Visitors to the Farm

I come from a fairly large extended family.  Many of my cousins grew up in the Barrhead area, some on farms, and some in town.  Others grew up further away.  One of my uncles raised his family in Alberta's capital city, Edmonton.  My uncle's three children seem to have enjoyed growing up in the city, but they also have an appreciation for the farm.  Those three cousins used to come visit us on the farm every once in a while.  Now that they are grown and have families of their own, they still come to the farm, usually once a year.  When they arrive, the kids pile out of minivans asking as many questions as they can.  "When do we get to ride the tractor?  Where are the cows?  Can we play with the dogs?  What is that?"  It's a bit of chaos, but it's so much fun to have my cousins and their kids over for a day!

Meeting Spike, the bull.

Yesterday was the day that my cousins were able to come out to the farm this year.  My aunt and uncle arrived first, with their youngest granddaughter, Audrey, napping in the backseat.  I wasn't quite ready for them and had to drag the over-eager dogs into their kennel before they climbed right in to the truck with everyone.  By the time I finished that, my cousin Sherisse had arrived with her two children.  Kasaya's questions started almost as soon as she was finished greeting me.  Canaan didn't get many questions in, but he did have two very nice pictures coloured for me.  We talked about the grain bins, augers, and cows until my cousin Sandy arrived with her husband, Neil, and four boys.  In case you've lost count, we now have a total of 7 children, five adult visitors, and one farmer.

The six oldest kids playing in our old squeeze chute.

Once the boys were all unloaded from the van and had put their rubber boots on, the fun began!  We started with a tour of our new cattle handling system.  The kids and "Opa" (my uncle) pretended to be the cows and I put them through the system.  Then we had to check out the whole system from the outside.  The kids were asking so many questions that I was hard put to remember the answers to all of them!  There were a few times that I had to stop and think, "what does that particular rope do?" before I could answer.  It was good practice for me to use the new system, and the kids seemed to think it was pretty cool, too.

The kids emerge from the squeeze chute.

After we had thoroughly checked out the handling system, we went for a short walk to look at some of the cows.  Then it was time for tractor rides!  The kids never wait long to ask for a tractor ride when they come to visit.  I had planned to take them for rides in the Massey, mainly because it has a cab, making it safer and warmer.  Unfortunately, the battery died in that tractor and it was blocking all of the other tractors, except for one.  So, there was nothing to do but use the old Cockshutt tractor, with the post-pounder hooked behind it.  It turned out all right, though, and we had plenty of fun with the tractor, and the lack of a cab allowed for decent pictures.  The most exciting part was giving Levi and Kasaya, the two oldest grandkids, the chance to drive the tractor "by themselves".  They are now the age I was when I first got to drive the tractor myself (with Dad working the pedals).  It was so fun to see their excitement when I told them they could drive it themselves (basically, I let them steer without my hands on the wheel).  Levi did an amazing job!  Kasaya almost hit a hay bale, but other than that she did a great job, too!  The rest of the kids got to help me steer, or just rode along, depending on their age.

Valerie and the kids with the old Cockshutt tractor.  Can you see all 7 of the kids?

The next activity of the day was feeding the cows.  I had originally planned to have the kids help me feed grain to the feeders.  Shortly after I made those plans, it began to rain - a lot.  The entire farm was very wet and muddy this weekend and poor Daniel got stuck just waiting for a tractor ride!  Due to the heavy mud in the corrals, I had already fed the grain to the feeders in the morning, but I knew that two groups of cattle needed their minerals topped up.  Each child got a bucket and poured their minerals into the appropriate tubs, then asked what else they could feed.  They really enjoyed getting to do simple chores.  Maybe I should keep them around...

Feeding minerals with the kids.

I didn't have any more to officially show the kids this year, and I had no field work for the men, so we returned to the yard so the kids could play with some old toys I had dug up, and with the dogs, which were finally allowed to come out of their kennel.  The dogs loved the kids!  By the end of the day, almost all of the kids had warmed up to the exuberant dogs, too.  Only Andrew was still rather hesitant, probably because the dogs kept running past him while playing fetch with Jayden.  I'm surprised they never ran right over him!

Bandit loved the kids!

I had so much fun showing the kids the farm and spending time with my cousins, aunt, and uncle!  I'm looking forward to the next time they all come for a visit to the farm!

Photo credits to Sandy Rysavy.