After the very spring-like weekend we experienced here in Western Pennsylvania, we discussed everyday activities that take on a whole new meaning here on the farm. Often the farm version is not nearly as much fun as the pop-culture version. Farm life adds new meaning to many popular ideas, and these are just a few we laughed about over the weekend.
The first to come to mind and end up taking precedence for us this weekend is the coined phrase Spring Fever. Many consider spring fever to be one of two things. It is either being sick and tired of winter, cold weather, snow, ice, and frigid winds, or it is the act of one’s thoughts/behaviors turning in a more amorous direction. Well, we are indeed sick of winter weather. According to my husband, my life with him is one big romance story…feel free to roll your eyes and laugh out loud; I do. However, Spring Fever this weekend looked a lot like the stomach flu.
It is not often I have been able to pinpoint precisely where an illness began, but it is without a doubt our friend who helps in the soap studios fault we got sick. She missed an evening because she had a stomach bug. Much to my dismay, she arrived the following evening. When I asked her if she had been sick, and she affirmed this, I then asked what she was doing here? She responded, “Do you want me to go home?” I said something dismissive like, oh, you know how you feel. Meanwhile, my brain is screaming, “YES, YES, I DO!”
Almost like clockwork, in twelve-hour increments, we all dropped like flies beginning with The Bean. I was next, and then it was The Bibbed Wonders turn. We spent the entire beautiful weekend hanging onto the porcelain throne and lamenting over our various stages of death. It was brutal.
Spring Cleaning also takes on a whole new meaning here at the farm. Most of us spring clean our homes, discard clutter, organize, refresh, and give our homes a deep cleaning. The barn gets a good deep cleaning on the farm before the house does. Like the house, clutter in the barn is discarded, everything is organized, cobwebs are knocked down, and all the used bedding that created warmth and comfort over the winter is removed and spread over the pasture fields. The barn is then given a thorough coating of lime to kill bacteria, inhibit bugs and odors, and keep the upcoming fly population down. On top of the lime, a thick layer of fresh dry bedding is put in place, and we call it good for the next few months.
Cleaning the barn is a top priority in the spring because our version of March Madness will begin in just a few weeks. No, we do not watch college basketball; very soon, we will have seventeen does give birth to anywhere from one to four kids. Yes, you read that correctly, seventeen. Ten of the girls delivered in December, and those babies are all doing well and growing wonderfully. However, we have seventeen scheduled to deliver from March through early May. That, my dear reader, will be insanity. Please keep your fingers crossed that all goes well, no one gets sick, the temperatures are warm, and every doe has an easy delivery. I face spring with excitement and trepidation every year.
So, my dear reader, that is our version of Spring Fever, Spring Cleaning, and March Madness. We definitely could have done without the spring fever. As always, stay safe, be smart, don’t go to work sick, and keep washing your hands.