This Christmas I found myself being more reflective than I
have been in the past. I think so often,
especially on livestock farms, we get so caught up in the tasks of farming and
getting stuff done just to spend a little time with family during the holidays
that we neglect to stop and take it all in. I found myself noticing my nieces’ smiles,
laughing with my goddaughter as she played hide and seek with Nana, and smiling
when I watched my 93 year old great grandfather just watch his family around
him. I also took some time in the barn
to take it all in. I was asked by my
brother to milk cows and do chores so that he could visit his in laws for
Christmas. Since I have a more flexible
schedule I decided to help him out. For
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I was at my family’s farm working with my
parents and sisters. This year, more
than ever before I needed to stop and take it in. This is the last Christmas Eve and Christmas
morning that I will ever milk in my great grandfather’s original barn, as in
the coming months my family’s herd will be moving into a new parlor that my
brother is building. I am overjoyed at
the farm’s progress but I can’t help my smile and tear up a little bit thinking
about the memories in that old barn.
My favorite mornings and nights to milk are during Christmas. I love the calm in the barn, the calm in the
moonlight and star light at winter time, the calm in the morning at sunrise
just as the sun shine hits the frozen Earth.
I love the gentleness of the cows as they pass into the barn, a soft
nudge while I lock them into their milking stalls, and a wet kiss with their
scratchy tongues as I pet their heads. I
love the smell of cows, their feed, the fresh bedding, and I even think freshly
fallen Christmas snow smells. I will
always remember the years we put Christmas lights on the pasture fences, the
silo pipes and the milk room, and how they made the whole farm glow in the
snow. I love the memories of working as a family to
get chores done in time to make it to Grandpa’s house and the stories told by
my father and mother of Christmas’s past.
I can’t help but feel connected to my past when I’m in that old
barn. I bet those walls have some
amazing stories from Christmas when my dad was a little boy, or even when my
grandfather was a boy! I bet there was
lots of laughter, as my dad’s family is filled with pranksters and story
tellers. I can’t even begin to imagine
how much wisdom and lessons learned happened inside those walls! The good news is that my family doesn’t plan
on tearing that old barn down. It will
remain a pillar of the farm for the future. The barn will be used for calving in fresh
cows and taking care of newborns, but it won’t be the same life it had as a
milking barn with a vacuum pump firing up in the morning and lights on late at
night. So as I reflect on my last
Christmas milking in that barn, I can’t help but feel blessed to have an
experience that only a few are blessed to have.
