We Bought a Farm: The Plan "B"

I get a lot of questions about this life we now live. Do I like it? How am I handling it? Is it what I thought it would be?

The fact is, it is mighty different from the life we lead just over a year ago. I was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale and had only been on a farm a handful of times. Scrubs was the first animal I ever owned. This life is completely foreign to me.

Now I live on a farm.

And help run a farm.

And have dozens and dozens of animals.

And I love our life on the farm.

Most of the time.

My biggest battle is The Plan "B". What I mean by this is, all the things we plan for and put into action, only to find that it doesn't work and we have to go back to the drawing board.

This week we put a hole in one of our fences. On purpose. We are planning on putting a gate there and really need access to the other side through this shorter way. JB and our current WWOOFer, Eliza, came up with an idea to create a make-shift gate to keep the chickens out and the dogs in. 

All seemed to be going well. Until last night. We returned from Abigail's little ballet performance to find at least a dozen chickens in the yard. And not just in the yard. They were also in Eliza's newly planted vegetable garden.

Ughhhhhh!!!!!!!

We observed for a few minutes, only to discover that the chickens had taught themselves to jump the fence. Egads. This means that the makeshift fence no longer works. Like at all. This means that Eliza's garden was permanently impaired. And it means we have to spend the evening trying to figure out how to fix the problem that we thought we had fixed.

It

drives

me

crazy.

We come up with a feeding system for the animals and then discover it doesn't quite work right. They have outsmarted it. Or aren't using it correctly. You think you solve a problem and then the problem rememerges in a different fashion and you are left starting again.

Plan "B". 

Or maybe make that Plan "C" or "D" or "E" or "Z."

It is my farming nemesis. The thing is, I know it will probably happen until the day they bury me on this farm. 

And yet I don't know how to not let it get under my skin.

Lots to learn.