When I was little, one of my favorite things to do was to go out in the pasture and clear leaves and debris from the pasture stream. Hours and hours on end, my cousin and I would be occupied there, dislodging sticks and leaves, with an occasional big log added to the mix. Oh, how we loved the spring water flow, so much water to work with!
Years later, when my own kids started exploring the farm on their own, they also gravitated toward the pasture spring and cleared away the leaves.
As I itch to get to green grass and sunshine, and I start to hear the spring birds out my window, I think of this Robert Frost poem, The Pasture. Absolutely one of my favorites.
It makes me think of my memories as a child clearing the spring, and it also reminds me how farming is about working together, alongside one another. You come too …
I always loved being the mouse in the pocket, following the farmer around, participating in what he was doing, learning.
There was always a calf being born, a bale of hay to be thrown in a feed bunk, and a pasture fence to be mended.
Well, spring is right around the corner. We endured yet another nor’easter this past week, but I am hopeful … you come too.
I share this poem with you, because it’s oh so sweet for me.
The Pasture
by Robert Frost
I’m going out to clean the pasture spring;
I’ll only stop to rake the leaves away
(And wait to watch the water clear, I may):
I sha’n’t be gone long.—You come too.
I’m going out to fetch the little calf
That’s standing by the mother. It’s so young,
It totters when she licks it with her tongue.
I sha’n’t be gone long.—You come too.
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