Farm Life

When you live on a farm, things are constantly reminding you of what is really important in life. Our lifes are so busy. We rush about working, worrying, planning, making, baking, complaining and coordinating. Paying bills, caring for elderly parents, grandchildren, spouses. We worry about our house, we worry about our job, we worry about our future.

We forget that as much as we like to think that we are masters of our universe that ultimately, we have no control over our future. We have to rely on faith in God to lead us in the path that he wants us to go. We have to put our whole existence in his hands and trust in him. Normally it takes a catastrophe in our lifes to remind us and make us turn to him for help.

This week we were reminded of the quality of faith by the birth of our new baby donkey, Mary Jane. Mary Jane has no defense against predators. Her tiny body is suspended above these spindly legs that she can barely control. At times it appears that her legs have a life of their own and she can't stop them from running. She must have complete faith in her mother that she will see that Mary Jane is fed. Faith that she will be able to lay down at night and not be eaten by predators. Faith that she will be able to grow into the donkey that she should be and know all the donkey knowledge she needs to survive. Mary Jane has the faith that I want to have. I want to sleep as soundly as Mary Jane does, trusting that God will show me the way, will feed me and protect me. I want to live a better life and be a better person. Pray for me.

Supper update

Well, good news. I combined a can of great northern beans, a can of chunk chicken breast, a can of chicken broth, a drained can of carrots, one onion, a cup of frozen hashbrowns, cup of frozen corn and a cup of frozen green peas. Add a touch of salt and black pepper and bring it to a simmering boil. Add a can of evaporated milk and you have a nice pot of soup for two. Not gourmet fare but satisfying and will sure warm up a drenched husband.

Seems the campers at the state park don't deal with being trapped in the park, unable to leave due to the flooded low water crossing. Not that they weren't planning on staying the night anyway. I mean, they are CAMPING here and have either an RV or a tent set up. Complaints of "my tent is wet" is one of my faves as well as "there are bugs in my camp site!". City people. What did they expect? Do they not watch the weather before packing the Lexus SUV and heading to the wilderness? Now I know why my husband loses his sense of humor on the weekends. I don't do "stupid" well myself.

If it will stop raining I'll let out the old bloodhound. Seems rain is cryptonite to old bloodhounds and she is having none of it.

Row, row, row your boat......

This country life thing has it's difficult moments. Today we are having a nice slow, steady rain. The kind of rain that soaks in to the ground and replenishes the moisture and makes the grass grow. The kind of rain that is wonderful for all the spring seedlings and newly planted seeds. The kind of rain that sounds so wonderful on a metal roof.

It is also the kind of rain that slowly and steadily makes the creek rise. Makes the creek look a bit like the levee failure in the Ninth Ward. Makes the creek look like the Guadalupe River after a sudden summer downpour.

So here I sit, unable to travel beyond the border of my property. Normally that is such a wonderful thing and I don't even want to leave but when you CAN'T leave it seems that the mind conjures a thousand things on your "to-do" list that involves travel to anywhere BUT here.

Well no one ever said it would be easy. I'm guessing this is why we spend all our "spare time" putting up jars of jelly, harvesting squash, planting, pulling and drying bunches of onions, freezing brussel sprouts, grinding pears for pear honey and feeding/catching catfish. So when the great conflict finally occurs that we won't starve. We wil be self sufficient. We'll hunt and fish and live off the land. However.....we will be a bit limited on our menu as I'm discovering there isn't much you can make without a good store of grocery store items. (Note to self: stock up on more staples!)

So as the creek rises, I'm looking through the cookbook for any recipes that combine wild plum jelly, squash, onion, brussel sprouts and catfish with pear honey as a garnish. Once I locate that recipe, I will have it made. Only problem is I won't be able to eat it since all the horses will be staring at me through the windows because I was NOT able to get to the feed store for Purina Strategy.

Wonder how they feel about brussel sprouts?????

Time

Days, weeks, months, years...all terms to describe a unit of time. Seems there is never enough time though. I'm the impatient sort. After buying the ranch in 2004 we set out to develop it into the wonderful training facility for our search and rescue students. But, I'm afraid that if life is a Monopoly game, we will get to Park Place before we get it all done. There seems to be so much to do at the ranch, so much building to finish before we can be all we want to be. We've done alot in the days, weeks, months and years. Fences, buildings, clearing, cleaning, refining. A year to build the cabin, a year to finish the yard, the patio, build the kennels, storage rooms, hay barn, stable and arena came later. Now almost six years down the road we have a huge shop, weekend cabin but still so much remains to do.
I tell my husband all the time that one day when I'm old and gray I will sit down and make a book of all the stories of our city folk turned rancher stories and call it "Tales of the Clueless". I also have stories of training my bloodhound that I'll call, "Amos Days". Lots of laughter has been shared out at our little slice of heaven. Most of it involving us learning life's lessons the hard way. But I wouldn't trade any of this for a custom built home in the city. We get to see stars that seem as numerous as grains of sand on the beach. The sunsets and sunrises are defy description. So much we have seen and heard and so little time remains in life to enjoy all there is to see and do. I thank God for all the blessings he has given us and although we don't deserve it, I'm praying daily that he sees fit to help us continue to work on our field of dreams. I pray, I pray.....