Thistle Cove Farm

Jacob & Rachel

07:44, 2006-Feb-21 .. Link

With extreme low digit temps, our water lines have frozen and I've had to hand carry buckets of water to fill Danny Boy's water tank. He drinks about thirty gallons of water a day so that means carrying seven five gallon buckets of water to fill his trough. I can't carry a full bucket of water as it tends to slosh all over my pants legs...*very* cold when the temps is cold and *extremely* cold when the wind is blowing.

A five gallon buckets of water weighs more than forty pounds and has been the cause of many sore muscles and even pulled muscles. I finally got smart and started using the tractor's front end loader to carry water from the horse trough to Danny's water tank.

I can carry six or seven, can't really remember right now, five gallon buckets in the bucket. It makes my work SO much easier and even gives me a little time to think. When I'm using my arms, back and hands to carry water, I concentrate *solely* on the task at hand

.

I try and read the Bible through every year and I'm in the book of Genesis now. The introductory story of Rachel has new meaning for me now. Remember the story? She was at the well and Jacob's servant asked if she would draw water for him to drink. She said she would not only draw water for him, she would also draw water for his camels.

Dear me! A camel can drink, easily, thirty to sixty gallons of water and this young girl was dipping her clay containers into the well, filling it with water and then drawing the full container to the surface. She would repeat this as long as the camel drank. Rachel makes me look like a lazy slog in comparison even though she was decades younger and more used to that activity than I...it's still pretty amazing to me.

Even with the cold weather and snow, I still like to hang clothes on the line. There are some days, however, that daylight gets away from me and the clothes are left on the line until the next day. What happens then is...ta da!...frozen clothes.

I've got a great photo to place here of frozen clothes on the line...just need to figure it out...

I'm getting ready for the Mid-Atlantic Direct Marketing Conference in Reading, PA - www.madmc.com - this weekend. My topic/workshop is Using Agri-tourism to Increase Farm Income and I've been beavering away getting my materials pulled together. I really enjoy speaking and teaching and giving other farmers, especially female farmers, the tools they need to use non-traditional methods to make money on the farm.
There are fewer than 56,000 farmers in the Commonwealth of VA; of those about 19,500 are female farmers who represent the fastest growing segment of the farming industry. Nationally, farmers, both male and female, are less than two percent of the population.

We seem to have forgotten Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs - food, shelter, clothing. Virtually all of those needs are met by farmers providing either directly or indirectly the products necessary for food, shelter and clothing.

To put it very simply: No Farm, No Food.

{ Last Page } { Page 25 of 29 } { Next Page }

About Me

Links

Greenberry Days and Dreams
The Simple Life

2006 Scheduled Shows

Covered Bridge Festival - June 17 (with Greenberry House), Woolwine, VA

Round the Mountain Conference - June 12, Abingtion, VA

Virginia Highlands Festival - July 29 & 30 (with Greenberry House), Abington, VA

Folk Life Program - Sept 17, Charlottesville, VA

Celebrate Virginia! - Sept 30 (with Greenberry House), McLean, VA

Friends

Greenberry
maidmyown
VTLinda