One magnificent thing about living in a farming community is the array of beauty that changes with the seasons. Not only is the air crisp and the leaves changing, but the landscape is too. Gone are the green rolling hills as far as the eye can see. They are replaced with golden fields of tans and golden browns and it’s a new kind of beautiful. My 5 year old (the wee ginger) and I had just returned from a local garden center. The farm truck was laden with mums, fall plants & bulbs for landscaping at the cappuccino house. Notice what I did there? I mentioned the farm truck without hesitation. In fact, I happily hoisted myself up into the trusty farm truck to go to the garden center and enjoyed truckin’ in and loading up the back with my mums and pumpkins etc. I’ll admit part of me didn’t want to risk getting dirt in the back of my vehicle, but the ol’ farm truck fits in just fine around here and I like to think it welcomes fancy dirt from the garden center and the pretty plants... {Click HERE to read about my relationship with the farm truck}. So many of the incredible fall decorations that cascade the outside entry ways of the #homesofInstagram, or on the cover of all the various home magazines include corn stalks gathered together and on display. Beautiful! Ive never had the type of entry way to properly secure them so I’ve never considered it. The garden center was selling them for $5-$10 a bunch. Without thinking I said to myself, “huh,could it work at the cappuccino house? Hey, not a bad price...probably because they are so readily available down here...they probably cost more in the city” and I contemplated how my entry way would look and if I should buy some. Buy some. Let me say that again... BUY cornstalks. My brain actually went there. That’s the cappuccino in me. My cornfield self looked at the farm truck and remembered I have corn stalks coming out of my ears (farmer humor) and if I actually paid money for corn stalks, my gentleman farmer would never let me live it down. I left the expensive corn stalks, hoisted myself & the wee ginger back up into that trusty farm truck & made our way to the farm. The wee ginger and I marched right into one of our fields and yanked corn stalks right out of the ground. Yup, just hoisted them up, root and all. The wee ginger thought it was great fun. I never ended up using them - I just couldn’t make it look like the #homesofinstagram entry ways. I plucked the ears of corn off though, and tied them into my fall wreath and tucked a few in between my pumpkins. Nevertheless it was a win..... After stealing corn stalks from the field, we heard from my other son that some lambs had escaped and were out roaming, in the unfenced pasture. Operation save the lambs was officially under way. My eight year old is a want to be professional athlete. He is as big as the average 11 yr old and has a knack to turn anything into a training opportunity. He’s really into Rocky right now, so I think the kid has the Rocky training montage running through his head at all times. He was ready to wrangle a lamb or two and become the heavy weight champion of the world while he was at it. Rocky had to catch a chicken if you recall, my son had to catch a lamb. He was ready, focused and exhilarated. Now, these lambs have lightening speed and agility like you’d not believe, and they run as a pack. Our lambs are big too, probably 50+ lbs and when they run together you better watch out, they will knock anything out of their way when spooked. The goal was to locate them first (photo below) Then get them to run as a pack to the barn (see video). A seasoned sheep dog would do this no problem. I had an 8 and 5 yr old humming Eye of the Tiger..... I found myself humming the circus theme... The lost sheep were successfully wrangled back into their pens and two triumphant little boys were chattering about their accomplished feat. They also made sure to talk quietly to the sheep and calmed the mayhem in the sheep pens. This isn’t the first time a run away lamb has had to be caught. While this below photo is from an earlier occurance, it shows the pride a kid can have turning a farm chore into a serious training accomplishment. I find myself more and more impressed at the awe and determination my two boys suddenly have, whether it be pulling corn stalks out of the ground or chasing a lamb.
These boys are learning a lot, completing tasks and challenges and doing so with a fire in their bellies & a soft touch when dealing with animals. I love that. They love jumping on hay bales and yelling “Yo Adrian, I did it!”
4 Comments
ShanBan
10/9/2018 11:16:03 am
This was a sweet read, Col! I need a visit to New Prague!
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Danny
10/9/2018 01:50:22 pm
What a crystal clear snapshot of life on the farm. I feel like I’m there. Thanks for sharing these wonderful stories with us.
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Patty Jakobe
10/11/2018 05:17:19 pm
One year when Dan's Mom, Joyce, had triplets she called my mom
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11/3/2022 05:20:28 am
Skill accept it be work through. Beyond able play among president actually his skill. To energy project push.
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