This weekend I worked out. OK, I worked out(side). But that counts, right?

I don’t own a fitbit. I don’t eat many fruits or vegetables. I really don’t even like to walk between my farm and my parents’ farm…and we are nextdoor – country style – neighbors. But this weekend I rediscovered every single muscle while walking more than 15,000 steps per day. Sidenote: I only know this because my smart phone knows.

Why would I do this? Because we’re having spring lambs out on beautiful, green pastures that are as tall as my waist. So here’s how the workout(side) muscle discovery goes:

My feet ache from wearing too-small, too-old rain boots.

My legs are tired from all the walking, a little running, from trudging through tall grass and uneven ground, and they ache from floating over the electric fence as carefully as possible so as not to be zapped by the current. My thighs and knees hurt from carefully supporting lambs while eartagging each one.

My arms and abs are sore from carrying lambs when it was necessary to match up moms and babies or to bring a lamb into the barn to be a bottle baby. They hurt from carrying the equivalent of a gallon of milk – all the tools we need for eartagging, banding tails and keeping good records inside of a 5-gallon bucket this season (an awkward shape to carry anyway!). They hurt from using pressure to hold down the fence with a shepherd’s crook so my sore legs could more easily cross the hot fence.

Know what feels great? Taking care of animals. Doing my job to the best of my abilities. Being trusted by my parents to handle the responsibilities of three farms while they took time away. It feels amazing to be here on the farm while juggling tasks of my usual work routine, too.

I don’t do yoga, I farm. And that’s enough for me. But if you are into fitness, I recommend adding a gallon of milk to your workout. Either in weight carried around, or drinking it as often as possible for muscle ache recovery and to increase sales for my dairy farmer friends.