Rose Colored Glasses

Farmer Jake got up at 4:45am one summer morning, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, to skip down the sunny, tree-lined driveway, and fetch Daphne the sweet milk cow. [Farmer Jake actually crawled out of bed with his eyes all puffy, he and stumbled all the way down to the barn in the dark before he realized he left the milk bucket at the house] Daphne moo'd for joy and skipped to the barn with Farmer Jake. [Daphne actually had a long night and didn't feel like walking to the barn, so Farmer Jake pushed her all the way] Farmer Jake patiently brushed Daphne to make her furry back all glossy [and get off the cow patty she managed to get on her side, which got the brush so nasty it had to be washed before continuing] Within minutes he had a full bucket of nice cold milk. [well he would have gotten some milk if the calf hadn't gotten into Daphne's pasture...but the milk would have been warm. Oh, and, turns out, he wasted 10 minutes going to get the milk bucket he didn't need] True story. After a filling breakfast of sausage, bacon, country ham, biscuits, toast, orange juice, and coffee [oatmeal: quick and cheap] he saunters out to pick the strawberries. 'Nother story for 'nother time.

Take off the rose colored glasses. Please. Farming is hard. Especially if it is not a hobby but an bona fide business. It's not all about sitting in a rocking chair watching the corn grow, or taking a nap under the shade tree. There is always a huge list of things that need to be done.

Don't get me wrong. We take some time to do fun stuff, and I love farming. I love farm life. What other occupation do you get to experience God's creation more? Watching a calf grow or seeds germinate is pure awesomeness. Sure, there is a lot of nitty-gritty, downright hard work, but it's worth it. It's not what I really expected five years ago, though. I had Rose Glasses Syndrome for a while there, too. I think everybody does to some extent.

Just to solidify what I just said...I was typing this blog entry while boiling down maple syrup last night (next post) at 3:30am (I had started boiling it at 5:30pm). I checked on the fire and the syrup needed to boil for about 5 more minutes. Great. Just enough time to finish my blogging! I woke up at 4:00am with my MacBook still open in my lap. Panic struck. *Kronk Voice:* "*gasp*My maple sap!" To make a long story short, I burnt 8 hrs. worth of work...proly at least a gallon of finished product. When I went outside it was foaming/bubbling candy-like out of the pot. This morning I had the uber pleasant chore of cleaning candied charcoal off the pot. It's not the end of the world, though. Life will march on, and I am determined to enjoy every step of the way...mostly.