Happy Friday, Everyone!! I hope you had a splendid week, and if not, may your weekend be a happy remedy! Each year at the close of the school year, we celebrate our educational victories with a HA-UGE "graduation" breakfast. The boys will be up soon, so I'd better find my apron - but before I head out to milk the cow (ha!) I wanted to squeeze in a very quick highlight from this past week!
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A close up of an alfalfa plant before it blooms.
Last week Steve and I took the boys out to check a few of our alfalfa circles. As you know the spring weather has been a bit looptie-loo, which has brought on a few challenges with getting the first round of alfalfa up and growing strong and healthy. For any of ya'll who might not know, alfalfa is a legume and it produces 4-5 harvests each year from late spring to early fall. It is swathed, given time to cure in the sun and eventually bailed or stacked and hauled to dairies, ranches or feed yards across the U.S.A. for cattle and horse consumption.
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When we pulled up to each circle, Steve and the boys bailed out of the pick-up, and, running in different directions, hovered over the crop, checking for weevils. (Please note: my husband is standing over my shoulder right now reminding me to always choose the lesser of two "weevils." Now, he is laughing. Extremely loud. And, I haven't had coffee yet.)
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Weevils aren't the only things we found out in the fields!! The boys also spotted snake holes, gopher tunnels, and my creative George marked this coyote track just for me, so that I wouldn't miss it!
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Charlie loved racing up and down the tire tracks, kicking up dirt and traipsing through the knee high foliage determined to keep up with his brothers! Only his shoes, which were a wee bit big, slowed him down.
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Watching the pattern of tracks made by curious feet wondering off into the sleepy sunset on a cool, quiet evening, God's grandeur all around, and not a worry nor a fence to hold the little boy back is the sweetness of life.
Aren't these the best of times??
This is great! My guys would LOVE a farm someday like this. For now, my 6x6 foot garden will have to do. Start small, right?
ReplyDeleteGorgeous photos! That's one heck of a coyote print, and so well-marked. :)
ReplyDeleteCharlie couldn't be any cuter. I imagine my little ones would be joining right along with him.
Those shots are amazing! I want to live on a farm! Le sigh...
ReplyDeleteThey really are the best of times! Love the photos!
ReplyDeleteEvery family with five boys should live on a farm! I know farming isn't easy (well, never having lived on a farm I don't really know that, but I've heard!), but it must be wonderful. The whole family has a stake in it and works as a team...your boys spend time together outside, doing the kind of work that not only contributes to your business, but to your family...
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I have often daydreamed about living on a farm, but he says he'd have to be a "gentleman farmer," because he wouldn't have the know-how to run it himself. We're in our fifties now and our potential field hands are all grown up, so I think that ship has sailed!
I loved this post. The pictures are awesome. Especially the pictures of your boys working in the field together. As Kathleen above said, "Le sigh..."
Susan, you are living the good life. Man, I loved this post!
ReplyDeleteWow. Love this post.
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