Yesterday John had the day off so he finished and brought home my Winter present. He does not do Christmas and Birthday presents he makes winter presents. Last year it was a chicken tractor. This year it is a free standing home made hay feeder. I took a photo of a NZ one when I was travelling and he set to and made me one of my own. Isn’t that wonderful. 
The idea is that the cow puts her head through the uprights to get the hay and remains in there to chew it so all the falling and trailing hay goes back in the pile. There is limited sideways jostling so the cows get to eat in peace. It works remarkably well. Now when Aunty Del comes back she will not be bullied out of her dinner. Elsie is king of the castle at meal times!
The car feeder is now for minerals and grain. 
It is getting a wee bit colder so the chicks got their heating mother table back. They say it does not work in low temperatures but it is ambient heat so if a chicks back is against it the warmth will be there. It does not heat a space it heats the chick. I actually don’t think they need it but you know how I am. And as I will be away Friday and Saturday nights when it is getting even colder I am setting everyone back up for cold. It feels like a step backwards. but I need everything to be in order while I am away. Once the cogs are all balanced the farm runs along in a gentle productive state.
This was the thought I had lost the other day. Balance. Thank you to MeadowMice for using this word in her comment yesterday and jogging my memory. When I put on my clown suit otherwise known as bib overalls in some places- (I am still wearing the insulated ones – it snowed yesterday and the temperatures are plummeting but we will not DWELL) – anyway when I put on my clownsuit over my inside clothes I stand and push my feet into the overalls one leg at a time. I place one foot through settle that foot onto the floor, sliding the trouser slightly up my leg, shake out the other trouser and then lift the remaining foot, pause, steady my balance, pause, then slide the second foot into the other trouser leg, stand with two feet on the floor and pull the overalls all the way up my body.
Now you may think that this is such a simple thing. I mean we all put our trousers on one leg at a time: you do this too right? We all stand, step into the one leg, stretch that leg, place the foot down then put the other leg in, all the while balancing on the first foot then through the second foot goes, foot down, two feet down and there we are – safely dressed.
But it is that PAUSE I keep looking at. When one leg is partially clothed and one foot is on the ground and as we lift the second leg, our foot leaving the floor we pause for a tiny second, collecting and stilling our balance so that the next step goes smoothly. It is a moment of pause when we re-balance ourselves in preparation for the next movement. That is what I am looking thinking about.
This pause I call the Pants Pause. This is one of the most important pauses. This is when we make sure we are balanced, in order and ready for the next step. Our mind checking for this balance before proceeding. If we do not do the Pants Pause we fall over. Simple really.
I think we need to instill the Pants Pause in our daily lives. As a conscious thing. Moments of clear thought before we take on the next task. Checking. Nodding. Proceeding.
I have a bad habit of rushing through my day (and my planning) without pausing to think, balanced on one leg. I am hopping here and there. not finishing things, doing three things at the same time, thinking of the next three things as I go. Not watching. Not collating. No Pants Pause. No balance.
That was my thought. Balance. I am going to change the habit of rushing and instill moments of perfect balance.
If we achieve balance in our lives we have to be stronger. The balance between stress and down time. Working and resting. Communicating and Thinking. Building our team and feeding the team. Planning and Planting.
Balance. That was my thought.
The milking machine is ready to go. The pump has been cleaned and oiled and primed or whatever it is you do with pumps (without John on my team I could not do this stuff at all – I am deeply mechanically challenged) – the parts arrived and the entire Works has been assembled. We are ready. No births are imminent thankfully so my weekend away should be ok. 
I am dying to begin milking. I love that time. And I love cream! Oh how I miss cream!
Below is an odd little picture I took for Jake with my cell phone. (Good Lord I have gone from Low tech to Mid tech – I can take a photo and send it.. the mind boggles)
One of the pullets has begun to lay. We both started our Rhode Island Red flocks at the same time and his have been laying for weeks. Mine are only just catching up. He has lights though. But once all my Rhode Islands, and the pretty baby flock I brought in from the barn, start to lay (combined with my old girls who never stopped), we will be racing ahead!
I hope you all have a lovely day.
Is it time to get nervous about Portland?
Your friend on the farm
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
64 responses to “Balance”
Interesting, I always sat down, shook out the pants and slid both legs in at the same time. No reason to hop about, try to stay on one foot (pretty much impossible here with the dogs around my feet), getting the boots on too is done seated, then when I stand up we all three are out the door and down the stairs. Balance is important though and pausing. I never was very good at the so much touted “multitasking” always did one thing at a time, tried to do it well then moved on to the next. Got told that I should do many things at once and it took so long nothing at all got done. I always finished everything that was necessary each day and usually had time to either start the work for the next day or leave early. Have a wonderful time in Portland. Maybe someone should start producing those hay feeders and selling them – I’d think they’d be very popular on small farms and homesteads.
There you are then! You are way ahead when it comes to Balance.. c
What a lovely post – really made me pasue and think about getting some much needed balance back into my life. Love your winter gift – what a great idea!
OK, now I see. I’m reading your posts backwards today. Ha Pants Pause…I like that. I need that in my life too. My husband met a doctor at work this week that had such a presence about her. Completely peaceful, calm, and she’s brilliant. MIT, medical school, yada yada. She said she doesn’t think about anything that doesn’t concern her. If she absolutely has to, she thinks about it, acts on it, and then as soon as possible, purges it all from her mind…leaving her mind open and calm for the things she has to deal with on a daily basis. Oh to be like her! I told Tony to ask her if she’d come to our house to give us personal lessons on how exactly to accomplish that kind of peace. HA!