It's a Thousand Little Things

Recently, at DS2's graduation open house, we got many compliments on our property; how nice the lawn looks, the lovely flower beds, the great view, the large garden, the chicken area, the barn. . .

Which made us all who live at this little place here step back for a moment, and look at it not through the eyes of us who see it day in and day out, but by the eyes of a newcomer.  Yes, it is lovely, and we are quite blessed to be able to have this little place here.

On the other hand, back to the eyes of the workers/caretakers, and it's a lot of effort that goes into making this little place here such a wonderful place to be.  It's a  few gargantuan projects we have undertaken, but mostly it's a thousand little things that we do, day in and day out, that keep it so appealing to others when they only see the outside, and not the inner workings.

It's:
designing and building the house  --designing and building the barn --designing and building the portable chicken coop --designing and installing the paving brick walkways and patio

pulling weeds from between the paving bricks
grading the driveway regularly

planting flowerbeds --weeding the flowerbeds  ---dividing the perennials when they get overgrown ---deadheading the flowers so they keep blooming  ---collecting seeds to plant elsewhere or in future years

planting an asparagus bed --planting a strawberry bed --putting 100s of stakes in rows and planting the garden --tilling the garden --weeding the garden --watering the garden
picking strawberries --picking mulberries--picking blackberries
making jam

harvesting the garden --canning veggies --making sauerkraut --making pickles --blanching and freezing veggies --dehydrating apples and strawberries  --digging potatoes and sweet potatoes --pulling onions and garlic --storing vegetables in the cellar and basement

planting 100's of trees; the ones that line the driveway, the ones in the yard, the ones making a screen at the road, the dozen fruit trees in the 'orchard' --pruning the trees --removing dead trees --harvesting the small amount of fruit from our orchard and the larger amount from the wild apples in the woods

cleaning the chicken coop --bedding nest boxes --collecting eggs --letting the chickens out in the morning --shutting the chickens in at night --regularly moving the coop to 'fresh grazing' for the chickens --feeding & watering the chickens --scrubbing waterers and feeders --raising broilers in the brooder until they are old enough to go out into the portable shelters --moving the broilers daily --butchering broilers --plucking --gutting --cutting up and packaging for the freezer

picking rocks from the hayfield and yard before seeding --seeding the hayfield and yard
mowing the lawn ---whacking the weeds
cutting hay --baling hay --putting hay up in the loft --selling the excess hay we don't need for feeding our own horses

cleaning up storm damage --cutting up downed trees in the woods for firewood --hauling in the firewood from the woods --splitting wood --stacking wood --stoking the outdoor wood boiler six months of the year --cleaning out the ash bin --spreading ashes

tapping trees in the late winter --collecting sap --hauling in sap --boiling sap for syrup
mushroom hunting in the spring  --deer hunting in the fall --scoping out deer all year round --putting up tree stands --taking down tree stands --clearing shooting lanes --building blinds --maintaining blinds (hinges, doors, roofs. . .)
field dressing deer --hanging deer --skinning deer --quartering deer --deboning deer --cutting steaks and stew meat and jerky --grinding burger --making sausage --putting 100 pounds of deer in the freezer
cleaning guns --target practice --teaching the children gun safety --storing guns

cleaning up the fencerows --covering yourself from head to toe in order to battle the poison ivy vines in the fence rows

maintaining the tractor --maintaining the tractor implements: back blade, box blade, loader bucket, tiller, mower, posthole digger
maintaining the lawn tractor --the push mower --the weed whacker
maintaining the log splitter --maintaining the trailers

washing windows --changing screens and storms seasonally
sweeping the porch --sweeping the patio --sweeping the walkways --shoveling snow off them in the winter


PHEW!!  And we haven't even touched on the indoor cleaning!  It's a thousand little things, it's spending more time standing or moving than sitting.  It's a life of using your body as well as your brain.  It's a good kind of tired.

We do sleep well at night, usually.  Last night we had the windows open to let in the cool night air, and sometime after midnight I woke up to hear coyote pups yipping somewhere off near the woods.  Other nights we are wakened by coon dogs baying in their hunt, or deer snorting on the edge of the yard.  Those are sounds not everyone gets to be woken up by.  I'm grateful that I am.  :0)