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Spring Rush

You've thought everything through, using your brain before your brawn.  Fences are set up for ease of management for your livestock, which you chose for hardiness and no need for assistance during birth, portable chicken arks are in place for your flock of egg layers, seeds are bought or ordered for the garden.

And suddenly it seems that everything is happening at once.

Don't panic.

Breathe.

It's nothing more than the spring rush on the farm.  It seems that everything needs to be done yesterday, if not sooner.  The garden needs to be prepared before planting, seeds should have been sown weeks ago, the kids have projects at school that need supplies purchased and events to attend, chicks ordered weeks or months ago are arriving TODAY, maybe you decided as I did that this year it would be a good idea to bottle feed some ewe lambs for the convenience of tame ewes in future, etc.

It all seemed reasonable at the time.

Breathe.

Okay, the garden is getting in a little late.  Oh well.  We'll live.

The chicks arrived via the Post Office and yes, those do need immediate attention, but once they are out of the shipping box and given a drink and released into a brooder box, they are fine and don't need much attention. 

Yes, those bottle lambs need to be fed many times a day, but you were smart and kept at least 2 to keep each other company, so they can stay in a pen in the barn.  They learn to suck down that bottle faster and faster every day, so you can spend as little time as needed when in a rush, and can linger and enjoy them when you have more time.  You learned to keep a set of coveralls (insulated for cold weather, and regular for the rest of the year) to throw on over your jammies or your day clothes, so that you can stay relatively clean despite sitting down in the barn with the cute lambs that are beginning to climb all over you.  Boots and hat are by the door so that you are prepared for all types of weather. 

Sigh of contentment.

A trip to town to get supplies for the kid's Project Fair can be timed between feedings, or give the better half very explicit instructions on how much and how to feed those lambs, which he won't listen to, but they will get fed his way and that's just fine.

Deep breath.

You kept some hog panels, cattle panels or field fencing on hand for emergencies, such as when the better half decided that the livestock should graze the orchard, where all the carefully tended raised vegetable garden beds are.  These panels can be placed quickly to protect your plantings, or said better half can pound some fence posts into the ground and set up that field fencing to protect your garden...  that'll teach him to make executive decisions without consulting you first.

Breathe in relief that you saved your garden, or take some cleansing breaths in case you didn't save the garden, knowing that it can be replanted, and that a certain somebody owes you big time.  Save that for something really good.

Yes, we really can do it all.  And yes, it can all be done easily, with minimal input for most of the year.  The spring rush can be a little daunting if you let it, but just remember to prioritize.  Children (yours) get priority, babies (critters) get priority, and pretty much anything else (laundry, dishes, garden, projects around the house or farm) can get done when you can get to it.  Shortcuts (started plants instead of seeds) might be necessary.  No guilt is allowed.

I don't even want to talk about the beehives waiting to be painted.

Things will settle down in a few weeks.

Really!

I am typing this in my insulated coveralls (over my husband's flannel jammies, because I'm behind on laundry), and there really are 70 day-old chicks in my dining room that arrived this morning, I need to do a load of laundry so that I'll look presentable at my son's school event this evening, I have 3 bottle lambs that need to be fed again in about an hour, and there are one-month old chicks in a chicken tractor in the orchard. No sheep grazing the orchard YET, but husband hinted at moving them there, and I made sure he knew what the procedure will be before sheep enter the vicinity of my garden beds, and my flock of sheep are having babies left and right without need of assistance, and I'll have a steady stream of suburbanites coming this week to pick up the chicks they ordered for their backyard flocks of egg layers.  It will be fun.

Really!

And some people think farming is boring.  They don't have a clue!

Above: Chicks from our April delivery, in the dining room.

Below:  8-day-old Greener Pastures Rowan gives himself a good shake before running off to join his twin brother and his dam. May 2009

Above: The beehives looked good back then, but now need a coat or 2 of paint. Green, thank you very much!

Below:  Cascade ewe with her newborn lamb next to hog panels that protect my young apple trees from becoming apple sticks.

Breathe.....   the lilacs are blooming!