My Abominable Snowman

While I was snug in our house, appreciative that the woodstove was able to maintain a 50-60 degree difference between the outside and inside temps, and I only had to run out once in a while with the kids to get more wood, my dear husband of course went out to milk and finish evening chores, so he could sleep a few hours before getting back up to do morning chores, prior to beginning his real day :-)

Lucky for us he’s crazy enough to have chosen this life, as I realize we probably use an abnormal amount of milk alone, for daily drinking and baking, or making other staples such as yogurt, cheese and butter. And what between the flour, meats, eggs, and produce, a doctor once looked oddly at me and said, “You do realize you eat like kings?”

And that was what ran thru my head as he came back into the mudroom in a rush, resembling an abominable snowman, with the most darling ice crystals formed in thick, intricate patterns along his eyebrows and eyelashes, as that little strip of his eyes was the only part of his person not completely covered and unrecognizable.

We disagree so seldom, yet I’m sure had I been able to see more of his face that he didn’t quite appreciate how wonderfully adorable he looked to me at that moment. How can your hot chocolate NOT taste better when you know what kind of work you, a loved one, or a neighborhood farmer put into producing it for you?

Ah the noble farming profession – that’s sometimes easy to question when it’s below zero with a vicious wind chill, and you must go out multiple times a day, whether to care for your livestock, repair damage to shelters and buildings, or protect with an extra layer of plastic the seedlings and young plants in your greenhouse that your customers are expectantly awaiting.

Keeping animals fed, watered, and as comfortable as possible, taking a heater to the milker so it doesn’t freeze up, gathering the eggs more often than normal so they don’t freeze and crack… there are weather disadvantages to farming all throughout the year, but a fun winter such as this may take the cake – and here we prayed for the ground to freeze so we could have a respite from the mud and haul manure! There are only so many layers one can dress in!! What a give and take ;-)

How many of our neighbors have committed themselves to the same? And how fortunate are we to be surrounded by folks with that crazy farming addiction who are wanting and willing to produce our food?

We all probably know people who, like my former middle and high school students in Huber and Dayton, had no idea the cellophane-wrapped ground hamburger packaged in the grocery store actually came from a bovine creature. And one particularly darling, unforgettable 8th grader, upon learning such an astounding fact, declared, “But that’s how I know I’m smarter than you, Mrs. Ruff! You’re a farmer – you’re no better than the hunters and gatherers. I know I can just go to Kroger!” At that moment I promised myself my own future children would never suffer from such a disconnect.

I think of one of our newer customers who came by the farm last week, and as he was leaving with his goods, stopped to thank us, that "During Christmas Day dinner I told my wife, ‘Can you believe Lee is probably doing chores right now?’ I never thought about my food before.” Or at our little sorghum-making demonstration on our farm, hearing one of our long-time CSA customers tell a group of ladies, “I know it’s great – it’s MY farm!”

Having a relationship with your customers is such a big part of the “fun”. Yes we’d do it for ourselves – but being able to share what we love and value with others, and having them understand and appreciate what goes into the food we offer them, makes this life so much sweeter.

That’s what I couldn’t help thinking when I helped my husband into our cozy house,
frozen stiff – and happy.