39 Years And 364 Days

Well, tomorrow is the big day. I turn 40. I know, to some of you, that's not that big of a deal. It's not really. But, it's the first time that I've been this old. :)  It's also a time to look back on one's life and wonder how it's going now.  Is this how I imagined it would be at 40 when I was 20?  Did I meet my "goals" that I had set for life? In some ways I have, in some ways I haven't.

When I was in my late teens, I wanted to work with horses. (What teenage girl doesn't?) I wanted to work with race horses. (Thanks to the Black Stallion books.) I did get to work with race horses for a summer. And yes, I loved it. It's a different world. I made $10 a day. It cost me $20 a day in gas to get to the track. But, I was happy. I met some good people there. I still like to go to the race track. I don't bet. I watch the horses, I watch the grooms, I watch the trainers.  I love the action in the stables, not at the betting booths. Anyways now, I would rather have an old, slow draft horse instead of the spirited Thoroughbreds.

Growing up, I knew that I wanted to be married to a farmer. I am.  We have a nice plot of land with 55 acres. We have cows, horses, chickens, goats, and rabbits. I'm not counting the dogs and cat because I could have had them in an apartment in town.  I am a farm girl. That is one thing that I have never wavered from. I wanted to live in the country on a farm.  I was lucky to find my wonderful husband. He inherited  this farm.  We have been married, this June, for 14 yrs. This part of my life is perfect. I couldn't have asked for a better partner. (Ok, enough of the mushy stuff. Gag!)

We didn't have kids together. We are okay with that. We planned on not having kids. He has 2 from a previous marriage.  That's all the kids that I wanted. Now don't go and start giving me grief  about me not having kids. I'm more than okay with it. I was never a "baby" type person. Someone would bring a baby into the room and all the women would be, "Awwww! Look at the wittle baby!" I would be like, "Eh, it's a baby. I think it pooped."  But, if you would show me a baby goat, watch out!!!! I know for a fact that I was not suppose to have kids. Well, human kids anyway. lol.  Now, don't get me wrong, I like kids. Kids like me. I just didn't want any for myself. I'm okay with that.

A few years ago, my life turned in a direction that, looking back, was where I was meant to be. I became interested in homesteading.  I liked growing things. I loved animals. I liked "farmy" things. It was a perfect fit. It was a gradual thing. I didn't just wake up one morning and yawned and stretched and say, "I think I'll start homesteading today."  No, I started realizing what was going in our foods and thought that it would be better to grow our own food. So I did. Now, I don't grow all my food. I'm not that energetic....yet.  I want to though. It's a goal.  The more I looked into homesteading, the more I found interesting things, like spinning wool. I would love to do it more, I just keep putting it on the back burner. Oh well, I can't do it all and I'm okay with that.  I also want to make my own soap, make my own lard, and learn to smoke my own bacon and ham. Yummmmmmm......

One thing that I regret about my 40 years is gaining so much weight.(This is just after the sentence about wanting to make my own ham and bacon. LOL!!) I wish that my current self could go back and tell the 17 yr old self to not eat all that food, exercise more, and quit watching t.v. Maybe, I would have listened to myself. I sure didn't  listen to anyone else. LOL!  Now, my knees hurt, my back hurts, I have no energy and I kind of feel like I'm older than my 40 yrs.  If I keep going like I am, and don't make a change, I'll end up VERY "old" when I hit 50. I don't want that. I love my farm and I want to be able to farm it for many years to come.  I've got to keep reminding myself this. There is a reason behind this losing weight thing. lol. (Don't worry, this isn't going to turn into a weight loss blog. There are plenty of them out there.)

Now, as I look into the future, I see LOTS of exciting new things coming my way. The rabbits are here! (I didn't forget to take pictures. We just haven't had very good "light" to take pictures of them yet. The pictures are coming.) I have a few people interested in them all ready. I have people lined up wanted my fainters. And, we are growing our cattle herd back up. (Already have a line of people wanting grass fed beef too!) I can't keep eggs around the house because people are always wanting to buy them. I feel like sometimes going out to squeeze the hens just to see if I could possibly get more eggs out of them. lol.

I also am kicking around getting into writing for magazines and possibly a book. That's one of the dreams that I've had since I was young. I still have a book that I've written when I was in the 6th grade. It's about a horse, of course, but it's actually not that bad, for a 6th grader. :)

So see, life can't be that bad after 40. I say bring it on!!!!!

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, tomorrows birthday girl. I'm not above begging for presents. Hehehehehehe. :o)