First Blood

Every day I pray for protection for ourselves, our things, our animals. This morning when I prayed, I wondered if I was treating that prayer like a mantra, something I just prayed every day. I hoped not.

As Phil was constructing a pig pen, he was using a post driver to ram a T-post (a long metal post) into the ground. He’s done this before, and it’s not particularly difficult: you lift a hollow metal cylinder up and ram it down until the T-post is in the ground deep enough to satisfy.

At one point, though, as he rammed down with all his strength, the cylinder caught on the edge of the post and hit him in the head. He called for me, and then screamed in a panic: his hands were covered in blood (and Phil doesn’t do blood at all). I hurriedly put on shoes, set down the baby, grabbed a few little towels, and got outside to find my husband crumpled on the ground.

Thankfully, we believe he is all right. The bleeding stopped fairly soon because of the compression. However, we think he also had a concussion, as he was woozy for the rest of the day. And with brain injuries, they don’t always show up right away (thinking of our friend Stan, who hit his head, and then needed double brain surgery a few weeks later, as he had had a slow something-bad happen, like blood oozing on the brain, all that time).

This is not a part of farming I was ready for, experientially. On some level, I knew such a thing could happen, but to be there—it’s not so fun.

Phil called about the electrical inspection. This time, they told him he needed to pick up a part for his pole. So we drove to Lovingston, about 45 minutes south, to get a part. Then home again. (I went too because he was a little shaky.) Then Phil drove to Scottsville, to the hardware store, about 20 minutes east. They didn’t have all the pieces he needed, so he drove up to Charlottesville, to get the rest of the pieces needed. That was a LOT of driving. Too much driving to go get the pigs. Still no pigs!

I have heard that it is easy to make a small fortune in farming. Just start with a large fortune! Ha. It is amazing, though, how many things are needed: hoof shears, a hanging scale for lambs, various medications in case an animal gets sick, and on and on it goes.

I have decided to take to heart the “cast all your cares upon Him for He cares for you” verse. I realized I have spent the better part of a year worrying about the house not selling, worrying about when to move, and what to do. But that’s not been very productive for me, or helpful. So I’m done with that, I hope, and am working on just reminding God (“casting my cares”) when a scared or upset or worrying thought crosses my mind.