Here we are in the later days of February. The winter season seems to be falling behind us and pops of spring are showing up. This week we wanted to talk about embracing a season of slow. Everyone seems to have seasons like this at some point in time. For farmers and agricultural professionals, their season of slow follows closely with the seasons of the year. Our slow time is also reflected by the amount of sunlight in the day. So, we work long hours in the spring, summer, and fall when the days are longer. The winter is still busy with animal work, business meetings, tax preparation, and equipment maintenance and fixing, but the decrease in hours of sunlight allows us to naturally take a break from work. Many farmers also use this time to catch up with family and friends, and some take a vacation. We also use the time to physically rest and sleep from the business of the rest of the year.
This year our dad has had to experience a somewhat forced season of slow because he had a double knee replacement surgery at the beginning of January. If anyone knows our dad, he doesn’t really enjoy prolonged seasons of slow. This surgery was inevitable for our dad and it was definitely time for him to take the leap and have it done. He chose to do a double knee replacement because both knees were in the same disrepair and he wanted the process to be one and done. The first week after his surgery was very tough and he was in a lot of pain. However, us sisters worked together to help him recover with a special shoutout to Gina and Kendra for really getting him through that tough week. Week two was better but he was still in a lot of pain from the healing process. Thankfully, day by day he is doing his therapy exercises and today his healing process is coming along great!
Even though dads healing has been going well, he still cannot be out working on the farm. This is very unusual for him because he has never really been away from the farm for more than a few days. He has had to embrace this season of slow and be confident that we can take care of the farm while he is healing. While he is still busy with his bookwork and tax preparations, dad has had to find some new in house hobbies! First he has been cracking a lot of pecans that came from the trees in our yard. This hobby reminds him a lot of our grandpa as he used to do this in the winter as well. He has also been reading and doing some puzzling. Also, for our family butchering, instead of being outside and helping with the scalding, he baked desserts! Dad has always liked to cook, but the dessert challenge was newer to him. In the last week, he has started going on small walks down the driveway! Slowing down has allowed his body to rest and heal, and we are all very thankful for his continued good healing and the doctors that helped him.
Whether it is health, time of year, off season, etc., we have found that embracing the times of slow in our life are extremely important. We cannot always be running 100 miles an hour and still be productive in our careers or daily lives. We are learning this to be true on the farm. Working all the time may check the list of tasks off our list, but if we don’t have time to rest and reflect on the year and how it went, we really aren’t making any long term progress! So to end, we challenge our community to be observant of the times of slow in their life and really embrace and enjoy them! We hope you have a great rest of February!
Love,
Olivia, Tabby, Gina, & Kendra