Vacation, Empty Chick Brooder

Last week we emptied out the last of the meat birds from the chicken shelters. With chicks in the brooder ready to take their place in the field, we decided to leave them in the brooder a few more days in order to squeeze in a little vacation. With cows, pigs, and chickens to look after, there’s never an easy time to get away. But with no meat birds in the field, we decided to make a run for it. 

After a half a day’s work Monday morning, making sure everything was situated, fed, watered, and fences were good, we left Monday afternoon for Montvale. My brother John agreed to keep an eye on things and take care of the chicks in the brooder whiled we were gone on Tuesday. It was a about 2.5 hour drive to our cousin’s cabin tucked back at the foot of the mountain on their farm. Yes I know. We finally got off the farm just to go stay on another one. I can’t help it. 

It was a family vacation in that we all went and came back together. But while we were there, it was more of a couple’s getaway for Amy and me. With their cabin being a small one bedroom dwelling, our cousins graciously and crazily insisted that they keep all four kids. The kids had a ball. They didn’t want to leave. Hopefully they didn’t drive Jim and Jane too crazy.

Amy and I slept in, drank coffee on the porch, picked apples at a nearby orchard, and went hiking in the Peaks of Otter up to the summit of Sharp 

Top Mountain. Even though Amy has been on a healthy whole foods kick lately, I insisted that a vacation is not a real vacation without stopping for ice cream at the local creamery. It was just the reset we needed as Amy and the kids begin the new school year next week.

After being gone almost 48 hours, we pulled back into the farm Wednesday afternoon with plenty of time to make the rounds, check on all the animals, and haul over 600 chicks from the brooder out to the empty shelters. On Thursday we had to move a few shelters around and get them set up before catching the remaining 300 or so chicks in the brooder. Carter probably caught 20 of them. It’s funny how kids are different. Wren doesn’t mind to help, but she won’t catch a chick. Carter, on the other hand, caught chicks the whole time. Back to moving shelters everyday. 14 of them for the next month or so. 

Today Amy delivers ORVF meat down to Charlotte, meeting cousins who will take the majority of the meat on down to families at Myrtle Beach. We’ll fill her coolers to get ready for the Abingdon Farmers Market when she gets back. While she’s gone, I’ll be moving cows closer to the barn to get ready for Monday’s trip to the processor. 

I didn’t do any book listening this week, but with 5 hours on the road with family, we wore out some good songs I hadn’t heard in a while. Here’s some favorite lines from a few songs we listened to over and over again.

“The Dirt Road” by Sawyer Brown

Daddy worked hard for his dollar
He said some folks don't, but that's okay
They won't know which road to follow
Because an easy street, might lead you astray

I have lived, life in the fast lane
You gotta watch your back and look both ways
When it's said and done, the time we have is borrowed
You better make real sure, you're headed the right way

I'll take the dirt road, 
It's all I know
I've been walking it for years
It's gone where I need to go 

It ain't easy, 
It ain't supposed to be
So I'll take my time
And life won't pass me by
'Cause it's right there to find, 
On the dirt road

“High Cotten” by Alabama

When Sunday mornings rolled around, 
We dressed up in hand-me-downs
Just in time to gather with the church.
Sometimes I think how long it’s been
And how it impressed me then
It was the only day my daddy wouldn’t work.

We were walking in high cotton
Old times there are not forgotten
Those fertile fields are never far away
We were walking in high cotton 
Old times there are not forgotten
Leaving home was the hardest thing we ever faced

“A Different World” by Bucky Covington 

We got daddy's belt when we misbehaved
Had three TV channels you got up to change
No video games and no satellite
All we had were friends and they were outside, 
Playin’ outside

School always started the same every day
The pledge of allegiance, then someone would pray
Not every kid made the team when they tried
We got disappointed and that was all right, 
We turned out all right

It was a different life
When we were boys and girls
Not just a different time
It was a different world

“Help Somebody” by Van Zant

“It’s better to be hated for who you are, than be loved for who you’re not.”

“If you wanna hear God laugh, tell him your plans.”

Have a good week.

Will