Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Losing our #1 farmhand

This week Groceries will travel to an area military induction center, get a complete physical, swear his oath, and join the Navy -- for four to six years.  He's decided to study nuclear engineering care of the military, and (pending the successful outcome of his physical) they are anxious to have him.

And while that means the start of a great life adventure for him, for us it means not only the final  (assuming we get no rebounds) emptying of our nest, but also the loss of our strongest and most dependable farmhand.

In a rural environment, strength counts.  Right now I'm in the process of moving two cubic yards of enriched soil into our raised beds to bring them back to being full (decomposition and runoff all deplete the soil levels of raised beds and chicken compost alone is not enough to keep them full).  It's not backbreaking labor, which means it's something I can accomplish on my own.  For heavier jobs, I will usually ask Big Ag to take over.

I've got this. But other farm-upkeep tasks are beyond me at my age.

But there are other chores which require two strong men, and in that area we are going to be missing a farmhand once Groceries departs for points unknown.  So right now we are trying to get what we can accomplished.  The barn quilts need to be finished so they can be hung. (They are quite heavy!) The chicken run needs to be moved so I can finish painting the coop wall behind it.  These are not things I am strong enough to be much help with, and so we're figuring out what needs to be done before we no longer have Groceries and his strong arms and back with us.

After this, I'm not sure what we will do when we need an extra pair of hands.  We have neighbors we can ask for help, and there's always the option paying a professional to do the things we can't (something we probably need to get used to doing as we get older).

But there is no question that aging on a farm presents challenges.  Everyone loves the archetypical story of the little old 80 year-old lady who still manages her own property, butchers her own chickens and turns her own garden, but the reason we marvel at stories like it is because it's relatively rare that anyone can really do that.  Especially if you farm, by the time you reach 80 your body has endured a host of injuries as well as just the breakdown of your body from age itself, and so it's not wise to assume how you feel right now is how its always going to be.

And so as we ponder the potential departure of our middle son, we realize we will not only miss him being around the house -- his great sense of humor, his calm and dependable nature and willingness to help out -- but also his strength, his common sense, and his youthful enthusiasm to get a job done.

But nonetheless, I say with a heart full of pride: Anchors away, my son. Anchors away.


8 comments:

  1. We chose not to have children & have the same worries as we move towards retirement & living full time in the country. We are fairly lucky in that I have several 2nd cousins& their friends that live nearby & can come to help with the occasional large project. As long as we pay them with a cold beer, they are usually happy to help. Congratulations to your son.

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    1. Thank you. It's nice to know we are not the only ones who are dealing with this issue. But the idea of using younger relatives' help is a good one, we do have a couple of young cousins here and I'd give them beer AND cash if they'd help. Might be a good solution!!

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  2. The view from your garage looks like the Italian countryside! Oh I'm sorry you're losing the help...but what an exciting career it sounds like your son is embarking upon! Is this the same one that accepted the job with the long commute? I'm sure he'll be home as often as possible for a good dinner!
    I used to have dreams of having my own big parcel of land and tons of animals and gardens and orchards and bees and everything. Then the longer I read first hand accounts of people living in rural environments with animals and gardening, I realized I needed to scale my dreams WAY back. Considering how much trouble I have keeping my shameful 30x20 garden weeded! That's when I came to the conclusion that I want a grange, not a farm :)

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    1. Actually, this is the other son; the one with the long commute quit that job and accepted a job with better hours closer to home. So he will still be around for dinner sometimes, thankfully. But they're all heading out into the world, for sure. As for your grange, I think having modest farm dreams is better than owning a huge parcel, unless you are OK with having acres of land you do nothing with. A close friend bought a 50 acre parcel recently and when I asked her what she was going to do with all that property, she smiled and said, "oh, just look out at it." I guess that makes more sense than killing yourself trying to work it, right?

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  3. I can relate to your post. In spite of healthy eating, a trim figure and regular exercise, I am dealing with what I consider early onset arthritis. Maybe it's not early, but it seems like it to me. It runs rampant in our family, but never thought I'd be dealing with a fairly severe case at my age.

    We had dreamed of a little homestead of maybe 10 acres, and then kept scaling back our dreams as my mobility decreased. Now my husband is content with his backyard garden and I am glad we were prudent and didn't rush into buying a farm that we couldn't take care of.

    After following your blog for awhile, I can see you make wise decisions. I know you will be able to figure things out.

    I wish your son the best of luck!

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  4. I can relate to your post. In spite of healthy eating, a trim figure and regular exercise, I am dealing with what I consider early onset arthritis. Maybe it's not early, but it seems like it to me. It runs rampant in our family, but never thought I'd be dealing with a fairly severe case at my age.

    We had dreamed of a little homestead of maybe 10 acres, and then kept scaling back our dreams as my mobility decreased. Now my husband is content with his backyard garden and I am glad we were prudent and didn't rush into buying a farm that we couldn't take care of.

    After following your blog for awhile, I can see you make wise decisions. I know you will be able to figure things out.

    I wish your son the best of luck!

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    1. Thank you Molly. Yes, it's always a balance between what we want and what I know we can handle well. We are OK for now, but I am certain this will not be the last property we own, and that our next home will have either more flat land or less acreage if it's on a hill. It sounds like you also make prudent and wise decisions with what you can and cannot take on. I wish everyone was so wise.

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