Changing Face of the Farm

For many years I envisioned myself becoming a Tasha Tudor type woman. A elderly woman, milking goats, spinning wool, doing hand work by the flicking light of the fireplace and lanterns, looking like I stepped out of an old story book, but as I get older, I find myself less interested in being tied to the house with animals. The other aspects of this story book life will remain a focus for me.
Goats need to be milked every 12 hours. So that means you never leave home for more than 12 hours. That means no vacations as a family. Someone has to stay home and milk the animals. Chickens are far more forgiving, if you put out lots of feed, and have a big waterer, then they are set for an entire 24 hours.
Rabbits, well they can be a pest. Mine are brats. Harry tipped his water over for fun every couple hours. Water bottles don't work well here. The cold and heat work havoc on the plastic.
The rabbits had to be groomed every three days, there was 3 of them, so you can guess I was grooming, plucking every day just about.
When the children were all home and needing to be kept busy so that rebellion and boredom had no place to grow, the animals and chores were necessary. The garden was huge, the chores were many.
We recently made a decision to not replace Annike my milk goat and to sell the rabbits. It was a difficult decision for us. We have kept the chickens as we cannot imagine our little farm without them. But the rabbits were for hair for me to spin and I have enough hair saved to last a long time. The goat milk I will miss but we have friends we can get it from. But these changes are changing the face of our farm.
Some folks try to keep things the way they always were, not willing to stretch and change with the times or the circumstances. We are seeing this as a new phase in our lives, time to reach out more and do more for others and not be so tied to the farm.
Its time for me to pursue some of the things I love like quilting and knitting. Its time for us to be able to travel some and visit loved ones that are not near.
Soon we hope our lives will be filled with the joys of grandchildren as our children marry and start families.
The garden has become smaller but prettier, with winding brick walkways and more herbs growing. A rose garden has replaced the area where a trampoline stood for years. A quiet spot for reading stands in the middle of the pasture, a circle of young trees gives it the feel of a secret garden.
A round white table with chairs boldly stands near the Italian pine tree, waiting for quiet evening meals for two.
Such a thing is new to us, yet so enjoyable.
Each phase in life has its colors and now the colors are changing once again for us. Who knows, we may even get a cell phone some day or a dishwasher ! No, I doubt it. We are still rather old fashioned, just farmers with fewer animals to care for and a smaller vegetable garden, but there are lots more flowers growing around here.