2007: Looking Ahead on a Farm
I’m not a big one for looking back at my life. (That’s why Hit By a Farm will likely be my only memoir!) I’d rather look forward. Besides, in my life, looking forward is often the same as looking back. That’s because farm life is a life of cycles. The same basic events happen every year, which is oddly comforting.
What do we see when we look ahead on this farm?
…February: Take our 2006 lambs to the butcher and fill people’s freezers with lean, good, humanely-raised meat.
…March: Shear the sheep; tune up the four-wheeler and lawn mower
…April: Vacinate the sheep and start them on grass again; fence repair, water line repair.
…May: Lambs born, with Melissa smiling and me wringing my hands
…June: Recover from lambing with lots of strawberry shortcake
…June, July, Aug, Sept, Oct: Graze the animals, moving them all over the farm
…November: Bring the animals in closer to the barn, starting them on corn and hay.
…December: Let the sheep breed.
…February: Take our 2007 lambs to the butcher…Oh look, we’re back at the beginning again!
Living a life of repeated cycles is never boring, thanks to weather, health, and the animals themselves. Nothing ever goes entirely as planned, so our lives are different every year.
For example, 2007 brings a change in how we sell meat—by the end of Feb. we hope to offer our lamb for sale over the internet, so send us an email if you want to be notified when this happens. (Click on Rising Moon Farm somewhere on the right margin of this blog—I can’t figure out how to put a link in here….I am such a computer nimrod.) We’ll be selling ‘starter’ packages so people can give lamb a try.
2007 brings new books for me, and new challenges as I promote my books, stay involved in the farm, and still keep writing.
2007 brings new challenges to Melissa as she must learn to market our meat in a new way, yet continue to care for the animals, maintain the farm, provide emotional support to a sometimes- volatile writer, and basically keep us both smiling.
Since nothing ever goes totally smoothly when animals are involved, I look forward to plenty of chaos on Rising Moon Farm in 2007, and hope you’ll return here now and then to see what new disasters have befallen us!
Happy 2007!
5 Responses
Hi Catherine,
Just taking a break from baking challah with my 17 year old daughter. I enticed her to stay safely at home on New Years EveI! We were just looking at your blog and love your photos. I’m so glad you share your life on the farm through your blog and do hope you’ll write another book. Happy New Year!
Debbie
Lamb? Okay, I’ll try it. My chickens??? Just wish I could do it. They are happy birds!
Duck poop off walls….Ducklings hatched on Christmas Eve so it was well worth the drama. I had my mother-in-law read your book while she was here and she laughed and laughed!! I’m pretty sure it was the first time I heard her say testicle out loud! Best wishes to you both for the New Year!!!
Thanks for being such faithful readers ! (I should have made the photos larger, but this is me, still learning.)
It’s been fun sharing the farm with other people, and I plan to continue. I am writing more books (which is why I only post to the blog every 10 days or so,) and I’ll let you know when they come out.
Thanks!
Catherine
Hi Catherine,
I just finished reading your memoir about an hour ago and am delighted to have found your blog. Are you going to be promoting in Ohio this year?
Valeria
Valeria,
This year I’m heading to Palm Springs and San Francisco and New Orleans and Atlanta and Chicago….no Ohio!
But next year I hope to head east for some signings. When my revised website goes online next week, (www.catherinefriend.com) there will be a schedule for the year, which I’ll continually update. (If I can conquer html…)
So glad you enjoyed the book!