One of "Those"

Ever have one of those days (weeks, months) when it seems like no matter what you do, it isn’t enough?

This weekend, for example.  Paul and I were busy the entire weekend (well, maybe a hot-afternoon-nap somewhere in there) and I really don’t know what we accomplished.  I mean it was all like piddly stuff.  Stuff that needed to be done, but gave no outward appearance that anything had actually been done. 

Garden watered.  Weeds pulled (some of them).  Goats / Chickens / Mule / Horse / Dogs / Cats / Humans watered, fed, milked & eggs collected (where appropriate).  Laundry washed & hung to dry. Rugs hosed off and dried.  Front deck washed.  Bread made.  Floors swept.  Dishes washed (about a million times).  And more than a dozen man-like-chores (that I don’t comprehend nor want to) that Paul did in the garage, on the car, on the dozer & tractor. 

And I still need to cut the lawn.  And do another load of laundry, and sweep the floors again…

Then to make things worse, I still can’t shake the crummy mood I got after talking to the Extension Agent this morning.  I had taken in a soil sample last week and the guy called me this morning asking what we wanted to accomplish with the area so he could give us some ideas.  I told him that we’d like to have pasture to support (at least during the spring & summer) our small herd of dairy goats, the mule and a mini-horse.  His answer to just about everything was “Roundup the entire area & plant your Bermuda or MaxQ Fescue.”  I mentioned that we didn’t want to use mass amounts of Roundup (or other herbicides) in the pasture where our milk and meat grazed and he reassured me that he was 100% positive that Roundup was safe.  I made mention that there were actually other studies (not funded my Monsanto) that suggested otherwise.  I think it’s at that point where I lost him. 

I couldn’t get another word in that I think he absorbed.  I understand that he is used to having people come to him wanting to get the most out of their pasture with the least amount of effort and money, but it seems that he didn’t even want to think about other non-chemical options.  And I know that this is cattle country and not goat country, but you’d think that someone with an Agricultural background (or is it just book-educated?) would be able to give additional options that didn’t require the frequent addition of harmful chemicals to the land.

I guess we’re just weird that we don’t want to contaminate our land with poisons.  That we don’t want our family ingesting milk, meat and eggs that come from animals grazing on that poisoned land.  Sigh....

But right now, I just feel like sitting indoors all day, popping Sponge Bob in the DVD player, making a bowl of popcorn and zoning out with Rhiannon on the couch.

Hopefully I’ll be back in the Farm-Zone tomorrow.