Homesteading Mama 111: Untangling a reel and the lessons that come with it

It's been awhile since I posted any of my "Homesteading Mama" videos. So I'm gonna try to refocus myself in that direction. Here is a video my son Sidge snagged today ... featuring one of the more glamorous aspects (sarcasm intended) of farming ... when a reel becomes tangled and you have to spend hours walking back and forth in the yard to untangle it. 

I've come to learn that unexpected frustrations on a farm are PART of farming. In normal life you try to avoid things that will cause you to lose time. But in farming, you just can't avoid them. When we first started farming, I would get so unbelievably frustrated when my day was derailed. 

But in the six years we have been farming, I have come to understand that derailments are normal. Farming is unpredictable. That is the part of it I can count on.

If you use reels, they will eventually become tangled. You can try to be diligent. You can work hard to prevent the tangles. But eventually, you'll spend three hours untangling a reel. 

And let's say you only want to let "veteran" reel-users use the reel. No kids or newbies allowed. You can do that. But now you have less help on the farm. Less things people can do for you. That hurts you too.

No-win situation. 

So during those three hours that you are untangling a reel, you can fret and think about all the things you could be doing with those three hours. 

That's what Wendi used to do. 

Sometimes Wendi, now, does that too. But she's a lot better about it. 

Wendi, now, tries to do the untangling in her yard, with her kids around her. She picks a sunny day. She tries to remind herself that this is good exercise. (A good tangled reel will often get me my 10,000 steps for the day!) Honestly, Wendi expects a good tangle every 3-4 months that will cost her a half-day of her life. 

My being is NOT a farmer. People say: "I could not do that" that to me all the time. Folks, I could not do that. If you would have asked me if I could skin a chicken, kill a pig, load a dead goat into the back of a 4-wheeler ... I would have said HECK NO. 

But here I am ...

Killin' it!

(Pun intended!)