I’m officially done helping out with the fieldwork for the year, but my husband still has fall plowing to take care off. We filled our cribs with golden cobs of corn and when the last cob got deposited up and into our crib, I literally did a little happy dance. Yay! Done!
That gave me such a sense of accomplishment and also a sense of freedom. Now finally, I could concentrate on the many little projects already in progress, in my head.
At breakfast the very next day, my husband announced, “Well, I’m going to start to chisel plow pretty soon, but today I figure we should cut some wood!”
My heart sank and in the next moment a burst of defiance arose. I whined. Yes, just like a little kid.
“Oooo! I cannot help you with that toodayyy! I have so much I want to,” and proceeded to detail everything I had in mind.
Halfway through my spiel, he laughed. He knew and was teasing, but on the other hand, I know that making wood is high on his list of priorities. We’ve begun but still have a long way to go to ensure we have enough wood stored for the winter months ahead.
After harvest I spent one day in the house just catching up with odds and ends. When I go back to my office to reconcile our checkbooks, pay bills or file paperwork, I need to have a clutter-free environment in which to work. Clutter slows my brain down and muddles me up and I actually become edgy. Organization clears my head, settling me, and I can think better.
Outside work is the same. When there are areas that need tending, I’m impatient to tackle the job and make it look tidy. Last winter was harsh on our evergreen bushes in front of our house. They returned rusty and brown in the spring. I saw there was a bit of greenery coming underneath so I watched and waited as spring turned into summer and then into fall, to see if they would fully bounce back or not. Unfortunately, they did not.
One day as I was clearing and snipping, taking the skid steer from spot to spot removing dried foliage, I came upon those nasty-looking evergreen bushes. I couldn’t even remember how long they had been there. “Now’s the day!” I thought to myself.
Crawling on my belly under the bush, I wrapped a heavy chain around the base and strung the chain out to the driveway as a “help” signal to my husband when he came home from plowing. Waiting for him to return, I busied myself with the rest of the lawn. Removing tree branches that had fallen from the last windstorm, I carted them to a pile to be dealt with later. With the skid steer I hauled the displayed pumpkins that were past their prime over to the empty manure spreader and dumped them in so they could be strewn out onto the field the next time we cleaned barn.
Soon I heard my husband drive in with the tractor and chisel plow. He looked at the chain and then looked at my smiling, hope-filled face and he rolled his eyes, a good sign. That meant, “Oh, alright!” He fastened the chain to the back of his tractor. One go at it didn’t work, the chain just slid right off. Husband belly-crawled under the bush and refastened the chain more securely.
Revving up the tractor, he jerked the bush once, twice and on the third time it broke free and out it came, roots and all. Hauling that one away, he came back and wrapped the chain around the second bush and in the same manner, jerked that one out as well.
Stepping back, I could see a whole lot of house. Those bushes were quite large and now that they were gone it left a very empty spot. I needed advice, so checking with my creative sister, she suggested replacing it with something decorative that needed no attention, such as farm antiques, a bird bath or perhaps sets of big, pretty stones complete with large pots of flowers. I never would have considered anything other than more greenery. This definitely gives me something to think about.
I always like to pick the brain of people whom I consider experts on topics I am not. The other day, I got to talking to a seasoned gardener and I asked her what she does with her carrots, the only vegetation still in my garden. I’ve got about a quarter of a row left. She suggested taking a large container of some sort and keeping the dirt intact around the carrots, dig them out with a shovel and store them in the basement. Then during the course of the winter, when I’d need some carrots, I could just go down in my basement and pull them out of the dirt like I’d be going out to my garden. Brilliant! I must try that this year.
Buttoning up the fieldwork allows me the freedom to tend to projects of my own (and coaxing hubby to help). Asking people for advice allows me to plan and manage better. Pretty soon I’ll hear, “Time to make some wood!” For now, hand me that shovel, I’m off to dig up those carrots!
(“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12)
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