After some consideration, I have decided to turn my blog into a farm blog. For those of you who own farms of your own, or my country cousins, you may find this boring but a fair number of our friends really don’t understand our lifestyle. That is certainly no fault of their own; it is unfortunately a dying way of life. It is one I grew up with and one Sara experienced spending summers with her grandparents in Illinois (I call this her “saving grace” to being a Yankee). I am thinking I will do a weekly or bi-weekly snapshot of farm “happenings” or “a day in the life.”

The past couple of weeks we have been hit hard with bad news on the pet front. Our beautiful cat Willameena, only two years old, has been diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. I took her to the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine’s hospital (hereout referred to as UTCVM) last week for an echocardiogram. The good news is she does not yet need medication. The bad news is this will likely shorten her life. We go back in six months for another echo to gauge disease progression. SIGH. I picked Willa quite purposefully from the Oak Ridge animal shelter at 8 weeks of age. Her snow-white coat and crystal blue eyes spoke to me. Yes, the white cat affliction at work. She was such a savior to us during Sara’s cancer, which I have alluded to in previous posts. She is special, as they all are.

This week we learned that our little dog Artie ALSO has a heart murmur. UGH!! His is likely age related and we will monitor with a yearly echocardiogram at the regular vet. In March we adopted a tiny little senior doggie named Yeti. To make a long story short it seems he has a liver shunt. This is not good but he too has been referred to UTCVM and they will determine if he is a candidate for surgery, which we are praying he is. Yeti has not been treated well in his previous life and while we adopted a senior pup in order to give them the best life possible, we do hope for more years with little Yeti. He is an adorable 10 pound, deaf, blue-eyed little character and we are loving watching him blossom.

Other happenings this week…..we lost a chicken today. She just died. Birds are not hardy creatures and it is hard to turn the corner once they go south. For the past three years we have bought a dozen meat birds, and thanks to friends with a plucker, Sara has processed them for us. This has earned her a serious farm girl badge because I just cannot do it. We have bought zero beef and pork and very little chicken from the grocery store in years. We are quite spoiled. However, this may be the last batch of meat birds. One, a dozen costs us $60 to get here. Their feed is nearly $20 a bag. Top that off with a 50% casualty rate this year and we could have bought several organic chickens at Fresh Market. We do love our rat snakes on the farm. They are the best mousers and are harmless to us BUT one got into our chicks for the first time ever. Sara is also our snake wrangler (wait, is that another farm badge?) and after she extracted said snake from the chick coop, it had a very suspicious large lump in its middle. With one chick lying dead and one missing it was obvious what befell the poor chick. We did not have time that morning to put the snake in a feed sack and get in my car and drive it 2 miles away to an abandoned house as we sometimes do. It was released on the woodline and will likely be back. We also lost chicks to wharf rats so I am over it. No more.

Machines. Tools. Necessary on the farm. When they work, it’s fabulous; when they don’t it stops everything. Most weekend mornings are spent over coffee and a good breakfast at which time we discuss our task list for the day. We recently purchased a Kawasaki mule. I have to say that instead of just “mule” because many would assume we bought another animal. We have wanted one for quite some time and found a great used one. It worked well for a week and now will not start. Sara has tinkered with it, and it just is not starting. Frustrating. Yesterday, my list included mowing the yard. Keep in mind we have a long list of chores, usually one of which there is no real end, so there is not time to waste. I sat down on the mower and it would not even turn over. Plan B. Get the tractor, get Sara, go hook up the finish mower. Lots of sweat,dust and 3 hours later the yard and horse pasture were mowed. Sara put together several things for my newly renovated bathroom, took the trash off, cleaned house and cooked. She also visited with a neighbor who unfortunately is starting the same cancer journey as Sara. At the end of the day, and I do love these long hot summer days, it feels good to have a beverage and reap the rewards of labor. I love that farm tired feeling and being able to see results.

Today, we are getting some more badly needed rain. After one rain shower in 7 weeks we were in dire straits. Add unseasonably hot temperatures of 95+ for the month of June, and we were literally burning up. We have never fed hay in summer but our cows ate 4 round bales before the rain finally came. Before the rain today I had to get under the finish mower and cut a massive ball of twine wound so incredibly tightly around the two blades they would not turn. The result of an ill fated and stupid decision to run the mower over a pile of hay left from aforementioned round bales. Sara is canning tomatoes today. She got 14 pints and she will likely do it again next weekend. We use canned tomatoes for soup, chili and pasta sauces. We are currently using 2021 jars but try to stay ahead.  She has also made pizza dough for our pizzas we will bake in our pizza oven for dinner this evening, paired with a nice caprese salad made with fresh tomatoes and basil. We did not have our usual garden. With me being gone for almost a month it did not make sense and I am happy to pay the poor local girl making pennies off her hours spent pulling weeds.

Tomorrow we take two steers to the processor. It is never a pleasant trip but one I rest easy with. I know how our cows are treated and fed. I also know what they are (and are not) eating and we love our beef. Due to the insanely high prices at the sale barn, we are not raising beef for others this year. We are about to wean 5 calves, two of which will be kept for us and family. The other three will be sold. This is part of our plan of downsizing. No more horse showing, fewer chickens, and fewer cows. One thing Sara’s health issues taught me is I do not have to be working every waking moment. I am right now enjoying a very fine Old Fashioned, made with very good bourbon on our comfy screened porch. I sit and listen to nothing but doves cooing, rain falling and am watching chickens and cows. I am a good tired once again and I would not trade this life with anyone.