Looks like a party, doesn't it? Well, when we farmers do continuing ed, it has to include food. This is actually a pasture walk/grazing seminar. These are held regularly in our area, and give farmers who are currently (or just thinking about) raising livestock on pasture a chance to see someone else's set-up. The presenters arrived at 4:00 for a farm tour and dress rehearsal. Supper was at 5:00. We made sure to tell folks after they'd enjoyed their grilled brat that they'd just eaten lamb. Is that wicked? Then it was time for the show. Several folks spoke on different aspects of grazing and managing livestock on forage. I had to leave for an evening meeting, so missed all the good stuff (except for the lamb brats, of course). Representatives from Bio-Systems, NRCS, the local Conservation District, MSU, MSUE and MAEAP were there, with take-home goodies availabl...

Sometimes bloggers get stuck on what to write about. Occasionally, I'll see an interesting idea over at another blog and want to try it out. This is the case with "Three Word Thursday". The point is to post a photo and try to describe it in three words. Here goes... LOL! Okay. I can't do it in just 3 words. Too many things a-swirlin' around. Here are my top three choices: 1) Lovely Summer Evening 2) Fair 4H Friends and 3) One man working What do you see here? Post it below, in the comment section. If you're a blogger and have a "Three Word Thursday" post, I'd love to check it out!

Last Saturday was a fabulous example of a perfect summer day. We don't get a lot of perfect summer days in October. Here's what the kids decided to do with part of their day, after I kicked them (figuratively) outside... What is it with boys and ditches?