An Eastern Oklahoma Transplant

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And what a sweet Shangri-La our new home has turned out to be! Soon spring will bring the pastures and trees to the light, delicious shade of green that's like no other color in the world. Soon, too, the blooms of dogwood and wild violets will cover the north slope of "our mountain", and the saplings of our new orchard will burst into flower.

WET AND DRY SPRINGS

We grin and shake our heads when we remember that the same fruit trees had to be watered by a regular bucket brigade between the pond and the orchard during last summer's severe drought. (Children and buckets are very handy things to have around a farm.) Since then, however, we've laid some pipe from our "never dry" spring to the garden area. (The private water supply puts out about 3,000 gallons of cool, clear H 2 O every day, is gravity-fed to the house and garden, and wasn't even listed on the property appraisal!)

Our financial "spring", by contrast, had gotten pretty low by the time we'd completed our move and bought the equipment necessary to begin farming. Since industrial engineers aren't exactly in great demand around here, while nurses are, I spent my first year of country life being the principal breadwinner, while Karl tried his hand at farming. That arrangement didn't work at all, however, so now we both have part-time jobs . . . a system that balances the budget as well as both of our egos!

(Here's a tip, too, for those of you out there in MOTHERIand who may be Registered or Licensed Practical Nurses: If you live anywhere near a hospital—even a small one—country job opportunities will most likely be plentiful. Such establishments are often short of licensed personnel and will gladly let you work full time, part time . . . or anytime! Rural nurses' salaries are usually less than those available in large urban complexes, but are still quite adequate . . . and nursing is a quick and wonderful way to get to know the lo cal people.)

I work two or three days a week at the hospital, which leaves me plenty of time to do my share of the chores around home, and even allows me opportunities just to sit and enjoy myself! Right now, for instance, instead of being bombarded with the traffic and jet noises of two years ago, I'm listening to one of our chickens telling me of her latest success in the egg-laying department.

ANIMAL ADVENTURES

We have 40 red hens that supply all our egg needs (and provide us with a welcome income from the sale of the surplus), while their male counterparts keep our freezer well stocked. Of course, we've saved some meat storage room for our second pig: The animal just went to the butcher, and we're hungrily waiting for it to come home in edible portions!

We also get about a gallon of milk a day from "Big Mama", while her heifer calf continues to take a share. Although our cow isn't a proper dairy breed (she's mostly Charolais), we still get more than enough milk for our family of six, and she cost us a lot less than we would have had to pay for a Jersey or a Holstein. (We'd like to breed Mama to Jersey stock, though, so a dairyman friend who is qualified to perform artificial insemination has agreed to help us out .. . in exchange for some of my homemade whole wheat bread in weekly installments.)

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