Day 1: 31 Days of a Farm Family's Life
Hi! Welcome to our farm. This month during the 31 day challenge, I plan to record our days here on our farm. I have found there is a lot of interest in what we do all day, how we make this work, and whether or not you could make it work for your family.
When Pappy and I moved to the farm about 12 years ago, neither of us had ever lived on a farm. Heck, I was a city girl. But we learned this life, and you can, too. We just wish we had made the move sooner.
So, this is what we did today to make our farm work for our family.
I get up each morning between 5:30 and 6:30. I should get up at 5:30 every day, but since I don't go to bed early, that doesn't happen. The days I get up early, I get a lot done during the quiet hours. Many days I don't see anyone else before I leave to go to work. Today, Pappy got up shortly after I did. I washed the morning dishes, checked in with my Hello Mornings Twitter group, read email and the Bible, then got ready to leave. Besides getting dressed, I pack some snacks for my day at work. I get out GrandBoy's clothes and shoes, and check his backpack for notes and papers to sign. I set out his lunch, toothbrush, allergy medicine, and vitamin. He only goes to preschool half a day, and he doesn't get up till I am gone. I grab my purse and tote bag, make sure I have my glasses, phone, and keys, then I lock the door and am gone. I leave each day by 7:30. On my way to work I listen to phone messages, return calls, and pray for my family.
I am self-employed. I manage real estate and assist business owners with the running of their businesses. I have one client that I work with each morning, and another regular client that I see two afternoons a week. My morning client is from 8 to 2 each day.
Pappy and I also have rental homes. Since today is the last day of the month, I leave my office early so I can make sure everything is done for our properties. I go to two post offices, and at least two banks. I call anyone who still hasn't paid their rent for the month, and try to make an appointment to collect. I go to our bank and make deposits of any rent I get so it will show up on our bank statement for that month. Depending on how the month falls, I sometimes make a point to meet some of our tenants to start collecting the first of the month rent. Our people who get a government check, sometimes get paid on the last day of the month. When that happens, I make house calls to pick it up! When I visited the post office, there was no rent in our boxes. The days are always better when we have a few checks waiting there.
These days I pick up GrandBoy from school when I don't see an afternoon client. I need to have a snack ready when he gets in the car, because he will be starving!
When we got home today, GrandBoy and I checked the garden. I gathered the last of the tomatoes. The garden is pretty much done. We may get a little okra or peppers, but that will be it. We are never done with our garden till the first frost, but all the rain we had this year gave the garden a late start. I'm trying to decide if I want to plant some lettuce, spinach, and maybe radish. I love radish. I checked the hens, but still no eggs. It has been a week since we got eggs. I guess that is caused by the cooler nights. I hope the hens will start laying again for a while, but I will start buying eggs for the winter.
Today our oldest daughter took GrandBoy to school. This allowed Pappy to get an early start on his day. The days everyone is gone to work, Pappy doesn't get started on much till GrandBoy goes to school. This morning the first thing Pappy did was feed the small animals around the house. He fed the rabbits, pigeon, the kitten, and the turkeys. Then he loaded his truck for the day.
He went down to our second daughter's home about two miles from here. He planned to work on a sale building we moved down there to have yard sales in. His plan was to put siding on the building and a floor in it so we can leave items set up inside. He went to knock on the door of her home, and could hear water running from underneath the trailer. So he crawled under the trailer, then found a water leak. After that, he worked on the sale building for a few hours.
We rent pasture all over our county for our cattle. Today Pappy had plans to go to the other side of the county and move hay. He moved hay for three hours, till the hay spear broke on the tractor. Then he took the hay spear to the welder to leave for repair, so that hopefully he can pick it back up this week. Then he bush hogged for two hours. When it got dark, he came home.
One neighbor who shares a pasture with us told Pappy that he doesn't have time for cows any longer, so he is going to sell his. Pappy planned which pastures we will use this winter, and where to move our cows.
This morning I started dinner by putting pintos in our crock pot. When we got home, I made stewed potatoes, fried apples, and corn bread with butter to finish our meal. We drank tea or milk.
After dinner, I picked up the kitchen and put the food away. Then I cut up a basket of bell peppers that two friends shared with us last week. I put 12 small bags of chopped bell peppers in one of our freezers to enjoy this winter. Then I take the pepper seeds and tops out to the chickens. The hot peppers will have to wait till tomorrow night.
Our oldest daughter canned about 12 small jelly jars of cactus pear jelly this morning. This puts her total to 100 jars this summer. Our second daughter shampooed the carpet in our office, after helping her dad work on the sale building. We have a yard sale planned for this weekend.
Pappy and I sat in the office and listened to Fox News, to check on the status of the government shut down. Our oldest daughter came in from work a while ago, and fixed herself a dinner plate. Everyone else is now in bed. When I finish this blog post, I will be getting a bath. Afterwards, I'll walk through the house, gathering dirty cups for the sink, and collecting GrandBoy's scattered clothes from around the house. He changes clothes several times a day! I will try to corral the toys into piles, so he can pick them up tomorrow.
I believe that about covers today. Check back tomorrow to see what a new day brings. We enjoyed your visit, and can't wait to see you again! Honey
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