FARM Life Balance: Is It Really That Tough? - Farmer Mary Field Notes (Week 42)
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Have you ever had an event on your calendar that you’ve been waiting for *forever* and suddenly it’s the day, and then the day is past and you kind of look around, like, “now what”? This week, we’ve turned a major corner, and I’m adjusting, with all of the various coping mechanisms I can grab onto. Stick with me for the latest farm news and a tasty recipe.
We did it! In the last two weeks, we delivered 261 chickens and more than 30 turkeys (36? 39?) to the processor in Baltic, Ohio. It is substantially quieter on the farm, and my daily chores suddenly look very different! I am so pleased with the quality of the birds we raised this round. After the last round of chickens where we had so many losses due to predators, I was honestly dreading these birds. This time, we brought the chicken tractors closer to the main part of the property, where we’ve already reduced predator pressure and where we could see them from the house. It also put them in better proximity to a guardian dog that would raise the alarm if needed, and reduced travel time for me to deliver feed and water.
The turkeys, for their part, are generally delightful. They’re honestly my favorite animals on the farm (besides the horse and the cats and the dogs, obviously). The turkeys are situated in a large pasture near the barnyard and next to the feed shed, so they are in the middle of the action all the time. They are the nosiest creatures; they will follow you as you walk by, talk to you nonstop, and will absolutely laugh at you if you do something stupid. They keep the horse company on the other side of his fence, and generally wander around their pasture and look confused. They are not the smartest birds. They’re not even close. They do, however, keep me on my toes. They broke their fence at least once this season, and occasionally one or two will fly over the fence entirely and end up stuck outside, calling sadly for their friends. We even had this round long enough that they started to lay eggs, though they appeared to have no idea what was happening, so every day was like a strange Easter egg hunt for me. I swear, they’re like the pandas of the bird family; I have no idea how they manage to reproduce and raise young to maturity. Even with all of the wild turkeys in the area, I’ve only ever once seen babies.
Regardless, they are fascinating birds, and I really do enjoy them. This batch was probably the closest I’ve come to treating any of the livestock like pets, and that is a tricky line to walk. Still, I am very, very glad that the birds are done for the year. We only raise meat chickens and turkeys from the beginning of summer through the early fall, because the weather is so iffy the rest of the time. We’re not set up to provide heat in our free-range system, so this means I am bird-free until May (other than the layer hens)! What will I do with all of my newfound free time??
Haha. Just kidding. This is the adapting part, though. Those processing dates were on my calendar for months. I was in the trenches, work-wise, and slogging through. If I could make it to those dates, I could reclaim some balance in my schedule. And it worked, mostly. Last week alone, I managed to clean out the barn, tackle the kids’ closets to find clothes they’d outgrown, I even scrubbed the walls in the house that [continually] get dirty fingerprints all over them. I put more ambitious meals on the menu: homemade gnocchi, roast turkey, bread bowls for potato leek soup. We even had a movie night over the weekend. It feels like there are some glimmers of space in between all of the hustle, and I can breathe for a moment.
That’s not to say things haven’t gone sideways in every possible way to fill the spaces: the circuit board on the dryer died and is backordered, the dog ate a bunch of eggs and made a horrific mess of his crate, one of the cats tangled with a guardian dog and ended up at the vet, one of the trucks needed a massive service job completed. Knowing I wasn’t already running at overload capacity, though, let me manage the unexpected diversions with a bit more grace, and I am grateful. (Remind me that I’m grateful when I’m making johnnycakes with Ez tonight for tomorrow’s social studies class after riding lessons tonight, lol).
Balance seems like all too complicated a thing to find during these busy days. Even with the chore load changing, I still feel the guilt of the to-do list, and feeling like I should be doing more. I should be working out more so that I stay strong and can improve my health. I should be riding my horse more so that he can stay fit and we can have fun together. I should be keeping up with the housework more so that we can enjoy a clean and calming space. I should be connecting with friends and family more, because we are scattered apart and those relationships matter. It’s tough to balance!
I would love to hear from you: how do you balance your time? Which things win on your to-do list, and which get shoved off till later? How do you manage when you get overloaded, and what do you wish you could do if you magically had extra time?
Recipe time!
On one of those crazy days before the birds were done, I needed dinner on the table in 45 minutes or less, and I wasn’t going to get to the grocery store. Luckily, I have all sorts of protein in the freezer. I snagged a pack of our salt and pepper chicken sausage and got it thawing. Once thawed, I removed the sausage from the casings, mixed in enough bread crumbs to hold it together to make four hamburger-size patties. I cooked them up in the cast iron skillet (with a dash of liquid smoke each time I flipped them) and made them into chicken burgers. We pulled fixings out of the fridge to go with them, and each of us went a slightly different route. My daughter opted for classic: ketchup, mayo, and pickles. My son went fancy: cranberry mustard and microgreens, and mine had spinach and grainy dijon mustard. Full disclosure, I had fries in the freezer, so those went on the plate, too, along with a salad. Done in 45 or less, bit of a twist on the classic burger, and the salt and pepper sausage meant I didn’t even have to season the burgers when I was prepping. Score one for me on getting out of my cooking rut! You could run with this idea and use our Italian chicken sausage the same way, but add sun-dried tomatoes and sauteed peppers and onions, or cook up and slice the maple variety and add it to a fried egg on an English muffin. So many options! If you want to try some, reach out, and I’ll hook you up!
Thanks for sticking with me! I wish you a wonderful, balanced week full of fall beauty and some chances to breathe and enjoy. See you next time!