“They sat there, feeling happy together.”*

Hey There David!

Dave from McElhoes Family Farm/Belmont here.

I'm sure by now you have noticed, much of the farm and homesteading lifestyle (is it right to call just living a lifestyle?) is repetitive and maybe just a little boring. There is really only so much that can be written about getting up, checking the eggs, feeding and watering the various livestock, milking (in season), checking gardens and orchards for weeds, water and pest damages, taking care of... well you get the point.

So I guess it is not a wonder that the weather and the seasons become the cliched topics of conversation.

"We consider it tedious to talk of the weather, and yet there is nothing more important." `~Berthold Auerbach

The cool and rainy weather has, of course, slowed or delayed many of the "projects" we have for the season. The repairs or building or even planting are behind, rescheduled or even skipped. And yet the days are filled. Chores take longer when it is muddy. Sheep and goats are reluctant to change paddocks if it means leaving a dry spot in a shed or under some trees, even if there is a similar spot nearby.

Still, there are bright moments. The sun peeking out and, if only briefly, illuminating the new leaves or showing an oriole amidst the orange of the Tulip Poplar blossoms.

While the garden and crops are either behind or in some cases yet unplanted, the grass is probably already a week or so ahead. I have been trying to keep the herd ahead of it, but with the delays in the never ending project of fence mending, they have found their way out twice this week. One of the times, something (a bear perhaps?) pulled several posts straight out of the ground and ripped up 30 some feet of fence, more than enough for a young ram to gather a few mischievous ewes for a dining tour. A few days later, on Memorial Day, a fallen tree coaxed most of the herd, including several goats to have an impromptu parade through town. Fortunately, I have great neighbors who call me rather than law enforcement, and after a brief ceremony Katie and I were able to convince the herd that really -

"Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, Be it ever so humble, There's no place like home." ~ John Howard Payne

One would be hard pressed to prove the economics or the ease of this life we are trying to live, but the endeavor to live in tune with the Earth we have been given is a labor of love and satisfying in itself.

Thanks for listening,

Dave

*Arnold Lobel, Frog and Toad are Friends