Juggling Life At the Farm

Thursday!

Yep!

And here's one of our own bloggers.

I'm so very pleased she's here today

sharing with all of us.

Gail Williams from At the Farm!

Balance is a word I'm not really familiar with...juggling is more the word that would fit my lifestyle. 

 

When I can't find my center, for the lack of a better word, I commune with nature.  I walk, sit, and feel the rhythm...that's where I find my balance, I suppose.  I know, when I am barefoot, connected with the earth, there is almost a renewal, a re-charging, a centering and a peace that envelopes me.  Dad always said he was closer to God in the woods than he ever was in a church...maybe, that's it, communing with The Creator.

 

My priorities are a pay check. It's as simple as that. On weekends and evenings, My husband and I help operate the family farm, while raising a grandchild. On Saturdays I operate the family shop. Laundry, cooking, washing dishes and caring for the livestock and pets keeps me busy. It's a constant juggling act of what must be done.  I do what I can, when I can...always busy.  Like now, laundry waits for the dryer. I will run to change that, gather another load, fold some clothes, run through and pick-up. Animals get fed, work is done as needed.

 

I really only spend about a couple of hours a day on the computer, and that time is  important to me because I love to write. Maybe, writing is my therapy.  I keep a notebook by my bed because, sometimes, the best things come in the middle of the night.  Writing in bits and pieces or with words flooding out, the joy is in the writing.  Much of what I write comes from life at the farm, from personal history and daily experiences, hopefully, written well enough that my world can be seen through my words. 

 

My imagination is what has always allowed me to escape, and writing is the vessel of that escape. I will keep writing, but it is only now that I'm trying to figure out what to do with it all. 

 

Currently, I'm selecting some of my favorite fictional posts, poetry and a few of my stories. Together, I hope, they will become a collection.  A book wasn't planned but the name came to me in a dream,  "Sweet Tea and 'Tater Cakes...A Collection". I work on it when I can, hoping one day, someone will want to read it.   

 

Life is tough, but I'm pretty tough myself...so I'll continue to write as I always have, dealing with each minute, each day, each event with tenancity and humor. 

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Born in 1954, baby girl of three girls, I grew up on a farm.  Raised by Depression Era parents, I know how to work hard and make do.  I was married in '72 to a wonderful man and this year we will celebrate our 40th...where does the time go?  We have two daughters and three grandsons, ages three to fifteen.  My thirty-seven year career with the postal service has been interlaced with a few odd jobs here and there.

 

When Mom died and Dad was affected by Alzheimer's we moved to the farm to help with Dad's care.  We ended up staying.  There is no life, I think, more rewarding than farming...nor more challenging and certainly never boring.

 

We raise cattle and until recently, I had the horses of my dreams.  Always have dogs, and have fostered for the local ICARE organization, training and preparing dogs for their forever homes. We have chickens and farm cats, too.  We also raise and preserve our own food.

 

My pleasures are reading, painting, sewing, photography, repurposing items, and writing.

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To read more about Gail

Visit her here!