The sun breaks above the cedar trees that line our property and our chickens slowly emerge from their coop, clucking their soft hellos while a lone goat gives a welcoming bleat as the barn lights flip on.
I. Freaking. Wish. It's more like:
A small coffee drip stains my sleeve as I nearly trip over a rogue chicken turning on the barn lights. Pretzel, my largest goat at 100 lbs, slams against the stall door as she jumps up to wish me a good morning, creating a noise that never fails to make me flinch and wonder how long that gate chain is going to last. I hear my baby horse (admittedly no longer a baby at over 500 lbs and 2 years old) pawing at the gate outside and again mentally calculate the cost in both time and money of eventually replacing that gate. Will it last the spring? Eh. Seems unlikely but we can hope.
Barn chores are methodical and predictable, if not necessarily always relaxing, but I pop in one earbud and grab the muck cart. There is always work to do and we might as well get started.
Farm life is often romanticized and I would say about 95% of the time, that's a big, chunky, chicken poop-scented lie. To be perfectly honest, I actually don't usually do morning chores. As a mom of 3, my mornings are filled with chaos even without the hustle and bustle of the barn. I need help in the mornings so I hired a barn manager to start the day off with my animals. The only thing I always do in the morning is milk my goats. When it comes to feeding/cleaning poop/filling hay bags and all the extra chores and care, I take care of the afternoon/evening shift.
In reality, even with help, my days are full up and then some. My usual schedule goes something like this...
My mornings are pure chaos with a six year old, three year old, and 7 month old. Between convincing them that, YES eating something in the morning is required, packing lunches, and debating about the advisability of wearing a princess dress to school, I'm absolutely slammed in the morning. Somewhere in the middle of that chaos (or often after the oldest is off to school), I trot down to the barn where undoubtedly my goats are standing at my backyard fence yelling at me because they give zero fucks about the chaotic state of my morning. They want to be milked and they want it now.
From there my mornings can go in about ten different directions. Oftentimes I put my littlest down for a nap and make some soap. Other times I wrap up soaps and tidy my work area (how DOES it get so messy? I truly don't know, I swear it wasn't me who created that mess.) About half the time I don't do any work at all because there are grocery runs to do or preschoolers to entertain.
After a school pick up, after school sports and a few rounds of car snacks, it is time to head back to the barn and do it all over again.
How do I get anything accomplished? No idea. I only know that dirty chais and pastries are crucial to my success.
