This time last year...

So it turns out that this time last year we had just put the offer in on the farm, and to our surprise it was accepted. 'And so began two months of hell', Rohan commented, and sure the legal negotiations in buying this place almost made me lose the will to live, but sitting out the back as Rohan bbq's dinner and the birds flitter through the trees, the legal wrangling is a distant memory. They say time flies when you're having fun, and so it is, as I can't believe that it's a year since we decided to throw caution to the wind and buy. Looking about the farm now it seems so different than when we first looked through it. With the boxed in back verandah, carport and shedding gone, everything is so much lighter and open. The trees in the orchard are lush with foliage, the compost and water we've been feeding them soaked up by the roots. Our garden veggie boxes are blooming and every night I pick fresh lettuce and radishes for our salad. 

This week though I've been thinking, not of the past, but of the future. Rohan's herniated two discs in his back, an injury that has left him barely able to stand and walk at times. With the number one farm hand out of action, I've had to take over all the upkeep on the farm, and that's got me to thinking - if it turned out that I had to take over number one farm hand job from now on would I be able to? 

I'd read an article in the age that morning where a well known comedian celebrated the fact that as an older woman (although I'm not convinced she's 40 yet, but she was badging herself as older), she no longer worries about her body. This week I've been worrying about mine, not if it's skinny or fat, but if I've got the muscles I need to hoist a sheep over my shoulder (sure it's not highly likely that I'm going to need to do that any time soon but one never knows). I'm pocket sized in height and I'm really not sporting the kind of muscles Linda Hamilton was rocking in Terminator. 

So this weekend as spring continued to make everything bloom and grow, I was determined that I was going to be able to do all the weekend farm jobs solo, just to prove to myself that I could. And I did. I moved some fence panels, I did my usual 4 hours on the mower getting the grove into its park like condition, I spent another 3.5 hours slashing the grass and edges with the line trimmer, I dug a hole to plant a Logan berry, I moved the worm farm and did some other stuff. Sure, most of what I did this weekend was like your average back yard garden work but on steroids, but it was good to kick start me into my summer farm fit mode. We'd been talking about how winter on the farm lulls you and your body into a relaxed ease, with the rain and days of grey cloud there is little growth and the ongoing maintenance of the property drops away somewhat. Muscles slacken and you spend more time inside in front of the fire. With the advent of warmer weather and the springing to life of everything, the farm demands new attention and your body has to respond. Arm and back muscles ache at the end of the day as the muscles that were slacken begin to work again. It's a great feeling, and I'm confident that soon I'll be out in the paddock hoisting sheep just for the hell of it. 

And who would have imagined I'd be saying that this time last year?