The Blossoms of Summer

As the school year comes to an end, it is time for me once again to pack up and move back home to the farm for the summer.  As I have continued my education at Purdue University another year, I have learned that the city life is not for me.  I love the country and everything about it. I will miss the great friends I have, but they will still be around next year upon return to Purdue.   


Driving on back country roads, getting stuck behind a tractor...driving fifteen miles per hour, does not bother me one bit!  Getting up in the wee hours of the morning to check a cow that may be calving, receiving a knock on the door from a police officer telling us we have cattle that got out and are out on the road, to staying up late finishing milking due to complications on the farm earlier in the day are all just a few memorable moments I know that I will experience this summer.  


What I long for the most this summer, is to spend time with my family, whether at county fair, state fair, cattle show, church, birthday party, or just in the calming, therapeutic, minutes during milking, being with my family is what will matter this summer.  With the recent loss of another classmate, I have learned that taking for granted what you have is the wrong way to live.  We never know when someone we love may be killed in a farming accident, on their way to work, or just can't handle the punches and blows that life sends their way and causes the person to tragically end his/her life.  


Many people may think that we treat our animals poorly, however, that is not true.  There are some inhumane individuals out there, but 97% of us are not like that.  Having the ability to raise animals from birth to death is a great experience for me and the many others that have a part of this daily life task.    What better way to express your feelings to someone that you know will just listen and nothing else than to that sweet, innocent, unable to talk back, baby calf?  Yes, you may think I am crazy but I'm sure I am not the only dairy farmer's daughter or dairy farmer that does that. Animals are therapeutic, especially those ones that just listen, don't say anything back, and just gaze at you with those deep, innocent eyes.  


As the day finishes, I am making my commitment to spend more time with my family this summer, not in front of the t.v., but washing cattle, driving to shows, staying up late in the fields mowing hay, and to the peaceful, quiet, moments of the early morning chores.  Farm life is the roots I am attached to, the roots that I love, and the roots that will last forever.      

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