Not The End as in the end of this blog or the end of a book or the end of an era.
No I mean The End of chores. Another milking time is done. Calves are fed, cows are milked, and everything is cleaned. Tidy. Sprayed, scrubbed, and put away. The clatter and hum of the pump is quieted. There's the clank of metal pipes as cows reach their noses through the rails to nab that scrumptious bit of hay. There's the chuff of a contented calf chewing her cud.
And I'm filled with the rewarding feeling of another job completed. Until the next milking anyway.
Friday, October 24, 2014
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Hungry Calves
Maaaaa! Bellering babies want to be fed and they let me know especially loudly once they see me coming weighted down with buckets of milk. They jostle and nudge each other in a constant attempt to be the first one fed, the one who is lucky enough slurp down the first gulp of moo juice. My multi-colored 'bebbies' are always eager for some attention, especially if that attention comes at mealtime and I'm carrying a five gallon bucket. Head butting, scampering, yelling their hunger-pretty much they sound like kids at suppertime.
As I dump their milk into their feeders, I see reds, browns, whites, blacks, and the odd grey. Our multi-colored calves are the result of cross-breeding and I love our 'rainbow' herd. We have big calves and little calves, hyperactive calves and calm calves, sneaky calves and silly calves. But no matter the coloring, the size, or the temperament, they are all the same at feeding time. HUNGRY.
As I dump their milk into their feeders, I see reds, browns, whites, blacks, and the odd grey. Our multi-colored calves are the result of cross-breeding and I love our 'rainbow' herd. We have big calves and little calves, hyperactive calves and calm calves, sneaky calves and silly calves. But no matter the coloring, the size, or the temperament, they are all the same at feeding time. HUNGRY.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Slightly New Directions
I started this blog with the intention of posting on daily life on the farm. Well, that didn't pan out like I thought. Mostly since my days are pretty run of the mill and daily posts would read something like "Got up, milked cows, ate breakfast, cleaned house/washed dishes/folded laundry/etc., milked cows, made supper, went to bed." Pretty boring stuff, right? So if I'm not writing about farm life, what does a farm wife/mom write about on a blog titled Dairy Farm Days?
This is something I've pondered for a very long time. If I'm not writing about daily farm life, then where do I want to go with this blog? Do I shut it down? Do I just say Goodbye? Or do I try something new? And if so, what can I do? How 'new' do I want to go?
I thought maybe I could do a daily photo of something on the farm but that idea tanked quickly. First I'm not a photographer and second, I don't have a working camera at the moment. Plus, I really like to write. I just struggle with writing unless I have a topic firmly in mind and I'm not so good at figuring out those. I do best when someone else says 'Write about THIS." So I sat down and listed what I like about writing and topics I could potentially cover. The topics list was short. Pretty much, it wasn't a list since there wasn't anything on it. But the other list was filled with things like describing a scene, making people laugh, using long words because they fascinate me, being sarcastic but in a humorous way. It was a list of things that showed my writing style and my love for words.
I know I'm not meant to write a novel. I've tried and even short stories stump me. I can't come up with plot points, I spend too much time describing the scene and not what the characters are doing, and I get too bored with it far too fast. I don't write poetry because (as my creative writing teacher in college kept telling me) I'm too literal and structured in my writing style and descriptions. (though I suppose it didn't help that he was a free-form poet whereas I like meter and rhyme) And honestly, I don't like writing poetry. I did write a children's book and enjoyed that but I can't see how that could/would translate to my blog since most of my story is told by the pictures, not the words. So I was back to square one.
Until I took a recent walk. As I was meandering down the road, I realized I was creating a word picture in my mind of the scenes I was seeing. And there was my Aha! moment. I could take a mental snapshot of a moment in my day and write a description of that moment. I'd be fulfilling my love of descriptive writing AND I'd be staying true to my blog title for the most part since many of my daily moments are farm related.
So that's where I'm heading with this blog. I'm going to 'paint' pictures with words. I can't promise that they will be good. I can't say how long or short or cohesive they will be. I'm going to simply sit down and write about an instant, a mental image of something in my day and we'll see where this goes.
And with that, here's the first installment.
Farm Sounds.
Clink. Swoosh. Chunk. Whirr. Tap. Shlurrpp. All the different noises of the milkers as they do their job. There's the hiss of the air as the milker turns on, the woosh of the milk running through the lines, the thunk of the pump turning on. It's a comforting conglomeration of sounds that makes up milking. Regular and rhythmic, these noises are like the steady drumbeat of a marching band's bass drum, they are a lullaby that soothes my babies into a morning or evening nap, they are the background sounds that accompany my mornings and evenings. There's the huff of a cow sighing her contentment, the click of her hoof on the cement floor, the shwip of her tail as she lazily flicks it through the air. There's the squishy sound of rubber barn boots on concrete as we busy beaver chore helpers move through our routines, the crunch of a cow chewing her cud, and sometimes the bellow of an impatient and hungry cow letting us all know she wants supper NOW. There is the Baaaa-aaaas and Maaaa-aaaas of thirsty calves, the clank of metal as they jostle against the gates as they see me approaching with a bucket of milk, the crackle and crunch of dead leaves underfoot as I walk to the calf pens, and the rustle of an autumn breeze through the dry grasses is accompaniment to the slosh of milk being dumped into the feeders. There's the rumble of tractors and trucks telling us that someone is off to do something farm-related, the grumble of the skid-steer as it's busily maneuvered around the barn, and the hum of the milking system as it's going through a wash cycle after chores. There's the beep of the computer telling the driver a bale is done and the whirr of the baler opening up. There's the happy yells and squeals as excited children are allowed to join their Daddy in the tractor for a round or two in the field. There's the cluck of chickens as they busily hunt for that one last bug before settling into the coop for the night, the woof of a farm dog as he trees that chattering chipmunk after a quick chase around outside of the grain bin, and the occasional bird chirp, twitter, or honk as birds go about their lives.
And at the end of the day, there's the sound of quiet. All is quiet and calm on the farm.
This is something I've pondered for a very long time. If I'm not writing about daily farm life, then where do I want to go with this blog? Do I shut it down? Do I just say Goodbye? Or do I try something new? And if so, what can I do? How 'new' do I want to go?
I thought maybe I could do a daily photo of something on the farm but that idea tanked quickly. First I'm not a photographer and second, I don't have a working camera at the moment. Plus, I really like to write. I just struggle with writing unless I have a topic firmly in mind and I'm not so good at figuring out those. I do best when someone else says 'Write about THIS." So I sat down and listed what I like about writing and topics I could potentially cover. The topics list was short. Pretty much, it wasn't a list since there wasn't anything on it. But the other list was filled with things like describing a scene, making people laugh, using long words because they fascinate me, being sarcastic but in a humorous way. It was a list of things that showed my writing style and my love for words.
I know I'm not meant to write a novel. I've tried and even short stories stump me. I can't come up with plot points, I spend too much time describing the scene and not what the characters are doing, and I get too bored with it far too fast. I don't write poetry because (as my creative writing teacher in college kept telling me) I'm too literal and structured in my writing style and descriptions. (though I suppose it didn't help that he was a free-form poet whereas I like meter and rhyme) And honestly, I don't like writing poetry. I did write a children's book and enjoyed that but I can't see how that could/would translate to my blog since most of my story is told by the pictures, not the words. So I was back to square one.
Until I took a recent walk. As I was meandering down the road, I realized I was creating a word picture in my mind of the scenes I was seeing. And there was my Aha! moment. I could take a mental snapshot of a moment in my day and write a description of that moment. I'd be fulfilling my love of descriptive writing AND I'd be staying true to my blog title for the most part since many of my daily moments are farm related.
So that's where I'm heading with this blog. I'm going to 'paint' pictures with words. I can't promise that they will be good. I can't say how long or short or cohesive they will be. I'm going to simply sit down and write about an instant, a mental image of something in my day and we'll see where this goes.
And with that, here's the first installment.
Farm Sounds.
Clink. Swoosh. Chunk. Whirr. Tap. Shlurrpp. All the different noises of the milkers as they do their job. There's the hiss of the air as the milker turns on, the woosh of the milk running through the lines, the thunk of the pump turning on. It's a comforting conglomeration of sounds that makes up milking. Regular and rhythmic, these noises are like the steady drumbeat of a marching band's bass drum, they are a lullaby that soothes my babies into a morning or evening nap, they are the background sounds that accompany my mornings and evenings. There's the huff of a cow sighing her contentment, the click of her hoof on the cement floor, the shwip of her tail as she lazily flicks it through the air. There's the squishy sound of rubber barn boots on concrete as we busy beaver chore helpers move through our routines, the crunch of a cow chewing her cud, and sometimes the bellow of an impatient and hungry cow letting us all know she wants supper NOW. There is the Baaaa-aaaas and Maaaa-aaaas of thirsty calves, the clank of metal as they jostle against the gates as they see me approaching with a bucket of milk, the crackle and crunch of dead leaves underfoot as I walk to the calf pens, and the rustle of an autumn breeze through the dry grasses is accompaniment to the slosh of milk being dumped into the feeders. There's the rumble of tractors and trucks telling us that someone is off to do something farm-related, the grumble of the skid-steer as it's busily maneuvered around the barn, and the hum of the milking system as it's going through a wash cycle after chores. There's the beep of the computer telling the driver a bale is done and the whirr of the baler opening up. There's the happy yells and squeals as excited children are allowed to join their Daddy in the tractor for a round or two in the field. There's the cluck of chickens as they busily hunt for that one last bug before settling into the coop for the night, the woof of a farm dog as he trees that chattering chipmunk after a quick chase around outside of the grain bin, and the occasional bird chirp, twitter, or honk as birds go about their lives.
And at the end of the day, there's the sound of quiet. All is quiet and calm on the farm.
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