Oh, no is my first thought when Keith informs me LaDonna e-mailed us to say our column is due today. Surely it can not be that time again. Oh, how the time flies. It seems like just yesterday, that we were writing our last column. As we go about our daily lives here on the farm, we're always looking for ideas and talking about what would make a funny, interesting or informative column. I'm always composing them in my head. Who has time to actually sit down and write out your thoughts? At least we don't, that is until we are under the gun to get it done. A lot of times we think we have an idea and when we start to write the article it will go in a completely different direction. Take this month for example, we thought we'd write one about turkeys. I know it seems a little early for Thanksgiving, but for us we start planning for holiday turkeys in February. As amazing as it sounds, those turkeys don't just appear in the freezer section of the grocery store, someone actually planned for them to be there.  You can not look at the calendar the first week of November and decide it is time to harvest turkeys. Our Bourbon Red turkeys take 32 weeks of growth to produce a hen that weights 6 to 8 pounds and a tom that weights 12 to 14 pounds. If you have ever had one, you would know it is well worth the time and effort.

So thinking about this column and ideas for it sent my little brain in a thousand different directions. To say that this week has been busy would be an understatement, life on the farm is always demanding. Chores can't wait. We've tried to offer the chickens the day off, but for some reason they refuse the offer. They insist on doing what comes natural, laying those delicious eggs. Now don't get us wrong, if they didn't lay those eggs, then we'd worry about what is wrong, and how we would fill the egg orders. Believe me, we've been in that situation before and it's no fun. We have an unwritten rule - no consumers, you have to be a producer, in other words if you're eating the food, you had better be producing something or doing something to earn your keep. Everything has to have a purpose.

Here at our farm, we're blessed to have someone help us with the all daily activities. For you see, Keith has a real full time job which actually provides health insurance and the necessities in life like clothes and the ever important gasoline, plus it helps fund the farm too. This week, our worker has been gone and boy have we been extra busy. I think we try to see how many activities we can plan or schedule in a 24 hour period. Someone recently told me that the world is ran by tired people. I can say a hearty amen to that!!! Personally, we sometimes feel like a hamster going round and round on that wheel, but all the while never getting anywhere. We constantly ask ourselves, “Why do we try to do so much?” I still don't have the answer to that question. I do know that we want our children and others to have the best education and learning experience, so we're heavily involved in their school. We do want our children and others to a have a strong belief in God and His teachings, so we're heavily involved with our church. We want our children to be well rounded, so we allow each child to participate in one extra curricula activity such as sports, music, or acting. We want our children to experience “country living” so we live on a real working farm. We do want to eat healthy, so we spend time cooking instead of taking the quick solution. We feel it is important to invest in others by caring and sharing love. So, we spend time cutting someone's grass, if they can't. Or we will take an elderly neighbor on their errands. We often joke we'd like to be hermits, never leaving the farm, so life would be simple. Simple yes, but I think we'd miss out on a lot of things too. A smile or hug from a child, other than your own, who sees you at school, a simple thank you for doing something for someone else. The joy you receive from being with friends; the satisfaction from doing a job well done and the pleasure of staying up late to write a column (only joking about that one).

So for now we'll keep being a hamster, going round and round, working very diligently, but instead of thinking we're getting no where. We will be thankful we have good health, a good job and the ability to be involved in not only our children's lives, but others too, hopefully, making our corner of the world a better place. By do this maybe, just maybe we are fulfilling our purpose. How about you?