LONG BEFORE WE MOVED TO THE FARM or even thought about raising animals, I had dreams of living in the country one day. While living in Seattle, I regularly experienced the urge to travel. In the six years between when we got married and David retired, we traveled to Europe several times, as well as to Mexico, Montreal, California, Nevada, Illinois and Indiana. Once we took a road trip east into Montana, then north into Alberta and back home via eastern British Columbia. At the end of these trips, I was always glad to be home, I guess, but I really loved being on the road.
The funny thing is, ever since we moved to the farm, I haven’t felt the slightest urge to travel. We’ve been here seven years now, so I don’t think it’s just a matter of being in a new place, going through the transition of moving and adjusting to a completely different lifestyle. It’s more the sense of belonging, of not being here temporarily, of the permanency of putting down roots and having room to grow.
There is a comfort, an ease in the daily routine with our birds. When it gets light, we head out into the cool morning air, refill the feeders and drinkers and, one by one, open up the coops. The ducks tumble out in a rush and immediately race across the yard, stretching and flapping their wings excitedly as if they haven’t been outside for days. The chickens are usually a little more sedate when they wake up. They hop down from their coops one at a time and head over to the nearest feeding station. The turkeys almost always move slowly, more like a saunter or an amble, after they descend from their roosts and casually stretch their wings and bodies skyward. The sun is up but hasn’t come over the hills to the east yet. We pick up the duck eggs and head back inside for a while.
A couple of times during the day, I usually check the birds’ food and water supply and pick up the chicken eggs. Eggs are washed, dried, weighed, packed in cartons according to size and refrigerated. Clean dry bedding is added to coops and nest boxes, and once a week, various coops are cleaned out as needed.
And then there’s the rest of the routine: Clean house, file receipts, do laundry, cook, wash dishes, make lists, buy groceries, pay bills, file, sort, organize, pick up, dust, sweep, scrub, pump water. Feed the birds, pick up eggs, send out egg invoices, order more feed.
Naturally the routine varies somewhat depending on the season. But overall there is the knowledge that certain things will be the same tomorrow, as solid as the mountains always looking over our shoulders. And at the end of the day, we know that we did our best, once again, to see that our birds have had another good day. We’re so happy and grateful that they are a part of this life that we have chosen and love.