The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
We are officially empty-nesters. Austin has flown the coop and joined his brother and sister down at the “U”. What a change for everyone but most of all for us. We have had to convert back to B.C. time but it is not as much fun as I remember. When we started farming, Before Children, we could go all day and still have fun at night. Now our work force has been cut back to the bare bones, or should I say the “old bones” and my, how times have changed. We still work all day but with much less pep and fun at night is falling asleep in the recliner before the early news reaches the weather break.
We are slowly starting to adjust to life without having Austin around. For the last two years we have come to depend upon him to help with chores and everything else in between. He and Mark were always together working on projects, fixing equipment or riding around on the 4-wheeler checking out the crops. He has been such a big part of our work force. I can’t believe how different the barn and yard feel without him around. I keep looking at the front door of the barn every morning watching for him to come out and help with chores. I now know how Davey Crockett felt at the Alamo waiting for the cavalry to come to the rescue and finally realizing no one is coming. I’m starting to accept the fact Austin is gone to college and won’t be back until he has a free weekend. I don’t mind doing the extra chores but the extra hands sure made things go much quicker. Someone asked me if I was working harder now that all the kids were gone. I thought for a moment. I’m not working harder, just longer!
A very dear friend told me when her youngest left for college, what she noticed most was all of the steps she had to take. Before she could ask Jill to grab a tool from the shed or carry a bale of straw to the domes. Now she had to take all of those steps for herself. My feet can definitely attest to the extra steps I’ve had to take around the farm without Austin around.
The change I’m dreading the most is the quiet barn. I can take a quiet house. I’ll just crank up the tunes on the radio to keep me company. But it was in the barn where we joked about school and sports with the kids. It is where we worked on math skills using milk production problems. The barn is where Katie and Austin learned to spell all of the cow’s names. Jonathon would hide behind the feed cart reading the latest Harry Potter book. We even celebrated Michael’s birthday in the back of the barn one year. Barn time was family time for us.
I remember when we had four little kids under the age of 5. Life was chaotic. We were running of fumes between farming and raising our young family. Several older parents told us to enjoy these days, for they go by much too quickly. We couldn’t comprehend how time could move that fast. We were having a hard time keeping track of what day of the week it was. In the end they were so right. It seems we just blinked and the kids were grown up and we were back to life without children in the house.
The fact we are a house of two is very obvious. Supper is sometimes scrambled eggs or even just a bowl of ice cream. Once the living room is picked up, it stays picked up. We don’t have to worry about tripping over toys or extra large shoes left in front of the door as we head out for a midnight calving check half asleep. Now I can only blame myself for not finding things I have put away in a spot I wouldn’t forget. I wish I could remember those great spots!
As he left for college, Austin made sure to let us know he still needs us. He left behind several jobs to finish up for him. Mark took down his “Sweet Corn for Sale” sign at the end of the driveway. I put the show halters and supplies away in the show box for another season. He also left a very large laundry pile. Austin only had a two day lay over at home between State Fair and Orientation Week at school. He really didn’t have time to focus on cleaning up behind himself as he unpacked from livestock encampment to repacking for life in Bailey Hall. In a way, I’m kind of glad he left behind projects to wrap up for him. It gave me some time to think as this chapter in our lives slowly comes to close.
We aren’t the only ones adjusting to a new life. Austin and at least four of his college friends are going through farming withdrawals as they adjust to a college schedule. They are all the youngest in their families. They all lived their lives between milking schedules doing sports, FFA and 4-H. They were their parent’s right hand man (or lady). Now they have all of this free time at college. The first week they were restless. They didn’t know what to do after 4 pm. It was chore time, but there were no chores. Now they have apparently discovered Gopher football weekends. So much for missing home and the barn! The only time they’re coming home is when the Gophers are on the road!
As the kids adjust to new time commitments, I think we’re going to have to make some new time adjustments as well. We are going to have to learn to make time to get together with friends and neighbors for something besides swapping out parts for emergency repairs or a big country wave as we pass each other on the field roads. I guess it is back to B.C. time for us once again. Only this time I don’t think we’ll be able to stay out quite as late as we use too. Discovered as we get older, we need just a wee bit more sleep to recharge for the next day of chores.
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As their four children pursue dairy careers off the family farm, Natalie and Mark are starting a new adventure of milking registered Holsteins just because they like good cows on their farm north of Rice, Minnesota.
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