I looked at the weather report Tuesday morning and saw it was going to be a beautiful day and rain was coming this weekend, so I decided to take Tuesday off and get some things done around home. When you work off the farm during the week, Saturdays are the only day you can get some things done, especially in the winter months with the shorter days. I wanted to get one main thing done: complete a new water line from the house to the shed and then on to the barn. I started this project several years ago and half of the water line was already in the ground. The Monday before was a holiday so I started closing in one section of the barn shed so we can use it for a brooder house later.
The first thing on the day’s list was to make a quick trip to the hardware store because the day before, I made a deal with them to purchase a big stack of scrap lumber for $25. I always ask folks at these stores, “hey, what you going to do with that?” It’s amazing the kind of deals you can find on stuff that’s not for sale. One of my farm rules is “don’t throw anything away,” especially if its made of wood or metal.
One of the many blessings of homeschooling, is that when I am home during the week, my family is home too. So my son got to do school with me all day, and he learned how to put in a water line; pretty cool day at school! He was right beside me all day. Emma Grace would have been with us some too, but she injured her foot the day before so she stayed close to the house. Jase helped dig the ditch, hold the connections as I glued them together and get tools when needed. As we were nearing completion, I realized I did not have the proper fitting to connect the new line to the house water line (different pipe size). You should have seen his face. He was so disappointed when I told him we might not finish today, so I started figuring on a way to rig it for now. I have a degree in “rigging.” So I connected the water hose to the new line and we tested it out. This was a family affair by now because my bride and daughter were down at the new barn spicket and Jase was at the shed spicket. I turned on the water and after the line got cleared out, we were in business. Success! Running water at both places! Jase was so excited! “We did it, we did it daddy!” The look on his face was priceless. In between all the water line business I sold four calves to a friend, so we had to get up the cows, separate the calves into the pen and get them loaded on the trailer. Surprisingly, all that went off without a hitch.
Yesterday was near perfect. There is something so special about being a farming family. We were outside all day, and together we completed a major project (well, almost completed), sold some livestock and to cap it off, grilled venison for dinner that was killed on our place. I thank God everyday for where He has us. He has led us here, and I pray He continues to teach us more about the land and how to be good stewards of it. “Count your many blessings, name them one by one.”
“Everyone should farm something.”