We Bought a Farm: When you want to quit but can't

Me and the final turkey moving to his new home.

I often think how much my athletics prepared me for this farming life. 

When you get into a spot in a game that you are frustrated and just ... done ... you can't quit. You are taught that. You push onward. You find a new level. You may come up with a new strategy. But you can't just stop. 

You have to finish.

Yesterday the same thing happened with a bunch of turkeys. Think basketball game with sixty gobbling birds.

Yesterday afternoon we went to move about 60 turkeys from one side of the farm to the other. The walk was probably just under a quarter of a mile. This is the fourth year we have done this. We've never had a problem. But for some reason, this time, it didn't work. 

It was Tijmen and me and Jacob and Isaac and Sidge. Near the end, the Kotynskis came over to try to help us work our way out of the complete failure this was turning out to be. 

We aren't sure what happened, but those darned turkeys just didn't want to walk. However, once you are halfway there, you can't just quit. Oh how I wanted to. We had ten turkeys back at the starting line that just refused to move. We had about ten more who had stopped just a few feet in. And then here we were trying to move the rest of the flock. 

Near the end, with a little creek in front of us, we just gave up and started picking the turkeys up and walking them to their new home despite the fact that it was up quite a steep hill. 

Arabelle helping us herd the turkeys. She did a great job.

Jacob carrying some of the turkeys when they refused to walk.

We used a dog kennel and our dump trailer to pick up the stragglers. 

I wanted to just stop so many times. Thank goodness the temperature was down closer to the 80's instead of the usual 90's or I think we would have given up. I also appreciate that Tijmen and Jacob were very positive and cheery and encouraging when I just got frustrated and wanted to quit farming forever. John and Abigail are out of town, and I just wanted things to not be so hard!

Even the day after an event like that, I have to say that I find myself questioning everything we are doing. I know it'll pass. I know this because it has happened many times before. And I'll wait for it to pass. But when things go badly, it can be so frustrating. You work so hard, and yet you can't predict how animals or plants will behave. 

I think often about this life. I think often about the fact that we don't need these animals or plants for our livelihood. But if we did?

Man, hug your farmer folks,