Day 51 -Lessons Learned
Besides beginning to understand a farmer’s work is never completely done, we also began to understand a few other important lessons. First off, farmers helping farmers is a real thing. In other words, bartering is important and essential. With twenty acres and a project list a mile long, having the time and equipment to complete every task is not only insurmountable, it is quite near impossible. Being able to trade skills and tools can go a long way to being successful as a farm.
Our new farmer friends jumpstarted our backyard makeover. It was so helpful and exciting to be able to connect with people who had the experience, equipment, flexibility, and availability to help us take the first steps into turning our vision of Craneview on Plainview into a reality. But that work comes with a price. Luckily, what we lack in actual skills we make up for in space. Storage space. We were fortunate enough to get all this work done for a very reasonable cost along with storing some equipment in our barn for the winter. Until we had a more concrete vision for what we wanted the barn to be, we had plenty of room to negotiate with people needing space.
That brings us to a second farm lesson learned. Besides bartering, I learned that everything (and I mean pretty much everything) has value on the farm.
We didn't have a vast collection of nice cardboard boxes. Until we lived on a farm.
We didn't actively seek wood in the farm of pallets and quality boards. Until we lived on a farm.
We didn’t hang on to random items we might normally discard just in case. Until we lived on a farm.
We didn’t take a second look at random machinery on social media postings or parked in front of someone’s place. Until we lived on a farm.
And we never, and I mean never, thought about browsing tractor catalogs. Until we lived on a farm.
The farm continues to teach us lessons every single day.
But as much as we learn, there is always more to learn. Luckily, our family loves education.
And sometimes the best lessons come from mistakes.
