Cottage or Castle?
"I would sooner live in a cottage and wonder at everything than live in a castle and wonder at nothing." Joan Winmill Brown
After a recent visit home this past weekend, not only did I find myself doing the usual tasks I do when I visit the family farm, but some "extras" were tacked to my list of things to do. From dry treating cows to move to the dry cow lot, moving heifers that are due to calve in the next few weeks to the milking pen, helping cows calve, to giving our red & white Holstein show heifer her first hair cut to be prepared for the WI Spring Show, I was worn out and it wasn't even Saturday yet!
As the weekend went on, things just became busier and busier. Not only did I help with the outside work, there was some work inside the house that needed to be done as well. There are days when I am at college I really wish to be home working along side my dad and outside working with my therapeutic friends I call my cows. Working with my cows makes me excited to see the potential each one of them has whether it is in the show ring or in the barn producing gracious amounts of milk.
However, thinking back to my recent weekend, a very particular thought came to my mind. We, as dairy farmers/competitive showmen and women, seem to sometimes lose our focus with this dairy industry. We want the best of the best and that is only by human nature. Recently attending the Parade of Perfection sale, seeing for the first time a cow sell for over a million dollars, of course there was more than just one cow but a whole package deal along with her, this thought came to my mind. Is a cow, or any animal for that matter, worth one million plus dollars?? The world that we live in today and the mind sets many of us have, we would say yes, if she has great potential and so does her offspring. However, that is not my opinion. What it comes down to is that a cow, dog, horse, pig, sheep, etc., is just an animal. Animals are important creatures that we, as God's people, are in charge of caring for. God didn't intend for us to get so wrapped up in the worldly things to create our animals into "idols" that we spend way too large amounts of dollars on. We really have created our animals, that we all love, into a form somewhat like an idol.
As I continue to ponder this mind boggling concept, I embarked on a quote that is written at the top of this blog. However, I like to re-word it like this, "I would sooner live in the country on a farm and wonder at everything than live in a mansion in the city and wonder at nothing." I find my version more appropriate for myself and many others that I know. I strongly feel that raising kids and living on farms or just in the country for that matter, opens your eyes to things unseen from other places. Being able to watch nature be born, live and grow, and pass away really challenges our minds to think in ways that have never been thought of.
As I close out this blog, I invite you to take a moment and think about the things in your life, whether you live in the country or in the city, on a farm or in a mansion. Not just the materialistic things, but the cognitive ideas and the relationships you have with others and see if you have truly found the real value of them.
After a recent visit home this past weekend, not only did I find myself doing the usual tasks I do when I visit the family farm, but some "extras" were tacked to my list of things to do. From dry treating cows to move to the dry cow lot, moving heifers that are due to calve in the next few weeks to the milking pen, helping cows calve, to giving our red & white Holstein show heifer her first hair cut to be prepared for the WI Spring Show, I was worn out and it wasn't even Saturday yet!
As the weekend went on, things just became busier and busier. Not only did I help with the outside work, there was some work inside the house that needed to be done as well. There are days when I am at college I really wish to be home working along side my dad and outside working with my therapeutic friends I call my cows. Working with my cows makes me excited to see the potential each one of them has whether it is in the show ring or in the barn producing gracious amounts of milk.
However, thinking back to my recent weekend, a very particular thought came to my mind. We, as dairy farmers/competitive showmen and women, seem to sometimes lose our focus with this dairy industry. We want the best of the best and that is only by human nature. Recently attending the Parade of Perfection sale, seeing for the first time a cow sell for over a million dollars, of course there was more than just one cow but a whole package deal along with her, this thought came to my mind. Is a cow, or any animal for that matter, worth one million plus dollars?? The world that we live in today and the mind sets many of us have, we would say yes, if she has great potential and so does her offspring. However, that is not my opinion. What it comes down to is that a cow, dog, horse, pig, sheep, etc., is just an animal. Animals are important creatures that we, as God's people, are in charge of caring for. God didn't intend for us to get so wrapped up in the worldly things to create our animals into "idols" that we spend way too large amounts of dollars on. We really have created our animals, that we all love, into a form somewhat like an idol.
As I continue to ponder this mind boggling concept, I embarked on a quote that is written at the top of this blog. However, I like to re-word it like this, "I would sooner live in the country on a farm and wonder at everything than live in a mansion in the city and wonder at nothing." I find my version more appropriate for myself and many others that I know. I strongly feel that raising kids and living on farms or just in the country for that matter, opens your eyes to things unseen from other places. Being able to watch nature be born, live and grow, and pass away really challenges our minds to think in ways that have never been thought of.
As I close out this blog, I invite you to take a moment and think about the things in your life, whether you live in the country or in the city, on a farm or in a mansion. Not just the materialistic things, but the cognitive ideas and the relationships you have with others and see if you have truly found the real value of them.
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