Joy of living.

I love my life on the farm, I love the opportunities to learn and live meaningful days. But I am not a super human and some days, that sometimes last for weeks, are too challenging to tackle. Not complaining, just sharing!

The spring is short here and so much needs to be done! The berries have been arriving box after box. And even though we have allowed ourselves to have some time to prepare and extra time in between the deliveries things have started piling up anyway. Of course!

The animals' pastures needed to be done. They provide us with the most nutrition milk so they are always a priority. The greenhouse needed to be covered with plastic as my 800 tomato plants and another 500 or so other seedlings are screaming at me "plant me now!". Plus the kids would like to have a normal time having meals instead of hiding in between the giant tomato plants covering the dining table, kitchen and living room floor. We might dress up for a jungle make-believe game!

First 800 raspberry bushes are in! Planting them was not so much work. It's preparing the soil and the thought "what if we won't manage and the roots would dry up" that was the most stressful. But we are working daily and things do get done. Maybe not as fast as we would want it but we are still moving forward.

The black currents are in, too. And so are the aronia bushes and the golden currents. The haskap honeyberries took on a permanent spot on Slavic Heritage Farm. Those are lucky, I think, since they moved south coming from a nursery up in Canada. Having a nice soaking rain after we put our berry bushes in was very helpful. Here is a reason to be happy and grateful!

We thought that it would be safe to start planting our cool weather loving veggies, and, oh, boy, we were wrong! The cabbages didn't make it. They froze overnight. Sigh...You might think "who cares" those are just little cabbage seedlings. But for me they meant a lot! First, it's the time I have spent taking care of them for over two months growing them from seeds under the grow lights in the dead of the winter when there was still no sign of us ever working in the garden. So those were my mood lifters when I would come and water them, check on them, see if they needed some more bunny "pee tea" to grow healthy and strong. Then it's the thought that we won't have enough sauerkraut to make for our family for the winter. It is our reliable source of probiotics during the season when we need it the most. And also money lost on the farmer's market. Well, this one is a bit tacky, I guess, because technically I can't loose something not having it in the first place! OK< another reason to cheer up. But , most importantly, white cabbage is THE ingredient for my now famous cabbage pizza! See my other post!

So days go by, with good things happening and things you wouldn't want to happen. But you catch a breath, look around and notice a sight that make you appreciate being alive. Whatever life puts on your plate today does not mean it would be the same tomorrow, good or bad. Because it is life. And we learn to be joyful no matter what. Maybe seeing this filly running around in circles just for the joy of it will remind you that life is beautiful! I did it for me!