A Week in the Life

When I left Corporate America to be a full time farmer, a goodly number of my associates reacted in one of two ways. One group thought I was going on a never ending sabbatical/vacation where the sun shone prettily each and every day. The rest thought I was walling myself up way out in the boondocks and I would never have cause to speak to another human being socially again. Of course the truth is that neither of these thoughts are even remotely close to correct, but the myths of what we do and how we amuse ourselves each day persist.

Those of you of a certain age may remember the widely published photographic series entitled, " A Day in the Life of [America/Canada/UK/etc.]" . Since a day's worth of anything doesn't give a very accurate picture of what goes on around here I thought I'd share my schedule for this week with you to give you an idea of what my day looks like here on the farm.

Each morning and evening, we start and finish our day by feeding and caring for all the horses on the farm. It is the raison d'etre of what we do and nothing work related ever comes ahead of tending after the horses. Melissa and whoever else is working with us that day spend their time in between chores doing various sorts of things caring for horses. Brushing, grooming, bathing and minor wound care figure heavily in their routine. Some days, like when the farrier and dentist arrive, everyone on the farm is on deck to keep the horses coming all day long. Most of the time, I'm the guy who fixes what's broken and keeps the farm running and in good repair. Right now, the weather is about as pretty as it's likely to get, so daylight hours when I'm not caring for horses are pretty well spoken for. In addition to horse care, here's what I have on the books for myself this week.

Sunday: Two client visits followed by a few happy hours where one of our clients and I chainsawed up a giant oak tree that had fallen across the fence. Bless his heart and hope he hurries back ! :)

Monday: Spread and smooth twenty loads of gravel. Re-waterproofed twenty blankets. Twenty seems to be the number of choice this week ! Farrier visit for a quick trim on a few horses 5:30 pm. Visit to feed store to pick up weekly feed.

Tuesday: Distribute feed. Dentist visit. All hands on deck all day. Routine Vet appointment scheduled at 4 pm. Blog to write in the evening.

Wednesday: Move six hay feeders from old farm to new farm. Re-bolt the hay feeders together. Spread and harrow in cool season grass seed and fertilizer on scattered bare patches in all the pastures (hopefully) ahead of predicted rain. [This got postponed as it drizzled rain off and on today]

Thursday: Re-assemble lawnmower and (hopefully) cut our three acres of lawn. Continue waterproofing blankets.

Friday: Waterproofing blankets continues and if the weather holds we ought to be getting close to done by daydown.

Saturday: Client visit scheduled. Hopefully, all the blankets will be waterproofed and ready for use well ahead of when we anticipate they will be needed. Catch up on all the stuff that didn't get done earlier this week.

Each evening Melissa and I spend some time at our computers downloading pictures, writing our blog, communicating with clients and keeping our books up to date and our bills paid.

Just another day in the life of Jason and Melissa ! :)

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Thor enjoying some down time

Winston, Chimano and Faune

Romeo, Fonzi and Gus

Slinky

Lightening and Lucky

Snappy and O'Reilly

Levendi

Grand (Ivan, Apollo, Elfin in the background)

Ivan, Homer and Apollo

Hemi, Moe and Thomas

Sam and Dutch