Tuesday, February 19, 2019

140 years!





This winter is/was/is continuing to be a REAL winter, with lots of snow and cold!  Some winters it only snows a couple of times and melts away, but this winter we've had the chance for lots of sledding, and even skiing and snowboarding!  

It's tough when the waterers freeze, or when the fuel gels, but overall things have been going well.  No power outages, no furnaces breaking, and so the regular work has gone on like usual.

I was thinking about how many things have changed since we came back to the farm, and we've done some pretty big projects.

2008 - added an irrigation pivot
2010 - built cement pad and cattle crossings
2011 - built calf barn
2012 - remodeled the dairy barn
2013 - built freestall barn and manure lagoon
2017 - remodeled freestall barn to change to sand bedding
2017 - remodeled dairy barn to add an aisle leading to the parlor
2018 - added a second bulk tank

Five years ago, my mom made us a book about our homestead.  After a long history, Kris and I have a liiiiiittle paragraph at the end about what we had done since we moved here.  It's interesting to see how tiny your time is here over the 140 years that the farm has been here.

It's also interesting to think about the next 10, 20, 30(?) years that we will be here.  What projects will be next?  How will things change around here?  When will non-gelling fuel be invented? 
It's all still yet to be written.

In the meantime, we're alternately enjoying/withstanding the winter, taking care of our cattle, working with our teammates, and writing the history of our farm.  Here's to the next winter, and all the ones after that!  Happy 140!

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