The emancipation of time management

on the farm has produced new benefits this year.   We rise early.   Who'd have guessed it?   We are farmers.   Ok we rise earlier than before.

We used to start work at 7am but now we start at 6.   Outside, dressed, coffee'd up and working at 6.  In winter.   In summer we will move it forward to 5am and when it gets really hot perhaps we will consider starting at 4.   It is quite surprising how much we get done before 9 am when we head home for that second cup...   We have had visitors since we changed over who were surprised we were so totally at ease 'early in the morning' over their first cup of coffee as if we had nothing to do.  

That's just because they didn't see the moon was still shining brightly when we were up, like the morning I first discovered the piglets.   There's really nothing much that compares with the smell of the damp cold soil on a dark winter's morning, and the sweet aroma of the little fires the staff light near where they are working.   It is also surprisingly warm at that time of the day before the rays of the sun stir up the thermals and get the air moving.   The movement of cold air rather than the cold air itself is what causes one to shiver.   We are careful to choose vigorous activities to do first thing in the morning so that by the time the nip in the air comes, we have worked up inner body heat to combat the effect so all in all we are feeling the cold less this winter.  

                                                                                       

So.  We start the day early, feeding the animals and organising jobs and workers before returning to the kitchen for that prized second cup of coffee.   This happens typically between 8 and 9am and if we have someone sleeping over we make it earlier rather than later.   Starting the coffee at that time usually prompts guests to put in an appearance, delighted to find us 'rising' at the same time as they, and proud that they made it into the kitchen at just the right time.  (har!)

We can then relax, happy in the knowledge we have set all in motion that needs to be done so that  we can settle in to a good cooked breakfast with friends who 'never have the time' in the city to do it for themselves.   Laying it on thick gets new meaning.   Nice home-baked bread we buy from a home baker in Nelspruit, bacon air-fried into  perfect little crispy soldiers thanks to the brother in law who gifted the air fryer, farm-fresh organic eggs any which way you like it, and if we really feel magnanimous, flapjacks with our own berry reductions or our own organic honey, cheese, coffee, fruit and juice, and a peaceful morning passes into early afternoon without much more than happy conversation and of course the planning of the 'other meal' of the day.   People place their orders ahead of time sometimes with requests for a braai or pizza evening.  

When you sit at the table for a leasurely hour or more in the morning, satisfied that you've done a good few hours work already and everything is under control, there's only one more meal to lavish one's attention on again later in the day.   The necessity for formal breakfast, lunch and supper times  somehow evaporates along with that first rusk before sunrise or the bowl of fruit at 9.   Brunch and an early supper are the fare of the day.   At 3pm the farm labour return their tools and leave, leaving us a long afternoon in which to have our own activities.    

                                      

So we apparently don't work, yet we do. 

We can and often do choose to carry on after the staff have left, doing loader work, admin and many other necessary activities "after hours" because the time is ours to choose what to do with.   Starting so early it is not unusual for us to put in a 12 hour day ourselves.  

There is no rat race...  

                     ... just the joy of working for the satisfaction of getting things done.