9.18.22
Rain! Oh, what a beautiful sound! The forecast for our area the past couple of days had hinted at a good chance of rain last night but Darrell and I did not hold our breath. In early evening a wee little sprinkle made us leave our easy chairs to go sit on the front porch, all the better to enjoy the smell of rain drops hitting the parched earth – that wonderful smell called petrichor for those wishing to know the exact name for it! Alas, it stopped all too soon. Then, a short while after we had retired to bed, we heard it. The unmistakable sound of rain falling on our metal roof. Louder and louder it became and the drops fell faster and faster. We lay there with our eyes closed just reveling in the sound. It was wonderful! Then, the first flash of lightning came.
With every storm there is good and bad. Mother Nature believes in balance. We have been so fortunate this year in that wildfires have not hit close to home. Yet even with the rain coming down in a steady flow, as the flashes and booms of the thunderstorm came ever closer, that threat of fire still niggles in the back of one’s mind. Grateful for the rain and much needed moisture, we hoped the storm would pass us by with just that … rain. Thankfully it seems to have done just that. This morning, as I sit in my easy chair letting my thoughts flow, the deck is soaked, the smell outside amazing with no smell of smoke mingling with the scent of damp earth. Life is good.
Life really is good you know. Even when kinks are thrown in the works at the most unexpected moments, there always seems to be some good that comes out of the kerfuffle if we are willing to look for it. This time of year is a hectic and very busy one for us, as it is for so many folks who have a farm. This past week has seen Darrell working hard every single day to get our winter wood supply cut and split. As his pile of split wood grew, I loaded our four-wheeler trailer with the chunks and trundled them to the woodshed at the house, filling it to the brim. Next came stocking the workshops wood stack which I am happy to say we completed yesterday before the rain hit.
In between working to get our winter wood put up, the taking care of animals on the farm goes on. Our new milking cow Blackie has settled into the milking routine and her calf Belle is growing like a weed. Although Blackie does not at all like having to wait her turn to head into the milking parlour – Heidi is boss cow so gets to come in first – she does patiently wait her turn then when the gate is opened trots into the milkhouse for her morning grain. She is due to calve the end of January, so I only have another couple of months of milking her before I let her dry up for a milking rest before her calf is born. Belle, although still young, will be weaned from Blackie a tad earlier than we would normally wean a calf from its mum but since she is Blackie’s adopted daughter, we knew this would be inevitable.
This week, apart from making sauerkraut, picking tomatoes to can, harvesting corn and stacking wood amongst other things, also saw me turning Hermione’s little boar piglets into barrows, by divesting them of certain appendages! This is a necessary chore but not one I relish however this time it was done with a tinge of reminiscence of such times in the past. I have a special knife for performing this deed and after the last little boar became a barrow – there were seven of them to do! – I realized it would be the last time I was using that knife for that particular purpose. You see, I have decided to sell Hermione and one of our young boars and retire from raising pigs from birth to butcher. I know, I know … I have said this in the past, but this time I think I will stick to my guns and do it. That will not mean the total end to our pig raising as who can go without fresh, homegrown pork! We will still raise up a few piglets a year for meat, but I do think it is time to take this particular iron out of the fire. Just like when I decided to retire from cutting and processing wild game for customers, as soon as I made the decision and spoke it out loud, I knew inside me it was the right decision to make. As Darrell said, if I ever change my mind, we can always get another sow and boar, but I truly feel my mind is made up. It is time.
I want more time to write, to garden, to sit on the front porch with Darrell and enjoy being still. Oh, I still have plenty of irons in the fire, I guess I would not have it any other way but taking one out will be a good thing. The challenge will be to make sure I don’t find another one to replace it!
