A friend asked yesterday if I would map out a typical day in the life of our farm.

Each season has a different rhythm; I enjoy summer’s most.

Getting up with the sun,

working in the garden,

seeing fantastic looking bugs,

finding some new flower in the fields,

feeling the cool breeze blowing up the hill,

watching the piglets snuffle for food,

the pigs wallow in the mud,

the cows waiting for their new paddock,

the sheep running along beside the four wheeler,

and the chickens chasing bugs or stealing scraps from the cats,

my family eating pork chops, hamburgers or chicken legs we have raised

along with vegetables and fruit we have grown,

winding down the day as the sunset dazzles us,

sitting on the patio listening to Dave read a silly book to the kids,

and falling into bed wonderfully tired and satisfied–

life is beautiful.

I took my camera along on most of my choring Monday.

Some of the pictures I took on other days but am inserting them in the sequence for clarity.

Can you imagine getting up every morning to views like this?

The garden is first on my agenda, and to keep from having to leave it in the middle of a project,

I bake some granola for the kids before I head out.

Dave will take it out of the oven, and they can serve themselves.

I take a look at the house garden,

but decide to build a better trellis for the cucumbers in the strip garden.

Next job is to get the sheep into a new paddock.

I set up a new section with electronet, pull the shelter over and renew their water.

I’m going to need water for the cattle later, so I bring up the truck and fill it with water from the cistern.

Meanwhile AJ has let the laying hens out of their coop

and biked down to the broilers to feed and water them.

This day, the kids have some friends over for a few hours and go berry picking behind the house.

I get a load or two of laundry hung.

In the afternoon, we bring water to the cattle

and open up a new paddock for them before building the next section,

while the kids play in the shade.

 

The piglets need grain and the growers and breeders get more whey.

We expand their paddock every few days, but today is not one of them.

We load up the broilers for the butcher. (More on this in a coming post.)

Dave has his other job during the day, but afterwards,

he repairs a vehicle (a common activity for him since every vehicle has needed repair this month)

and clears brush for the next fence.

And that about wraps it up.

If you are interested in hearing about specific aspects of our farm, let me know.