Sarah's Life

    The family farm isn't what you might think of as heaven but to me it is. I have spent more than half my life on that farm and I would die happy right now if I could die know I'd be buried there. To me there is nothing as sweet as the smell of fresh manure, hay, and sweat. Nothing as heart warming as the one eyed dog who takes in a little orphaned kitten. If you were to ask me the greatest thing I've ever laid my eyes on it would be without any question in my mind a family laughing and joking together while putting up a fence or loading up for the week at the county fair. The family farm is a dying concept around here. Small towns are growing and slowly but surely the farmlands are disappearing.
    I have 60 rabbits, no they're not all named. I've had as many as 200 at a time before so you can imagine how much work this is but it is a labor of love. 16 goats who have as much personality as a dog and tend to mind better. 9 dogs, who despite having barked clear through the night because of the deer running through the yard or the coyotes who howled until three, I love dearly. I even bought myself a horse when I was 14. We won't count that cats, because they're too many. But there are also 6 doves in my room, 2 ferrets and a 20 gallon fish tank of guppies in the living room. I have spent more than a few nights with a baby goat or cat or rabbit in my bed with me demanding to be fed every few hours. More than once I've gone running to help a goat with its head stuck or a chicken who couldn't outrun the dog and fell sliding on my ass through the mud and muck but all the sleepless nights and irremovable stains in the world are worth it for that one moment after their all fed and watered safely put away and you can sit back and enjoy them.
    The farm is so much more to me than a 120 acres of fields and woods. So much more than a few barns and a 100 year old house. Its the place my Great Grandfather bought to support his family and later died in the barn of. Its the place my grandpa, dad and aunt grew up. Its where I had a million club houses, and where I learned to put up a fence. Its that chunk of land where the line between friends and family and pets is blurred. Its home. Where I learned to stand up even when I'm falling down. The farm is my life and love. Its hard to explain but it is heaven to me.

    I may never be able to explain what 4-H but I'm going to give it another shot.  4-H is a program designed to teach youths between the ages of 5-18 responsibility, respect, sportsmanship, and showmanship through any number of projects that the youth is interested in. I know it sounds painfully boring right? Well lets start with some of the projects I've taken and then I'll tell you about some of the people and maybe a story or two about chilling out in the barns or mishaps.
    I started out in third grade trying to run from the clutches of Girl Scouts. When a classmate and friend told me about 4-H and how she showed rabbits. My interest was peeked at the mention of rabbits. I could have a rabbit! I could show it...how do you show a rabbit? Well I quickly found out and my first year I took first in the interviews, not without a few tears though.  The next year I added a few more projects to the list but never left rabbits. Each year as my interest changed so did my projects. I've shown rabbits, goats, llamas, horses, turkeys, and chickens. I've sewn several different outfits, researched my family history, written stories, refurbished an Indiana cabinet,  and written a book on doves.  I have  collected bugs, babysat, learned leadership skills and money handling. I've even learned a bit of veterinary science. My brother rebuilt a tractor and my sister taught us all a bit about First-aid. Heck I even went to state with laundry! My siblings have gone to state with HONEY BEES and TRAPPING! Can you imagine?
    The people are amazing, while showing horses I learned a bit about politics, and when I was showing llamas I learned even more about myself and how loyal I can me to what truly matters. When you're amongst 4-Hers you're never short of help. It amazes me how dedicated some of these kids are and how far they'll go to help even their competitors. I've seen older members who clearly had more important things to be doing stop and take the time to help a newbie with his/her project animal. I've laughed with my club while building a float for the parade and wept with them as we attended the memorial service for a girl we'd always competed against who had died in a car accident. You always have a friend even if you don't want one in 4-H. You can bet your last breath that someone else has has been there and done that and will tell you the tricks of the trade. My club is my second family. My advisers are as much parents to me as my real parents and the guys are brothers that THANK GOD I don't have to live with.  When my grandpa died in February of 2007 members of my club attended the services.
    Now I promised a story didn't I? Something that makes 4-H worthy of being in my heaven....Lets see. There are sooo many stories! Hmm I KNOW!
After the rabbit show my club gathered back down at the rabbit barn, our parents outside in lawn chairs talking, planning dinner and listing things off that we'd have to, but wouldn't, remember for next year. Chris pulled out a deck of cards and we knotted together in a circle and for hours played BS and joked. It doesn't seem like that big of a moment to you guys, sure. But its one that sticks out in my mind. How about a cookout at a town garage sale when I taught Chris to coo like a dove and while we weren't busy started "gambling" on pokemon games and ended up gambling away our siblings, while they tumbled off to the side.  Again these are small moments and if you weren't there you may not understand their importance. But when you grow up with someone these little moments that stick in your memory mean something. To me 4-H is all about these little moments. Its all about getting your ass handed to you in a paper bag just to have the person who beat you come over and congratulate you, on that 7th place ribbon and offer to show you how to do better next time. Its about standing in a field while some of the guys blast off rockets and take off running to catch it and falling or launching your sister over the fence into the cornfield to find one  of the lost rockets.  Stupid and small but perfect. Really reminds you that not everyone in the world sucks ass.