A Weekend on the Farm is Like a Vacation for the Mind

I don’t make it home as often as I used to anymore. It used to be that I would go home and help out on the farm or go to some sort of pig show or sale nearly every weekend. But, the past couple of years it seems that I have only made it home about once a month or every six weeks in the winter and summer months. Although, I do still make it home quite a bit in the spring and fall, because those are the busiest seasons on the farm and I can never turn my dad down when I know he needs the help. 

In some ways I think it is a good thing that I spend fewer weekends at home, and in other ways I think it might be good for me if I tried to make it home more often again. Back when I used to go home practically every nine out of 10 weekends, I used to wish I could have more weekends to myself to relax or go out and have fun. But, now that I have more weekends like that, I sometimes find myself wishing that I could spend a little more time on the farm. What I really need is to find a balance between the two. Too many weekends spent on the farm can make me feel worn out and like I don’t have time to get anything accomplished around my own house. While too many weekends spent in the city can also drive me nuts. There is just something about open space, fresh air and peacefulness that can make a person forget about their worries for the time being. I wouldn’t call it a relaxing vacation by normal standards, but it is definitely a vacation for the mind. I’ve never even taken a real vacation so I suppose I wouldn’t really know what one feels like, but I can imagine how it would feel and I also do know that even though my hands and feet may be worn out after a long weekend on the farm, my mind tends to feel much better. That is until Monday rolls around at least…

This past weekend was one of those weekends that I got to spend on the farm. My dad’s birthday was last week on February 15^th, so of course I went home for that and instead of a cake, this year I made him a homemade cherry pie – his favorite – to celebrate. But I also went home for another reason... I needed to help take pictures of pigs for our online pig sale we were having this week on the 21^st. Spending a whole afternoon photographing uncooperative little pigs and then an evening sorting through all of those pictures is tiring and not always enjoyable. But it pays off in the end and this sale especially went very well by the way. We are really excited to see how this set of pigs will do at the upcoming shows this spring and summer and would like to say a special thank you to all of our customers for a great sale and good luck! 

Also, remember that we’ll be having two more online sales this spring on www.showpig.com on March 15^th and May 17^th, as well as our 12^th Annual Show Pig Sale at the farm on April 14^th! Now, because I like to share pictures with each of my blog posts (and I forgot to take one of the scrumptious cherry pie before it was gone) here is one of the top selling pig from our sale this week. She sure is gorgeous.

Bathroom Overhaul, MBA & Dog Treat Ventures

First of all, I know it has been several months since I’ve posted anything on my blog and that is way too long. I’ve had a pretty busy fall and winter so far. As some of you probably know, the spring and fall are the busiest seasons for my parents’ farm and I try to help out when they need me to. Then, in November and December I was busy with the Holidays obviously, as was everyone else. So I suppose that is not really a good excuse for not blogging, but I was also busy trying to completely remodel my bathroom at that time. With the help of my dad, mom, sister, brother-in-law and his uncle, I completely gutted and remodeled my bathroom. It is a tiny bathroom, but was still a lot of work! And it turned out great by the way and I’m so happy with it! However, I haven’t posted any pictures of it yet, because there are still a few little details that I need to finish up before it is 100 percent complete and ready for pictures. They’re not major details, but I need my dad’s help with them to make sure it’s done right and I’d rather hold off on taking the “after” pictures until it’s done. Unfortunately, it might have to wait until about May since my dad is currently overwhelmed with his spring pigging season right now.

After I made it through the major bathroom project, Christmas and New Years, I started taking online classes again to finish earning my MBA. Each class is six weeks long and there are 13 classes. I had three under my belt previously and I just completed my fourth, although it felt like my first again because it’s been a while since I took the first three. I am proud to say that I earned an A, but it was a lot of work and I start the next class this week! I’m not looking forward to it or any other class in the future for that matter, but it feels good once each one is finished, knowing that I am one step closer to being done forever! It seems like the end is nowhere near right now, but I just keep thinking to myself how awesome it will feel when the end does come and I can say I’m done with homework forever! Maybe I’ll finally be able to take a vacation then… That’s enough about boring old school, though.

Onto the one subject I never bore of talking about – my silly little corgi, Mary, who is doing just great in case you have been wondering. She turned three years old on January 3^rd! I can’t believe she is three already. It seems like it was just last year that I brought the little squirt home. However, she isn’t a little squirt anymore. In fact, she needs to go on a bit of a diet here lately since she has been getting the full advantage of my new dog treat venture. Yes, I have found in the past year or so that I rather enjoy baking dog treats and have even started selling them online and to friends. I’ve always enjoyed baking, but try to keep myself from doing too much of it so that I won’t get fat and coincidently I ended up discovering that I enjoy baking dog treats just as much! Mary loves the homemade treats much more than the store-bought ones. Plus, I know that they’re fresh and exactly what ingredients are in them. And I end up saving a little money in the end, too, because those little bags of store-bought treats can get expensive when you have a spoiled corgi. I have a handful of different recipes – all approved by Mary and her dog pals – but Mary’s favorite happens to be the peanut butter and honey crunchy biscuits. These also happen to be my favorite, too, because they’re the quickest and simplest to make. If you’re interested, I encourage you to check out my online shop that I have set up at http://www.etsy.com/shop/corgilicioustreatery. I plan to have some treats listed on my Facebook profile soon as well.

Thanks for reading and I’ll try to be better about posting more often from now on!