This is a busy time of year for us (and most farms). I do this pretty much by myself, while taking care of the kids, so things are slow-going quite often. We start each day with getting big kids off to school, and little kids fed and changed, dogs fed and let out for a while, and then finally, I get to sit down with my breakfast and coffee to check my emails and handle any online business I need to do.
That finished (two cups of coffee are necessary for my proper functioning, LOL) the toddlers, dog and I head out to the morning farm chores. We give hay to the sheep and goat pens, feed the
chickens, ducks and turkey, give water to the rabbits (they get their grain in the afternoon when the girls come home), empty and refill the duck pool, bring fresh water to all the various animal pens, collect eggs and milk Pearl. The toddlers get to have their fun playing on the climbers and swings etc. in the yard.
By the time this is all finished, it is time for the littlest one's nap, so in he goes. I pasturize the milk and put away the eggs. My 3 yr old and I (and the dog, of course) head back out, she to play, me to tend the sheep and goats. The pens are let loose, one pen at a time to graze (which is a good thing when the lawn tractor is broken, yet again). Addie helps keep them in check, that they don't wander past the borders. I take this time to work with the sheep/goats with whatever is needed- hoof trimming, shearing, worming, whatever. If that is done, some time can be used to clean cages, pens, etc. On a good day, I may even have time to play with the kids a bit!
Then its lunch time. We head in, the little one wakes up and we all relax for lunch. After lunch we hop in the car and head to the big pasture where we keep the horses, most of the sheep, and llama. Luckily the other horse owner there does the early morning feeding. We tend to the animals there for a couple hours. Feeding, cleaning, shearing (oh, I try to get some time alone once a week to ride the horses, if I'm lucky).
Then we head home and the older kids are all home from school. Time for homework, housecleaning, making dinner. The kids have
some animal chores at home they do after school, which is a big help to me.
After the little kids go to bed and the older ones are settled watching TV, I take some time to wash fleeces, dye fibers, process fibers, spin, whatever needs to be done so we have plenty to offer at the farmers market.
Oh, and then at some point, I go to bed, LOL.
Hard work, often dirty work, but I love it!
