Back in the early years of farming, men did most of the work. That’s the way it’s been for just about 200 years (previous to that, early American settlers both men AND women had to work newly established farms).
Roll around to the new agricultural boom of micro-farming and now women do all the work.
Back when we first bought the property, and nothing had been developed, plotted out, or planned, we knew one thing: we were going to farm hay. Not that we knew anything about hay — the land we were buying was covered in several hay fields, so it made sense. We also knew that I’d be the one running the farming activities. After all, I was the one home all day.
Fast-forward four years, and now hay is a side issue. The bigger issues being taking care of animals (we now have cows, chickens, more horses, more dogs and barn cats), outside chores (mowing/weed-whacking or snow plowing), trying to clean and organize a tiny house, running the dog breeding business, doing maple syrup (175 taps), building various items, putting-up fencing, improving the land, building paths/roads in the woods, putting-up deer stands, putting-in and maintaining a garden, butchering deer, tanning deer hides.
Erik is making sure I know how to operate the farm entirely by myself. “In case I die,” he says, “you’ll know how to do all this stuff.”
So here is a list of all the things I can do decently well:
-Build a fence/pasture start to finish.
-fertilize a hay field
-attach and operate all farm equipment (except the backhoe)
-general carpentry
-changing the oil on the side by side and tractor
-plowing snow with a tractor
-grading with the tractor
-using a chainsaw, plus installing new chain, adding gear lube and mixing the gas
-splitting wood with an ax into tiny pieces
-building a roaring fire without gasoline
-hunting deer
-gutting deer
-skinning deer
-quartering deer
-turning deer meat into tasty pieces for dinner
-making jerky
-mushroom identifying and hunting
-all yardwork
-horse training (when time allows)
-All aspects of making maple syrup from selecting the right trees to cooking it down and bottling it
-All aspects of hay-making including how to cut for the right sugar content and selecting horse-safe grasses to plant
-Taking apart the plumbing to find a clog
-building a website from ground up
-photo retouching at a master level
-marketing
-writing
-cooking
-sewing (by hand or machine)
-veterinary
-doctor
in addition to housekeeper and nanny.
My main job title? Master problem solver.
My biggest pet peeve is when people ask me “What do you do all day?” It sounds condescending to me.
Better to say “What does a day with you on the farm look like?” Maybe because Erik is always asking me “what did you do all day?” and I can’t pull-up an explanation each time.
So here’s yesterday’s schedule:
5am wake-up
5:15 head out to dog kennel to write
5:35am finally begin to do computer work after feeding and watering the dogs and trying to fix heater (stopped working).
5:40am-6:15am paw through literary agents online, check e-mail and website info, retouch Nuriel’s head shot photos for her movie audition. Temp drops 10 degrees down to 40 and my hands freeze, so I move inside to the house.
6:20- 6:40am: discuss head shots with Nuriel, nearly finish photos.
6:42-6:55am make Erik breakfast
6:50-7am sit on sofa
7am-7:45am make Earen breakfast, make myself breakfast, research more on which seeds to plant for vegetables, chase child down to get him to eat.
7:45am-9am at some point I did other things, but then got all the animals fed
9am erik tells me I can’t take EAren to his scheduled playdate since the At&T guys are coming.
9:30-11:00am round up child and do whirlwind grocery trip to Meijer with 3/4 yr old in tow.
11:30am begin to put groceries away, Erik comes home.
12pm to 1:30pm: deal with At&T guys, tidy house like crazy, vacuum, put 3/4yr old down for nap and deal with kids home from school (early release day).
2:00-2:30: sit down for quick cup of coffee and a doughnut
2:30pm: run out to empty 54 buckets
2:45pm-5:00pm chops holes into 1in of ice in sap buckets, drain into large container. Chop trees with machete to clear trails.
5:15pm return to house, talk with Erik
5:30pm feed animals, make sure all heaters are working. Put blankets on all 4 horses.
6:15pm drag myself into house to make dinner. Erik announces we are going to Big Boy for dinner (yea, no dishes!)
7:30-9pm clean mess 3/4 yr old left everywhere, tiny bedroom again, fold massive pile of laundry.
9-9:20pm Get 3/4 yr old ready for bed.
9:20-9:35pm clean bathroom kids were told to clean and only half-assed it (we had company scheduled the next day).
9:40-10:00pm: empty dishwasher, sweep floor, tidy kitchen
10:00-10:10pm watch Erik watch YouTube videos on newly installed internet, and complain that I’d really like to sleep (computer is in bedroom).
10:10pm opt to sleep on futon in other room due to noisy/bright YouTube videos of dumb stuff.
5:00am wake-up . . . . cycle repeats, but with different activities. Day, after day, after day, after day.
No days off, no vacation time, no sick days (if I’m sick I still have chores to do that no one else will do)