I started a project earlier this year, documenting the different seasons of farm life. I’m finally catching up with the summer-my favorite season of all!

It’s been difficult to do this since the farm that I grew up on is 6 hours away, but I’ve been able to keep up at least somewhat. This project is something that is really precious to me, especially as I see that small dairy farms are becoming more and more rare, along with the rich childhood that I experienced. This place is still home to me, and every time I go back there it feels like I’m just returning to normal life 🙂 This past May Steve and I made a trip to PA for Memorial Day, just in time to help with unloading straw; and I was so glad to get some photos of this! 

One of the things that is unique about farm life is that it’s so tied to the seasons, and to the weather. The weather determines weather or not you will have a productive year as well as what you will get done that day! Each season brings it’s own work, and summer is the busiest one, and for us when we were kids, the most fun. I’ve always enjoyed the beauty of nature and I love going outside in the summer and just walking the fields and soaking it all in. Taking the cows down to the pasture after milking was always a job that I loved, because I would just sit down there and think, and look at the sunset. I never enjoyed getting up at 5:15 in the morning to milk cows, but I always loved watching the sun rise through the barn windows during milking. 

Unloading hay is usually hot and miserable, but riding on top of the loads while Dad brought them to the barn was always fun; there was the pond that we could go jump in between loads, and Dad always treated us to Dairy Queen when the job was all done and all the year’s hay was stacked in the barn. Even though I didn’t really look forward to it, I always felt like we accomplished something big when we were finished. 

The great thing about farming is the fact that the family has to work together as a unit; everyone is needed and has a part to play. Working next to my Dad every day made such an impact on my life, and those memories will stay with me forever. My siblings at home tell I’m getting more sentimental, but I’m ok with that. Life is really, really short, and I want to remember the good things in life and document them for others down the road, which is one of the reasons I started this project.

So here it is; a tiny taste of summer on the farm.

Corn Day! This is also something we could count on happening every summer, and lasting all day. When you have huge fields of cow’s corn, it’s not hard to just plant part of a field with sweet corn for the family! And it always was a family thing…I love the photo I caught of my Grandma helping us with corn, just like she always does. Work was never something she complained about. We did hundreds of ears that day, and felt accomplished 🙂

Farm kids out there, and everyone else, leave a comment and let me know how you are enjoying the project, and if you can relate in any way! Next up-Harvest. 🙂

xoxo,
Jess