The Farm - Week 8
No one said moving to a farm would be easy or pretty. We expected trials and tribulations along the way and while we we have avoid major catastrophe, our list of projects continues to grow. But , it’s a good busy and we know the work will be worth it.
This week, my ongoing battle with the riding lawn mower came to an end. . . at least for now. I successfully replaced a pulley, attached the belt, and re-connected the deck, though a friend was needed to assist. A trial run was successful but I think there will still be some hesitation and uncertainty until I complete a full mow later this week.
We also had the farmers we connected with to help mow and bale our land to prepare for restoration, They cane over to go over the plan one last time and actually got started on the project, Unfortunately, a few minutes in, they too had some mechanical issues and had to take a few days off. The next few days are sure to be busy around here, but the changes will make the road to restoration much easier.
Another situation arose that was anything but pretty. As my wife and I watched the farmer make an initial run through the land, she noticed some metal poking through the tall grass. Further inspection uncovered a completely rusted out barrel and a few dozen discarded panes of glass. With every pane removed, a handful more were discovered. And when the glass was cleared, more treasures of the past were unearthed including disintegrating plastic tarps, rotten wooden fence posts, and various scrap metal.
These discoveries led to an unexpected procurement and filling of a ten-yard dumpster on a beautiful Sunday morning. With all these farm finds leaving some more room in the dumpster, a good sweep through of the barn floor added more dirt and debris into the dumpster and probably my lungs.
Add a roadkill deer front and center in front of our house along with the unexpected and unwanted treasures and the seemingly constant battle of broken down machinery and you sometimes feel like you’re barely keeping your head above water. But luckily, the rest of this “lake” is gorgeous.
With the farmers scheduled to use a brush hogger to remove the tall grass this wee, I can only imagine how much treasure we may find and how many dumpsters we may need to fill. I’ll let you know next week.
Until then, feel free to check out my first attempt at a podcast episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1845591/9262870
And please don’t forget my book. Only a few more weeks until the official release! Teaching Off Trail: My Classroom's Nature Transformation through Play (redleafpress.org)
