Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. Confucius
This is why when I am suiting up to go outside into the bitter cold on yet another day of considerable cloudiness, I don’t mind. Milking Daisy is like visiting a very large cantankerous and beloved friend. Taking the pigs for a walk is a gift because pigs say thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you all the time as they love the attention so. Lambs frolic, children laugh. Mama sniffs and nibbles at my hands making sure I am clean enough. In the middle of the night, last night, Mama and I turned as one at her gate and stared intently into the corner of the barn because we both saw something move in the shadows. A cats head peeped around and we both relaxed as one and turned back to our lambs. I have a peacock who will sit on a fence inches from my face and watch what I am doing with studied disinterest. Soon we will begin planting. This is my work.
I know things go wrong sometimes. They have and they will. I know that this summer you and I will make some hard decisions. These come every summer. I know I am on a steep learning curve because this girl from the beach is so new to farming. But aching, cracked hands and all, I love my job.
So yesterday they said there was a storm coming and there is one thing I know, if you lock the kids up in the house, without a good walk first, they will scrap and fight and misbehave.
So I opened the gates up and sent the Girl Band and the Shush Sisters out for a run.
Mia and Minty walked solemnly about (taking the air) but Meadow and Sheila leapt and sped about with great determination.
See how lucky I am! Surrounded by dancing animals!
Well, not all dancing but I know for sure that Daisy is deeply envious of the cavorting and gallivanting that she is quietly observing. 
Sheila is my treasure. On all our walks she goes everywhere twice doubling back endlessly to check that I am keeping up. Charlotte wanders off in the opposite direction as usual.
Good morning. Our school visit was a frenzied delight. The two lambs and I had mob after mob of children coming in to the classroom to see the babies once word got around the building that there were lambs to be seen. There was absolutely no time to take photos. Even if I had wanted to there were always at least one or two kids hanging at my knees and another couple attached to my arms, tucking themselves in beside me as they all crowded in to tell me stories and pat lambs and shriek with horrified delight when they peed on the floor ( yes Eha!) and ooed and smiled when they drank with such gusto from their bottles, and lay their little children’s hands on little lamby hooves and scratched their heads and nibbled at their woolly backs with their fingertips.
Children adore baby animals. And the lambs sniffed and tasted the children, the teachers, the tables and chairs. We kept the visit short so as not to exhaust the two week old lambs, and left with promises to bring in the chickens when this years crop comes in.
The storm that was causing such a stir amongst the locals has not eventuated. How we all long for a decent drop of snow. Maybe there will be something later in the day. But so far we only have a little ice on the ground.
Milking time.
Have a lovely day.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
74 responses to “So lucky that my work is what I love to do the most!”
I so loved your post today Celi. The joy you express is wonderful. Would all have the opportunity to do what they love. So much passes people by because they don’t have the courage to take that big extra step. You have done it and done it in spades. All I do is smile all the way through your words and photographs. You make my day. V.
I’m still looking for that job ….. lovely that you found yours x
Well said! You could not do this job if you didn’t love it!
A happy, bouncy, energetic, exhausting, wonderful farmy day …
hoping you are having a day like that too!! c
I have a fondness for the adage “the harder you work, the luckier you are”, and it also goes for feeling lucky, if you put the slighest bit of effort into it the rewards are huge… just like Meadow & Sheila… what hams the two of them are. I just have to think of these photos and I smile.
I love it when the animals run out into the fields dancing, you can almost hear them laugh! c
Those action shots of those happy critters of your made my day! What a wonderful life you all have on that great farm of yours.
A thoroughly happy blog! A morning delight to read here, because enthusiasm like that is definitely catching!! I bet none of the families of the kids at school got a word in edgewise yesterday dinnertime, all those wonderful tales to tell: and yours to us was so well told that the pics were not even missed 🙂 !
With the warmest human feelings afloat . . . I felt for but wondered about Mia . . . a household name yes, practicality on a small farm, I had wondered . . .
Celi – you are such a spirit. Of course the animals are given the freedom to express theirs around you! I try to imagine their thoughts…in unique concepts as in Watership Down. If I was blindfolded and put in pens of animals, I bet I could identify yours!
Oh, if only everyone cared for animals and their welfare the way you do. Vivinfrance said it for me too! Happy days!! Joy
morning joy darling girl!! c
It’s always a treat to visit your Farmy and to see dancing animals is even more of a delight. I am kind of glad you didn’t take photos of the children.. for not taking them meant that you were thoroughly and completely living in the moment, enjoying those babes with your lambies. I wonder sometimes what I miss when I’m always behind the lens. Your words described the scene perfectly enough for me:) xx
I am new to your blog and have been enjoying your posts so much. Please, could you tell me, the animals you speak so loving of, do they become food at some point? I am not asking to criticize you or attack you if that is the case. I just don’t want to fall in love with them too much….
Morning kerry .. a very good question.. the farm is designed to sustain itself and each other and the families that depend on it. we are raising food here. As a rule I do not name an animal that is destined for the freezer. That is the male lambs and the male cows. They are called either bobby or murphy. There is a natural cycle here and any animal no matter its destination is tended with the same care, and respect and thanked for his contribution. As we are so tiny sometimes an animal will have to be let go if she is not able to contribute. My big three are Daisy, Queenie and Mama. Then there are Charlotte, Sheila and Hairy MacLairy. You can fall in love with them. Meadow, and Minty are stars in the rising. It seems Mia is unable to carry lambs to term and I have to think seriously about whether I can justify the terrible misery and pain she goes through each year miscarrying .. this is one of those tough decisions i have to make this year. I hope this answers your question. We are very small and I cannot let the number of animals out flank the strength of the land. This balance is very important. Thank you for asking tho.. c
Your pictures and your words ooze with that love you speak of…..it’s downright absorbing. Makes me want to apply for a job at your place 🙂 Truly.
Your life suits you. 😀
What joy those dancing sheep and loving pig bring! Was that Hairy watching Meadow? Probably remembering his younger days. 🙂
You really need to love that work, being as hard as it is!
The school visit seems to have been a great success. I must admit I love the opportunity of cuddling the school bunnies with the excuse of handing them to granddaughter to cuddle!