Crisis After Crisis

One thing about living on a farm: there is never enough time to contemplate your successes or failures. It is on to the next problem. Don’t look back; absorb the sink hole death of the ram, and move on to the next problem. In my urban life I had time to make plans to avoid any such mishaps in the future and then ease into the next crisis.

Not so here. While Dan was having the sink hole fenced off, he was simultaneously building a stockade around a rampant creek on the roadway and moving ahead with the massive garden project. You can see the size of the garden in the picture below. He seems to take it all in stride. Perhaps that’s youth (a new definition) or it could just be his temperament.

 

However, an old problem has come back to bite us and it’s a doozy. The water lines to feed all the paddocks across the road are being drained due to some kind of leak. Dan has spent literally days trying to find the leak. Finally he called up the reserves: the man who used to own this property several owners ago. Can you believe this guy? He actually took time off his job and his life to drive several hours down to help Dan find the leak.

I wish I could tell you that they found it. But they didn’t. Dan will have to continue his search while rebuilding the front porch and moving ahead with the garden. See what I mean? There is always something old, something new, and the weather. Never forget the weather. It is now the rainy season and good luck at finding a leak in muddy paddocks with torrential rains pouring down.

I never cease to wonder at people who choose farming as a life style. Don’t get me wrong, I’m deeply grateful but puzzled. As the winds whip around at 100 kilometers and the rains smash against my windows, I am very, very puzzled. But grateful. Never forget the grateful part!

Dan and a neighbour building the creek blockade. There never seem to be any small projects on this farm. Just big, bigger and beats us.