A day on the farm

Three weeks ago, when we left for Gauteng there were weather warnings; rain, storms, heavy wind, flash floods, tornadoes! We delayed our trip by a day. On the way back home we spent the night by my sister in-law and her family on the farm. In the evening we checked the weather; rain, storms, heavy wind, snow, flash floods! Again! That was last night. We will be extending our stay on the farm until further notice and see this as a great opportunity to experience large scale farm living and stay warm and dry!

This morning at the not-so-crack-of-dawn we headed out onto the farm to see what there was to see. My brother in-law’s primary crop is maize. Not much to see in the fields as they’ve recently harvested, but seeing the machinery and storage needed to undertake such immense work made us all feel very little!

They also farm with pigs, sheep, cattle on a smaller scale. And it’s baby season. After ten minutes in the pig pen my son says, I feel like a farmer! With muddy shoes and covered in dust, he definitely looked like one! 

  

All the animals on the farm are fed off the land without the use of growth hormone and antibiotic, but because the process to certify organic is an overwhelmingly complicated one, they just get sold off to the usual places. It seems like such a waste to me as good healthy ethically grown meat is such a scarcity. I think this is something which needs to be demanded, not requested, from our supermarkets and grocery stores.

Watching the kids run around between the sheep made me realise how essential it is for us to be in the company of animals, it teaches us a necessary context. It reminds us of the broader company we keep on this planet! It was a day well spent and we’ll see what weather tomorrow brings!