Morning meditations

I am thinking of starting a new series of posts about mornings on the farm. I am thinking this may be enjoyable for our readers. I also think that I will enjoy reading my own thoughts about farm life, at a later date, another season of life, when routines and schedules are different than they are now.

This morning I awoke early, a little after 5 and couldn’t fall back asleep. I was a little anxious about a few suggestions I had made last night but for the most part I was at peace and felt rested. I concluded that I must have slept soundly last night. I read a chapter of James in The Message translation (a different translation just for a change) and got dressed and then read a little in the latest novel that I’m reading.

My husband asked if I could scramble some eggs for him, so I did (he likes my egg scrambling technique lol) and then I folded the boys laundry. The next thing, which is part of my current routine, is to get Titus our Aussie, into the laundry room and close the door, and feed him his breakfast. He doesn’t really like when I close him in the laundry room, it used to be easier to get him in there. I started using his training collar with the vibrating and beep signals, along with treats to re-train him to go in there without so much trouble. I like to close the door in the morning so that the sound of putting his food in the bowl, and the sound of him eating, don’t wake the toddler lol.

Once Titus was done eating we went into the garage and refilled the 3 week old chicks food. There are 12 of them and they are getting big. I was excited to sell 5 of our Lavender Orpington chicks on Sunday. I love watching each of thier unique colors emerge as thier fuzzy soft down is replaced with thier first feathers. I held my current two favorites and cooed and petted Tham and them put them back and closed thier cage.

Titus wanted to stay with me as I trekked to each part of the farm this morning, sometimes he is off doing his own thing. I liked him staying close to me.

Next we went into the garden to feed the rabbits. In order to open the garden gate, I currently have to lift the fence I arched over the gate in the spring, to open the door because the loofah has done very well this year. I need to use some Hackberry branches to create more support to keep the archway up, Hackberry branches are pretty flexible so I think they’ll work well for this. I went in to feed the bunnies, they had plenty of water. And then I decides not to worry about water or food for the two bigger chicken coops, since I know I filled them up last evening.

At this point I started walking from the garden to the barn. I looked at our fruit and nut trees and was thankful that they didn’t need to be watered because it actually rained most of the day yesterday. I was also thankful that I was able to determine that two of my 3 young pecan trees are alive and have new growth, after they had been looking dried out and dead for the last month. On my way I also noticed trash blown over the grass in the back of the house, so I picked it up and put it all back in the trash cans and put the one that blew away back, and closed the lid securely.

As I got to the barn gate I enjoyed the greetings of the 3 dogs at the barn, Daisy, Looloo and Rusty. They are such sweet dogs. I remembered next that I needes to let Wade’s breeding group nibble on the mineral block for a little while so I took that into thier area first. Then I turned on the water from the rain barrel to fill the water troughs through hoses and pipes we installed recently. I was thankful to have that convenience.

Next I fed the dogs. I have learned that if I feed them too close to each other, they end up growling at each other and sometimes fighting, so I put thier full food bowls in separate corners of the barn and then leave them to eat.

While they were eating I asked Titus to sit beside me, away from the gate to the pen in the ewe barn and I opened the pen to let that group of sheep out. I asked him to stay beside me as we treck down the sheep run. I noticed that the far gate, to the pasture the sheep need to get into, is closed. I usually leave it open at night so that I don’t have to open it in the morning. So I asked Titus to sit, some ways from the gate, as I got up in front of the sheep, to open the gate. Titus knew I had the remote to his training collar and he statyed put, I didn’t even have to use it. This helped the sheep not to start running in the opposite direction, and they soon are in their pasture and I can close the gate behind them.

When Titus listens, he really is a big help.

After that, I walked back to the sheep that were in the ram shack and asked Titus to sit behind the door. I opened the door and let the sheep out and continued to ask Titus to sit and stay with me so he wouldn’t chase the sheep. They know where to go and when he chases them, they get scared and go the wrong way. Titus listened. I closed the gate to the pasture those sheep went into, pasture 4 and I closed the gate to the sheep run. Then I turned off the water tank and opened up the gate to the sheep in Wade’s group and put the mineral block away.

I was done.

The breezes were nice this morning the air cool and humid and everything was wet and smelled sweet. During this season I enjoy doing the farm chores in the morning before the boys wake up. It is quiet and cool in the mornings. This has been my routine all summer and now into the fall. It is working well right now.