While Abby and Phoebe were enjoying church camp, I spent the week with friends on their dairy farm. And boy, did I have fun! :)
I got to hand-milk and machine milk multiple cows (a life-long dream of mine); help move cattle from one pasture to another, feed various animals (cats, chickens and sheep), help make meals and cheese and butter, etc.
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| The rustic barn yard |
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| B. and I explored their woods, and she showcased this lovely spring, which is all mossy now, but they used to use it. |
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| I just love ivy and moss! As long as the ivy isn't poisonous. ;) Speaking of such, I had a pretty bad case of poison ivy until basically the day before I left on this trip. Thank God, it healed up-- after much prayer and herbal remediation. |
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| I wonder if this is a succulent of some kind. Sure looks like one! |
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| We stumbled upon a lovely fallen tree |
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| Another view of the feed barn :) |
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| Their older daughter has quite the lovely garden. She hand-crafted these arches, and trained several rose bushes to climb them. :) |
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| There were so many pretty wildflowers, and this was the middle of summer. I can't imagine how splendid it must be in spring during the height of their blooming! |
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| Sweet L. (their youngest) naps. :) I couldn't resist sneaking this photo. ;) |
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| With Mrs. W., B. and T. --- sweet kindred spirits! |
Of course, I had fun getting to know my friends better too. I'd only seen them
twice before in person, but we've interacted a lot via snail mail and phone since I met them 7 years ago.
And I quickly learned that they aren't as sweet and innocent as they look. They are majorly mischievous deep down! I got teased a great deal but I liked that because it made me feel at home! :) Besides, I tease a great deal myself. ;)
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| T. and the W.'s friend, C. and I take a walk around their property |
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| This is one thing we saw. ;) |
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| T. had so many cheery flowers sprouting in her garden. I was very much inspired by her creativity in her garden work! |
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| The local river |
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| I sat for probably twenty minutes trying to capture this image of the energetic hummingbird. :) It just wouldn't stay still long enough! X) |
I wish I would've taken more photos while there (and most of the photos I did take weren't of people-- most of their family members are camera-shy), but I was very busy actually doing stuff. :) Which is fun! Memories and experiences are far better than photos. And yes, a sentimental photographer just said such a thing. ;)
By the end of my time there, I had fallen in love with their family and with their farm. But I was also ready to head home and be with my family...
