Life Down On The Farm

This has been a tough winter here in Iowa. Numerous blizzards and I can't count the number of times we have been unable to get out of the driveway, let alone down the road. We spent 36 hours with no electricity, thank goodness for the generator. The one tractor that has a loader got a flat tire so that was an unexpected expense to buy a new one. Then the pressure tank in the well sprung a leak so we had to buy a new pressure tank. That well has caused a lot of trouble...we go through a lot of pressure switches and fuses. I shudder to think of all the times we have had to chase pigs in, load pigs, vaccinate pigs...good thing they make us money! The wind howls through the old windows and the upstairs never gets completely warm. We run heaters in the mud room so the pipes don't freeze under the bathroom and we run heaters in the living room and bedrooms so we don't freeze. Some days the sun shines in the windows and we think it is silly to have all these heaters...but then the wind starts to blow again. The roof on the shop needs to be replaced, it leaks and there is ice on the floor. The garage door doesn't sit exactly level on the floor so if the wind and snow really blow it makes a drift in the garage...sometimes to the steps! The cats know the sound of the garage door going up and immediately run when they hear it...and if we don't get every one of them out we have to deal with poop on the floor. But even though we have all these troubles and inconveniences I would never move into town. The good far outweighs the bad. Smelling the freshly turned dirt in the spring. Watching the crops grow all summer long. Hearing the dry corn rustle in the wind. Knowing my kids could go outside on a summer day and scream and yell and run around and it didn't matter if they were loud because there were no neighbors close enough to hear them. Hearing the sound of the pigs running around the barnyard and the slamming of the metal feeder lids. Smelling the fresh straw being loaded into the haymow. Watching the grass grow and then watching my farmer mow it down with the tractor. Having lots of cats who have more cats, but it doesn't matter because they keep the mouse population down. Watching the harvested corn and beans being loaded into the silos and the watching them being unloaded to be taken into town. Knowing that my farmer is happy here, in the place where he grew up, where our children grew up, where we will grow old together. Yes, farm living is the life for me.