THANK GOD I EVEN SURVIVED AT ALL

Friday's "Thank Goodness I'm Farming" post is here! This is because yesterday, when I otherwise would have been posting it only one day late, I was instead flat on my back crying in pain like an orphaned, infant rabbit.

baby rabbit, empathizing

I've been getting my yoga on pretty regularly this week, and Friday I did my practice as usual before work. I felt pretty super about myself, thinking: This yoga practice is energizing and refreshing. Tonight I will be as energetic as Abe. And so fit! Then I left for work, which on the weekends is waiting tables at a  a farm-to-fork restaurant. The use of both arms is encouraged, as is lots-o-energy. That became a problem when my shoulder started throbbing in the car. It continued to ache all evening, with sharper pains brought on by deep breaths, laughing, sneezing, lifting, and turning (and by the way, Yoga, thanks for all the help with that deep breathing. That turned out to be extra excruciating. A plague on your asana, Yoga). It was a weird kind of deep pain that I hadn't experienced before, so when I got home I decided it would be a good idea to put a heating pad on it.

That also turned out to be extra excruciating, because obviously I have no idea how to treat traumatic injuries. The next morning I woke up with such stabbing pains that I couldn't stand without Abe's help, so I just lay in bed crying. Then I discovered this new amazing resource called "the internet," and found out that you should only use heat on chronic injuries, and should use ice for the acute ones. After a few rounds of icing (note: unfortunately not the same as frosting), OTC pain-relievers, and a good night's sleep, I'm feeling much better now.

And I am thankful that I even survived at all, and that I will now know what to do for Abe in an emergency situation, like if he gets run over by a tractor, falls off a grain silo, or suffers attack by a rabid chicken (farm hazards). I will STEP AWAY! and then call our neighbor, who is an EMT.

Oh yeah, and farming.  We'll talk about that next time.

T.G.I.F. - the FOOD

This morning Abe told me he's glad for our starter farm because of its impact on what he eats.  We do get spoiled by the persimmon muffins in the winter, baby lettuce in the spring, tomatoes and muscadine grapes in the summer, fig jam and fresh eggs all year round.

It tastes so much better than what you'd buy at the store, or even the Farmer's Market.  I like to think the difference is what satisfaction tastes like, because there's a healthy pride in enjoying things homemade and homegrown.  Abe loves the eggs and proteins that he raises himself, but my favorites are the vegetables we grow.

Franc (the uneasy "farm" cat) longs for the delicious union of those proteins and vegetables, and brings you your daily rabbit:  bunny stew.