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Apr 25, 2011


"When Corvin Came..."

...we didn't know he'd work out so well. 


he scrubbed floors,

He painted ceilings,











  
he mucked out,

he fed calves,

he hung fat for the birds,

he hauled milk,













he was our first vegetarian,


and the one who found our first lambs of this season.

Having him in our home made life on the farm even richer than it usually is.
Maybe that's one of the greatest compliments anyone could recieve.

Apr 24, 2011

"Plus and Minus"
Corvin was upstairs in his bed reading...

I was downstairs hanging some laundry...

Gustav was in the shower...

Pappa was working by the tractor garage...

 and we all heard it at the same time:
Moo-ooo-ooo!
(Not good.)

 Corvin came running downstairs.   I called for Gustav on my way upstairs.  He threw on his clothes and raced out of the shower room.  
 The three of us hit the front door as fast as we could to see what was going on.


The heifers were out!
How did they do it?  We didn't have any idea.
How could we get them in again FAST?
Like this...

 Corvin was the "human fence" so they couldn't come back that way.  Gustav herded them towards the gate and gave them a talking to at the same time. 
You can't see me or Pappa but we are over to the left of this picture blocking the road so they couldn't run that way either.  Pappa, hearing the shouting from where he was in the tractor garage, had hurried out to see how he could help.

 And we got them back in again. 

When the heifers get out it is a three-fold problem:

1.  They could be injured by running somewhere that isn't safe for them.
2.  They could run onto other people's property and do significant damage.
3.  They are large and powerful and could injure a human being or smaller animal.
All of those scenarios are minuses.
But there is one giant plus in situations like this as well.

 When something unexpected occurs - and there are many instances in farm life where that happens,

We snap into action as a team.
 We  drop whatever we are doing and race to solve the problem,
together.

There is no jockeying for position or trying to be the "big boss". There is no pride or arrogance involved. 
 It is just everyone pulling as one to insure that all is set to rights.

Because of that,
 we succeed each time.

I  LOVE that part of our lives.

Apr 22, 2011



"The Duett Garage"

This is the Duett garage. 
It is supposed to house the Volvo Duett, our "do-everything" farm vehicle.
Instead, for a long time, it has housed various pieces of equipment, car parts and accessories, but mostly wooden boards that needed to be dried to later be used for panelling inside a house.

The drying was now more than accomplished so it was high time for the Duett garage to
 "fulfill the measure of it's creation".
 Gustav and Corvin were elected to do the job.

True, unloading the contents seemed like a formidable undertaking, but the boys got right started and  in no time they had made quite a dent in it.  They had a great system where one would unload and the other would position himself at the end of the flat bed trailer to make sure the boards were on straight.

Corvin loaded....
and Gustav made sure it was straight.
And vice-versa.

It was a good day, a little bit overcast, but not too cold when they were out there working.

All that was about to change.


As the last few boards were being loaded onto the trailer and they were driving away with the tractor, the snow began. 
 A few flurries at first, and then...


It really started!

The empty barn where they were taking the boards was five minutes away from our farm and this is how it looked when they got there.  They surveyed the situation for unloading and decided to lay down some of the boards to make a walkway to get up and in with their cargo.  The wind was howling, the snow was blowing and the boards were heavy.

But they muscled it up and got it done, emptying the entire flat bed, even with the horrible weather conditions.
Everyone was pretty happy when the deed was done and the snow-covered boards were safely into the old barn.



This is how the Duett garage looked the next day when the snowing had stopped and they were able to sweep it all out.



And this is how it looked an hour later with the Duett in it.

I suppose that reading this post one could say,
"Well, wasn't it good of those two young men to accomplish that feat even when the weather turned so bad so unexpectedly?
GOOD FOR THEM!"
And they would be right.
The two of them did a great job.

But to us it represented much, much more. 
It meant one more step forward in
 "Completing the Farm" 
which is our overall goal.

We want to
get it all done. 
We want everything to be
where it is supposed to be.
We want to go into a building or a barn or a Duett garage that functions
 the way it is intended to.

And to Gustav and Corvin who were willing to keep on even when it was tough, and help us achieve one more part of that goal we say:

Thanks Guys!
xoxoxoxo