What is a rock-pickin' machine? On our farm anything with two arms, two legs, and 2 hours to sweat! We continue to develop and improve our paddocks from horse pens into lush green forage pools.. This means clearing out lots and lots of fist-size rocks so the mower doesn't get too chewed up. Two wonderful, hard-working neighbor kids came to help; their willingness and cheerfulness helped make a toilsome job quite doable.
Now the weeds are mowed down. The next step is to drag the paddock and then plant grass. Oops. Before planting grass we'll have to remake the fence to keep the cows out when the newly-planted grass starts growing. Paddock 1 was planted last Fall and is looking much better. The ewes and lambs enjoyed the grass there this Spring.
What does one do with all the picked rocks? The first place they went was filling in large holes left from the old fence we removed last year. It'd be bad for a cow to fall in one and break a leg. Next, a pile got dumbed under a gate where there was a low spot. Sheep would slide under there to get into the paddocks where we didn't want them right now. It seems to be working.
And so a problem in one spot (rocks in paddocks) became a solution in another area. Isn't that how life is? God uses our problems (weaknesses) to do good things. It definately works.
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My dad use to say that rocks were the crop that he grew best. Every single summer started with picking rocks. We would walk behind the tractor pulling a makeshift ... hmm... don't know what to call it. It was the upside down hood of a pickup that was no longer needed. The tractor would pull the hood, we would pile on the rocks.
ReplyDeleteYears later, my brother David built his house on my parents' land. He had a walk out basement and garage. The retainer wall next is made up entirely of rocks. Someone commented that he must have paid a good price for all those rocks. "Paid?! We've been collecting them for years." he said. :)