John Denver once sang “life on the farm was kinda laid back”. It’s obvious Mr. Denver was not a farmer (although I believe he worked on one briefly as a teenager) and must have truly been on a “Rocky Mountain High” as he composed those lyrics, because farm life is anything but laid back!

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to live on a farm, let me assure you… it’s never boring. Around here, “quiet” is a foreign concept, and “predictable” is just a fantasy we laugh about while pulling on our muddy boots.
Take lambing season, for example. It’s a whirlwind of joy, heartbreak, and everything in between. This year, we lost four lambs, which hit us like a punch to the gut, but we were also blessed with four lively, bouncing bundles of woolly energy. Our sheep are kept in the pasture up at Dad and Mom’s house. I think they get as much joy from them as we do! Momma is always sending me videos of the lambs playing, the ewes sunbathing, or the ram wrestling with the mini-donks, but my parents are also the ones who have to deliver the bad news or issues as well. Audley and I are fortunate to have a great large animal vet on speed dial, but farm life demands that we take a lot of our animals’ health into our own hands. Trust me, it’s a journey of trial and error, and plenty of crossed fingers. This year marked a first: Audley delivered a lamb that had died in the womb. He did an amazing job, but the poor momma was just too weak to pull through after losing and birthing such an oversized baby. We’ve shed quite a few tears over those losses, but we keep moving forward, because that’s farm life in a nutshell.

On the brighter side, meet our newest farm resident: an abandoned calf who’s quickly become the queen of bottle-feeding time. She’s a heifer, and while we’re currently feeding her three times a day, we have big plans for her future. We’ll raise her, breed her, and keep her in milk. In the meantime, she’s keeping us on our toes (and draining the milk supply).

And that’s not all! We’ve had ducklings hatch, plus there are twenty chicks chirping away in the brooder and another fourteen eggs in the incubator, just waiting to make their grand entrance.

My egg-selling side hustle is absolutely booming right now, which is wonderful, but also a little nerve-wracking. When the egg market eventually calms down, I just hope my customers will keep supporting our little farm. Speaking of eggs, my rooster is on thin ice; flogging the hand that feeds you is a fast track to becoming chicken noodle soup. HA!

But farm life isn’t all animals and chaos; the garden plays a huge part in our daily grind too. This year, Audley and I doubled its size, and let me tell you, the payoff will be incredible. Thanks to everything we preserved last summer and fall, our grocery bill stayed refreshingly low this winter. Once you’ve tasted truly fresh food, grocery store produce just doesn’t cut it anymore. However, keeping the garden going isn’t without its challenges. Between teaching full-time and north Alabama’s unpredictable spring weather, it’s a juggling act. Right now, I’ve got over 200 plants growing in the greenhouse, along with all my cool-weather veggies thriving in the ground and blueberry bushes covered with blooms.

Honestly, the garden is my happy place. After a long day in the classroom, I can escape to its rows with some music in my ears and get completely lost in planting, growing, feeding, and eventually harvesting. The sense of accomplishment is unbeatable.

Life on the farm has shifted everything about our routine. I remember the days when staying up late and sleeping in were my norms. These days, I’m in bed by 8:30 or 9:00 and up between 4:30 and 5:00, depending on what needs doing before school. While I can’t pretend farm life is “kinda laid back,” I can say it’s fulfilling in a way I never imagined. It’s hard work, sure, but Audley and I are creating a life we truly love, and that makes every muddy, messy, exhausting day absolutely worth it.