The next class😊

A class isn’t just 4-6 hours on a Saturday. It’s making sure the house (and yard) is respectable (takes 1-2 days), it means the cheese/milk/butcher schedule is planned ahead of time. It means supper is prepared beforehand and lunch is properly provided. It means the children can’t be their usual squabbling selves roaming freely everywhere. It means both Alan and I are available to teach and answer questions. And I don’t know why this is so hard, it looks so trivial when I write it!🤣

Our life isn’t clean enough to welcome a tour or class just anytime.

We live on an active farm with 8 children still at home. It’s a dairy for 3 species, a mini processing operation, a school, an over-active kitchen, a construction zone, and a mechanic garage.

—oh, don’t forget the hunting and fishing—

This means endless laundry, dishes…and stuff, everywhere. (Mostly shoes and random “pieces of 8”😂)

There’s no hired hands or farm managers. (My first choice would be a house maid with a private teacher running a close second! But then I think about a on-farm mechanic and how incredible THAT would be!😮)

That means we’re actively doing chores, cooking, or doing stuff with our children. This time of year there’s bottle babies tucked in every corner of the farm, kittens to trip over, broilers living their best life for a few short weeks…and a garden that is perpetually behind schedule. Some afternoons we leave the dishes on  the table and go swimming with the kids or pre plan breakfast, do chores before dawn and go to yard sales with the family.  And frankly, it’s like that every season, crazy busy, just the details change.

Then there’s the shows, shows that take at least half the helpful home help, and days of preparation, all in hopes of a purple ribbon. Alan and I feel strongly about supporting the children’s farm endeavors as the next generation, and they will always take priority over teaching a class.

We have a large family, plus a large church family to fellowship with, and we never see enough of.

Then there’s dates with my husband, time with our married children, farm emergencies, mechanical breakdowns and repairs….and this is why when you ask if we have another class scheduled that I’m slow to reply…

It’s truly an amazing life I’m thankful for every day, but…it’s busy.