old worries and new worries

First let me say that in thinking about reuses for things on the farm I've thought of another...the compost pile. The compost pile is used for so many things. We put about a foot of it over a 100+ square foot area of garden this spring. I have put it all around all of my berries as weed control and to keep them fertilized, moist and cool. The great thing about the compost pile is that it never seems to shrink (or is that a bad thing?! This spring the pile was 4 feet tall,8 feet long and 4 feet wide) and it provides for us...and the animals. This year with the rain it has also produced hundreds, no, millions, of roly-polys. Going by the chickens with an empty wheel barrow, save insects, I call to them and they gobble them up with great relish. I think even if I didn't want the eggs I would still have the birds for insect control...and warning of intruding creatures.

There are so many things we ,who live as we do ,worry about. Some of these worries haven't changed much on the last hundred years. Other worries are relatively new.

For instance, for years there have been worries about the weather. Everyone knows that a farmer is never content with the weather. Well, there is a very good reason for that. Too much rain and the barns are sopping wet and you get multitudes of flies and danger of hoof rot. Too much rain and you can't cut your hay on time. Too much rain and your crops will mold. Too little rain and your crops and produce will not grow. Too little rain and hay won't grow enough to get a second or third cutting.

That is where we are at now. We are down to our last level of hay in the garage/ barn.  A lot of it is molding, and we are running very low. With all the rain that we have had, the farmer next door is not able to get to the field to cut new hay for us. Hopefully, the hay will hold out until we have fresh, green, fragrant hay stacked high in the barn. (Which, by the way, is no easy job. My carpel tunnel doesn't allow me to help much and the younger 3 are not strong enough. The oldest is gone and that leaves two...to drag and stack hopefully 200 bales. Help anyone?!)


Another  old worry still applicable to today is fox, coyote and the neighbor's dog. We have lost a few unlucky birds to all of these. Of course, it didn't use to be a problem to shoot any of them either! And most people had a decent outdoor dog that would protect their own property and livestock.  Too bad Harriet (aka Henrietta, Hudiet, Hudie, Tubman, Tubby or Harriet Tubman) isn't an outside dog. Too bad she isn't good with livestock. Good thing she is so sweet, or I might say she doesn't earn her keep-except chase rabbits out of my garden, trampling everything in the process!

A newer worry is the number of times you must change a flat tire and how many times it can be patched and wondering...will the air hold out till you get to a gas station? In the country when it rains it brings up every stray piece of metal and glass that were dropped or thrown on the road. Tractors drop big huge bolts and nails and somehow they always end up in YOUR tires. I think we have been in 4 times so far this year. Not bad, but at $20 a pop (no pun intended!) and the time to mess with bringing it in and changing it...boy! Someone should come up with country living tire insurance!

Another newer worry is when the washer just isn't working well. B took it apart the other day, sure that it was sludgy from the laundry soap I make. Instead he found sludge. Mud. Gunk from the well water at the bottom of the tub. Not sure if it's supposed to be that way, and while it is a pain I am still glad that I have a washer. I do at least a load a day to keep up with it all.  5 kids and a dog and farm life is hard on clothes. If the windows were new and didn't let in dust every time a vehicle tore down our road(the speed limit is 55 on gravel!) and if the dog didn't shed and leave piles of dust everywhere...maybe my rags would be white when I was done washing floors like a friend of mine's! Maybe our feet wouldn't have to be washed every night before bed. Maybe I wouldn't need a washer as much as I do!!

It IS a constant worry about weather and hay and crops and broken toilets (outhouse anyone?!) and pipes that are leaking and the frige that is on its last leg and running out of shaving cream (someone used the last and failed to put it on the list for last shopping trip. No way you can go to town just for THAT!)

In spite of all of that we would not live elsewhere...ok...maybe we would vacation in your basement for a week. And then we would all be stir-crazy, ready to go take on the world...one rabbit and one season at a time.

Phillipians 4:7-ff says: do not be anxious about anything. But in everything, with prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.

We pray at meals, of course, but boy...when we have difficulties like stretching the hay or broken pipes and not enough money and too far to go to get parts tonight...you can be sure we are petitioning Him. The key, I am finding, is to present(give it over) the requests to God and then leave them there, knowing He is working them out in His way and timing. I am able to be thankful today because He is in control of the weather and the animals and even the pipes. It gives great peace to just rest in Him taking over...where I can do nothing anyway!

Following is pictures of our not-so-good country dog and pictures of conquering the world one rabbit at a time...for the freezer. It use to be that the thought of butchering madee I'll. Now it is so old hat that I cannot wait to dig in! Lol!