Everything is up in the air right now, most specifically, the clouds. Marcha, here in Central Illinois, has been full of record breaking days with temps in high 70's and even low 80's, better than some Junes we've had in the past. With the shift in pressures will come storms and rain, making for times of uncertainty. Do we plant or do we wait?
We are doing both. A couple of days ago Keith dug up the flower bed by the milk house while I filled it with numerous flower seeds. They might come up and they might not. Or they will come up and the weather will reverse back to normal and the seedlings will be frostbitten and die, or buried under snow or blown apart by tornadoes.
Hmmmm. Seems like someone needs a nap.
You see, our whole life right now is a big packet of flower seeds. With the farm being for sale do we assume (like last year at this time) it might sell quickly therefore no need to plant any gardens, or do we assume no one is really interested in buying our organic farm business so we might as well accept the fact we are going to be here until we're the ones pushing up the daisies. And if that is the case then I best get on the phone and call all the authorities because several of us still would like to see a family graveyard built (dug?) on our farm.
Do we tear down the old goat barn, contact that lovely young couple named T & J who wanted to harvest the old wood for a pub room in their own house, or do we prop it up with another old steel girder and hope it makes it through another year?
Do we expand the farm store that has grown in activity and revenue steadily the last 6 months or do we focus on adding on a bathroom and turning it into our retirement home and renting the big house to young people with strong backs and unending enthusiasm.?
Do we increase the Red Wattle herd, decrease the Red Wattle herd or just use the boar Mad Max as a substitute for Pony Rides at $10 a pop?
Do we decrease the dairy to 5 cows ? 7 cows ? And if we have less cows do we run more hogs on the pastures or less hogs and more chickens or do we just turn it all into mini-bike trails like our 3 boys, now full grown men wanted us to do over a decade ago? So speaking of trails...should they run clockwise or counter-clockwise?
And what about my book? Where can I find MORE time to finish it? In the morning (HA! Will never happen. Hate mornings) or the afternoon or the evening and then who will keep the toilets and bathtub gleaming the way I like? The have never gleamed before but that's not the point.
Do you all now see what I mean? This unusual warm weather has everything all messed up.
Especially me.
Personally I would advise against the bike trail. Nasty, noisy, and messy. I make them sound like the pigs, cows, and everything else that lives on a farm.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to add, what a great photo!
ReplyDeleteHmm. The only thing I am keen on you doing is building a ballroom. Everything else sounds like hard work to me. Sorry not to have been more helpful.
ReplyDeleteIt must be difficult living every day in the Great State of the Unknown. I hope someone comes along with an offer for you.
ReplyDeleteYes, I see what you mean. But that's one lovely photograph that you've posted here.
ReplyDeletePhotograph is fantastic ... the angst is awful! Hang in there, my friend!
ReplyDeleteI hate it when that happens! Really takes the "simple" out of the simple life, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteMy head is spinning now!
ReplyDeleteBut I say plant the stuff; well, at least stuff that's "easy" (Ha, easy)!
That's an interesting idea....renting out the farm to a young couple. The deck is stacked against young couples wanting to get into farming without a mountain of debt. Seems like a great idea to help the next generation of organic farmers get their feet wet.
ReplyDeleteDonna; always remember "Murphy's Law of Real Estate"....If you procede as if the house will never, ever, ever, sell - the buyers will come. Every stinkin' time. :-)
ReplyDeleteThis unusual weather is strange. I wouldn't know what to do either..
ReplyDeleteI favor planting plus hogs and chickens on the pasture. Cows I don't know so well. I figure if it doesn't sell you'll want to not have missed the season. If it does sell then having a nice garden is a selling point.
ReplyDeleteHey you're asking, a writer.... Hell I'd go for the book and hope I would have a bestseller on my hands. We're having strange weather here in little ol' England, it just can't make its mind up what time of the year it is...
ReplyDeleteNo, seriously it must be hard to know what to do for the best, Donna.
oh, gosh, I hate not knowing what is going to happen, drives me nuts, would make me feel like I had PMT every single day so you have my sympathy., It's the not knowing is the worst isn't it?
ReplyDeleteWe have unseasonaably warm weather here too - 18 degrees C yesterday, normally around 11.
One thing at a time, and stay open to possibilities. Take my advice - I rarely use it!
ReplyDeleteIt really is a difficult decision. Scale back or increase. Hard to get above a certain size with a two person operation! But I have an abiding faith that if we do what we love the money we need will follow.