Morning Farm Chores

I enjoy feeding the animals in the morning especially when its not too cold outside or too hot outside. Yesterday morning was just right. Once I had the kids started on school, I slipped outside to do the morning chores. This was my first time feeding the animals since they have been moved into the backyard. There are a few "problems" with our arrangement. (Somehow I encountered each and every one of them). First of all, there are no fence barriers between the person feeding and the animals eating. I was told to quietly slip into the barn and quickly shut the barn door so the animals don't come in with me. Then I was to pour corn into the barn stall for the sheep. They have an outside entrance so every sheep was suppose to run into the barn and eat the corn. I poured extra corn to make sure I had extra time to do the other chores without having to worry about Peter the Great. Once all the sheep were in the barn eating, I was to slip back outside shut the gate behind them so the 20 sheep would be contained while I fed the 4 cows. Sounds simple enough, right?

You know the song "Grandma got ran over by a reindeer"? Well, Grandma has nothing on me!

I did manage to slip in the barn and get the door partially closed before every animal we own had surrounded the barn. The first problem was that our barn door is extremely heavy. I can shut it, but it takes me some time and I have to really pull. I didn't have enough time to shut it good, but I did the best I could. While I was pouring corn in the stall, I realized that the barn door was opened. Apparently the cows were able to push it open enough for about 10 sheep to rush in the barn and start eating out of feed bags. I panicked for a moment while looking around for Peter the Great. The other sheep are fine, but a ram can be a different story. He was busy trying to open the gate to get into the barn stall to eat his corn. (Apparently I was also suppose to open the gate to the pen, but nobody told me that. I assumed it was already open, but it wasn't). He did manage to get the gate open and he and the rest of the flock were able to eat in the designated area. My only concern where the 10 sheep in the barn with me and the four cows trying to get in the barn with me. I started yelling for my children who were in the house working on school. Apparently my daughter heard "something", but her brother told her there wasn't anything to it so they were of no use to me. I made a daring move and got a bucket of corn and pushed my way past the cows who were blocking my entrance. They complied and I poured the corn on the ground so I could run and get Jacob's help. (Remember I still had sheep in the barn eating whatever they wanted). When I finally got myself out of the barn, I realized that our border collie had escaped his pen. I knew this was very bad because he stirs up all the animals by chasing them. I didn't need the 4 cows going crazy with me in the backyard. I went back in the house and got Jacob. Together we fed the cows and caught the border collie, but that only happened after the dog chased the baby calf and made the other cows mad. We finally were able to get the sheep out of the barn and into the pen with the other ones. I thought the drama was finally over, but then I got ran over by a wayward sheep. I know she didn't mean to, but she clipped me at my knees. I managed to finish the rest of the chores and Jacob and I left the backyard. I promptly called Michael at work and told him this backyard feeding thing wasn't working for me. I think he got a chuckle although he was careful to make sure I didn't hear it over the phone! My peaceful morning chores turned into chaos right before my very eyes. I was just thankful nobody stopped on the road to watch all of the drama!

grace and peace,
julie