Bad Moments
I am sure the sun was there the other day when Winnie (the Jersey cow, not the pooh bear) tore apart the wooden stanchion. I don’t know what got into her. She decided she doesn’t like the stanchion on the south side of the barn. I coaxed and prodded her into the wooden contraption. Feelings of pride welled in me as I slammed the wooden block down over Winnie’s neck. She backed up startled and a might bit hostile. Despair replaced the pride quickly as I heard the wood crack and watched Winnie walk around the barn tossing her head around The front part of the stanchion was still locked around her head and she couldn’t figure out how to get it off. I managed to get up and release the head gate as I watched the stanchion fall to the ground. Milking took longer that day as we had to repair the stanchion before we completed milking. It was sturdy … at least it was until ... Nightmare. No, this is not an intentional play on the theme of the rising sun. I really do have a cow that the children have renamed Nightmare. She is a black angus cross that we have never tamed down. Her original name was Obsidian. However, after months of trying to tame her down we changed her name. First, from Obsidian to Obstinate. And then, once again. Her name change was widely disputed among the midget terrorists. Some of the children voted to call her Nightmare while others decided to call her Meat. She was the first to destroy my custom built stanchion. Needless to say, the children who voted to name her Meat won, as she is now being processed into select cuts as I type. There is a moral to this story … don’t mess with the milkmaid or you shall become dead meat. I wonder if Winnie is reading this post?
Oh dear! I nearly forgot. I need to tell you readers about the good moments that the rising sun witnesses. It is here that I need to give answer. For the day will come in every farmer’s life where the most important question of all is asked: “Er … now why am I doing this?” (Hint: This doesn’t just happen to the farmer. It happens to everyone in every occupation. The moral of this story is: find meaning in your life’s work.) This question usually hits in the dead of freezing cold weather when that loyal companion, the sun, seems to forsake the farmer. So now the good moments …
Good Moments
Just as the sun must rise every day, the cows must be milked every day twice a day. There have been times when my life’s journey was so taxing I didn’t want to face another day. Milking cows kept me going. After all, they had to be milked. I remember when life seemed quite dismal. I remember those days when I sat on the milk stool listening to the tap, tap, tap of the pulsator on the milk machine. I felt I had nothing to look forward to. Nothing made sense. It was then that a bright light caught my eye. It was the sun peeking out in brilliance from behind a cloud. It was just a tiny unassuming joy, but it was joy, nonetheless.
There are simple rewards with farming. I find those rewards always point me back to the majesty and awesome wonder of God. Tending to the cows every day consistently allows me to benefit by receiving a great bounty of milk. The milk I harvest is more than my family needs. The abundance gave rise to a ministry. I have the privilege of serving people with a wholesome, not-widely-available product. I enjoy giving oldtimers a gift not many people can give: fresh milk or heavy cream. I met a precious man a few months ago. He was doing some electrical work for me. He saw my cream separator in storage and began to tell me a story.
“I remember when I was a young boy. I would sneek into the spring house and dip a cup into the jar of milk and steal the cream. My mom would be so angry with me. Oh, but there was nothing so good as that thick cream.”
Having an abundance allowed me to give this gentleman a gift of milk and cream. One thing led to another, and before I knew it we were sharing testimonies about the Lord.
I met another friend recently who shared his experience of milking 25 Jersey cows by hand. He raved about heavy cream. I took note to save back some cream and followed through with a delivery shortly thereafter. After we finished praying together, I heard him issue a request to his wife to make some gooseberry cobbler for the heavy cream.
In short, milking cows is a ministry for me. When people find out that I am milking cows with six children they can’t help but wonder how I do it. This is a perfect way to introduce my faith in God. I can’t milk cows on my own. I can only do what I do by the grace, mercy, and strength of the Lord.
Finally, a dear friend said it all when he said, “It is always good to be close to your food source. The health benefits alone make it worthwhile.” With a large family, I give this a hearty amen. My family consumes at least a gallon of milk per day. Having milk cows puts us up close and personal with our food source. The only thing closer would be to hook up my children to the cows with IV support. And believe me, as much milk as they drink, I have fully considered the option.
Udderly His,
The Kansas Milkmaid
