Thoughtful - Thankful Thursday

I was thinking today of how many years ago it had been since I'd wanted to be involved in farming, and it was back when I was in grade school and into high school. Back then, I wanted to marry a farmer, and have 12 kids, work on the farm, as well as cook huge dinners for the family and hired hands just like the farmwomen of old.

Things changed, life happened; I did get to raise some chickens, a few hogs, and a couple of heifers when I lived in Bismarck ND with my then husband, but my management skills had much to be desired, I know better now. Then I worked for 9 years with a university swine research unit; and before that helped on another university's farm with their hogs and sheep.

After working on the swine research farm, somehow I got lost, and forgot about farming and working with animals. Probably because the farm was a confinement system, and I couldn't see working with livestock in that environment any longer.

Somehow, come 2006, my yearning for farmlife returned, and I started reading up on raising chickens, and goats, and sheep - the Storey Publications. Began learning more about intensive grazing, and its benefits.

Then, that fateful day occured when I heard Suzanne McMinn on NPR's Inside Appalachia - about her blog Chickens in the Road. That's when things really turned around. But maybe some seeds were again planted when I made friends with a gal in Casey Co KY on a Yahoo group, and back then, which was about 2006, I had dreams of moving there and helping her on her farm.

I think that things happen for a reason. Most of my life I have wanted to live and work on a farm, work with livestock. I've had the chance to do a lot of that along the way, even marrying a son of a farmer, and though it didn't work out, and Steve had no want of farming, I still got to work with his Dad some on the farm and come to love it even more, and get his Dad's support in my wanting to learn and experience farmlife.

I honestly believe that God has been preparing me for this moment of getting the chance to move to Casey Co, and become involved in farming full-time. Even the experiences I had when I went camping in Amish country in Lancaster PA have shaped me to this day. When I was there, I went next door to an Amish dairy farm and asked if I could help them finish milking because it was starting to get dark, and they looked like they may need a hand, if just to carry the milk buckets to the large holding tank.

All of this reflection is just to say I've been thinking a lot today, and am increasingly grateful and thankful of the experiences, good and bad, that have brought me to this time in my life. I am thankful for all of my blogging friends who have given me the courage to do what I have dreamed of, and for their encouragement and support. I see through your experiences how many possibilities there are, and to not give up on my dreams. So I now say a heart-felt thank you.

These are my reflections for a Thursday.

I hope Ya'll have a great rest of the evening.

Take care, from Fayette Co KY

Soon to be Casey Co KY