Thursday, December 1, 2011

Frosty mornings and warm coffee.

This morning as I get up and around, I peek out the window to see a heave frost. The thermometer reads 21 degrees. Brrrrr. I make a mental note of the extra chores involved with this cold. Breaking ice on 3 troughs, throwing extra hay, replacing wet straw bedding with dry. I settled in with my coffee as my mind wakes up. Clean out the wood stove, leaving just enough hot coals to restart the fire. The house is still warm, 72 degrees. The furnace is still off....so the wood stove is doing its job. :) Fire blazing, time to head out. As I step out into the crisp morning air, my breath is taken away with the beauty. Everything is covered in a heavy frost. Shimmering in the morning light....like little white diamonds.
As I head to the barn, I take slow steps just taking in the beauty. Once I get to the gate, my fingers ache knowing the chain is frozen, and icy cold.
The animals are all waiting for breakfast, softly calling to me as I enter the barn. Dishing out breakfast for them, I realize just how lucky I am to have them.
Suzie in her stanchion, I begin milking. Steam rises from the warm milk as it hits the bucket, and tickles my nose. The cat waits patiently for his helping of warm milk and I oblige.
Back to the house, I put away the milk and grab a cup of coffee...and head to the porch. There I am greeted by warm kittens with soft meows and purrs. As I sit with my warm coffee, and a kitten in my lap I look out across this farm and marvel at all we have been able to accomplish over the few years we have been here. We started with a nearly empty slate, and a lot of dreams. We are now up and running with those dreams providing ourselves with milk, eggs, meat, vegetables and fruits. Blood sweat and tears has built this little farm, laughter and love of this way of life has kept it going.

1 comment:

  1. :-) I am getting ready to head out into the frosty cold myself and drive to the next town to make deposits and ship some packages.

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