Family Fun, Farming Poems
Another beautiful week in the valley. A slower pace compared to weeks in previous months. With no hired help and lots of cows, pigs, and chickens to look after year round, it’s hard to get away from the farm. Lucky for us, we live in a beautiful part of the country with lots of neat things to see and do close by. One of our New Year’s resolutions was to intentionally and regularly take an afternoon break from farming in order to do fun family things around here. Here it is beginning of October, and so far this year we have failed miserably at this resolution. I don’t guess we had a year’s worth of family fun this week, but we certainly made up for some lost time.
The fun started on Saturday with the Burkes Garden Fall Festival. Amy and my mom took the kids, so that meant two weeks in a row of me setting up at the Abingdon Farmers Market. Although I’m an introvert and not super social, I really enjoyed it. Amy’ll be back at the market tomorrow.
After church and chores, our Sunday afternoon was spent under the shade tree down by the river. With cooler temps in the forecast, that was likely our last Sunday afternoon by the river until next spring.
Wednesdays are usually our chicken processing days. With no chickens to kill this week, after chores we drove up to Giles county and hiked up to Cascade Falls. Wren said it was the “best, best, best, best, bestest day ever.” Bless her heart, with her short little legs, she basically had to run the whole time to keep up with the rest of us walking.
We were also passing around a bug this week that put a slight damper on our fun. Hallie didn’t feel good at the Fall Festival. Amy felt bad on Sunday, missing out on church and the river. Then Hasten got it and missed out on the hike. I guess it’s my turn to get it next.
Another of our New Year’s Resolutions was for Amy and me to go on 10 dates this year. After our hike, we got back in time to go on date #7 to watch The Duck Dynasty movie: “The Blind.” Early in our marriage, Amy would ask me to take her on dates. My reply was usually something like, “Sure, lets go on a date to check the cows… Let’s go on a date to pick up some fence posts,” or something farm related. My attempts to turn farm tasks into date nights only worked if ice cream came with it. As far as Amy was concerned, it doesn’t count as a date without ice cream. That’s been the standard. No sense in lowering the standard now. So of course our movie night was accompanied with an ice cream stop. We had popcorn for dinner. Don’t judge. We were running late.
In addition to all the family fun, we kept the cows and chickens moving to fresh grass and kept the pigs fed and watered. Amy made more chicken broth and delivered meat yesterday to families in the Farmville area.
I didn’t do as much listening this week, but I took a Wendell Berry book of poems “Farming: A Handbook” down to the river with me Sunday afternoon. Here’s a couple clips of his poems that I read and then re-read.
“Song in a Year of Catastrophe”
“I began to be followed by a voice saying:
‘It can’t last. It can’t last.
Harden yourself. Harden yourself.
Be ready. Be ready…
Gather round you all
the things that you love, name
their names, prepare
to lose them.’”
“The Contrariness of the Mad Farmer”
“I am done with apologies. If contrariness is my
inheritance and destiny, so be it. If it is my mission
to go in at exits and come out an entrances, so be it.
I have planted by the stars in defiance of the experts,
and tilled somewhat by incantation and by singing,
and reaped as I knew, by luck and Heaven’s favor,
in spite of the best advice…
‘Dance’ they told me,
and I stood still, and while they stood
quiet in line at the gate of the Kingdom, I danced.
‘Pray’ they said, and I laughed, covering myself
in the earth’s brightnesses, and then stole off gray
into the midst of a revel, and prayed like an orphan.
When they said ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth,’
I told them ‘He’s dead.’ And when they told me
‘God is dead,’ I answered ‘He goes fishing every day
in the Kentucky River. I see Him often.”
When they asked me would I like to contribute
I said no, and when they had collected
more than they needed, I gave them as much as I had.
When they asked me to join them I wouldn’t,
and then went off by myself and did more
than they would’ve asked…”
Have a good week.
Will