Last week, I mentioned that my sister came down to the farm for barn cleaning day. I warned her ahead of time that this specific thing was what was on the schedule for that certain day and she said something to the effect of, “I’ll be there come rain or shine!” Apparently, she was kinda’ excited about it.

This particular day is one in which we scrub the milk parlor of the milk barn from top to bottom. In order to get the barn clean, we have to get really dirty. It’s part of the exchange.

Exhibit A:

You end up covered in manure from head to toe. It just comes with the job and Bailey and I took this job very seriously.

This is a job I don’t necessarily hate doing around the farm because 1) I’m good at cleaning  2) you can see where you’ve made progress and  3) sometimes I enjoy getting incredibly filthy. Sometimes.  The disheartening part is that the milk cows couldn’t really care less how clean the barn is. I think they conspire to totally trash it every time they come in it. This is why we try our best to get them in and out of there as quick as we can.

The farmer says this is the job we need to save for the people we don’t especially want to come back and visit us.

But, my silly sister quite enjoyed herself! She likes the farmin’ life. And let me tell ya, she’s a worker bee. I was glad she came, so we could use and abuse her. The farmer bought her a mocha frappucino down at the country store for her time.

My shirt was pure coincidence, but how fitting! (I went to Kickapoo High School if you’re wondering why in the world I would have a shirt like that in my possession.) This picture was taken when we were midway through the cleaning process and in no way illustrates the degree of filth we were covered in by the time we were done. Bailey didn’t bring an extra change of clothes, so I had to strap her to the top of the car on the way home. She told me it was exhilarating.

This isn’t all we did that day, so stay tuned for more pictures of the dairy barn and Bailey helping the farmer milk!

I now know how truly refreshing a shower can be,

The Dairymaid