I didn't mention that I'm still on a farm! DH and I were in college and he decided he'd rather farm, so we packed our few belongings and headed back. We begin our 38th year of farming and milking cows. We have had lean years and fat and trying to balance the two is a constant struggle. I hate the hot August days when you can barely breathe after coming out of a barn full of hot cows (body temps are 102 degrees), but savor the clear blue sky of a June day with the smell of fresh cut hay curing in the windrows. The long winter of cold and snow can break a spirit, but the promise of apple blossoms, fragile wild flowers and darting swallows on the horizon renews it.
Our children grew up to be upstanding community members teaching our grands to be the same. We watch some of the grands grow up a half mile and a hill away. When our daughter spent the last week of her maternity leave here while hubby was on a business trip, she teared up and thanked us for having the farm for her kids to come home to. Sometimes it is all worthwhile.