chicken feed and market goats

I was up and out early this morning. The chickens had run out of feed and I needed to get some - fast. I don’t like getting that low this time of year because you never know what will happen that prevents you from getting to town. Life is unpredictable. I quickly feed the dogs and headed to town.

The feed store was busy today, with trucks lined up like rock star groupies, everyone with something to buy and somewhere to be. I saw people that I rarely see any other place – the horseshoer that’s actually not from around here, the cattle rancher who lives up the canyon and small farmers like me just buying feed for our little companions.

After my truck was loaded I drove through town and treated myself to a Chai from my favorite little coffee place. I may be a homesteading farm girl at heart, but I like my Chai. Main Street was beginning to bustle with the Saturday morning breakfast crowd, the Farmer’s Market had just opened and was doing a brisk business. No time to stop though, Brianne had agreed to teach a friend how to show goats and we needed to be on the other side of the county by 10:00 am.

Once home, I filled the feed barrels and then the feeders in the chicken coop. The girls were happy to have their breakfast, albeit a little late, and squawked at me as they raced to get their share of the lay mash.

With morning chores complete and animals fed, we headed off.

Brianne and Chase have been showing livestock for several years now and they both are becoming quite the little stockmen.

Brianne put Chase through his paces, taught him the basics of proper goat showmanship and gave a few pointers for him to work on before the show in November. At such a young age our kids have learned so much about livestock and about life. They’ve dealt with many triumphs over the years, but have also experienced their share of tragedies.

Life lessons on a farm are sometimes harsh, but I think our kids are stronger and more responsible because of them. They know where they are going and what they want out of life. How many young people can say that these day’s. It’s heartwarming and exciting to hear them talk about THEIR farms, where they want to live and what they want to raise.

We visited a while, talking about livestock shows and sales, family and life on our respective farms before leaving for home. Get a bunch of livestock people together and we can talk for hours. It was late in the afternoon when we arrived home, but still light enough to fetch a load of mulch for the garden.

Kids, livestock, friends and gardens. It doesn’t get much better than that.