***Warning: This is a rather long blog entry. Read when you have time or are feeling particularly unsentimental about skipping my carefully crafted words.
Much to my surprise, not having a job, an apartment, or family in reasonable distance does not leave me as much time to blog as I expected. It’s been a good three days since I’ve prioritized it and I have to say, playing catch up is not a strength of mine, so I have devised a plan that at the end of each farm stay I will write a blog about “things you missed” but with infinitely cuter phrasing. I ask you all to hold me accountable to this, as I am likely to “forget” when the time comes to actually write it.
Nevertheless the last few days have been filled with excitement; seed planting, rejected lamb babies, electric fencing, Celtic music, pound cake, a visit to Lexington, a quasi dine-and-dash situation, a bone pile, farm pot luck, and more. So allow me to fill you in as best as my consciousness will allow.
On Wednesday I failed to report the birth of two adorable baby lambs! Jason and I were in the yard battling brambles when Rion (pronounced Ryan), Meg’s uncle who also lives on the farm, asked us come into the barn. Apparently one of the sheep gave birth to a baby and was in the process of cleaning him up. As we prepared a separate section of the barn where she could care for her baby, she inconspicuously popped out another one. Sheep are bad ass like that. This quick video was taken a few hours after they were born:
Unfortunately by Thursday we began noticing some strange behavior from the mother, ultimately determining that she had rejected one of the baby lambs. According to Meg this could happen for several reasons; separated from the lambs too early after birth (when we moved the babies into the private area, they were out of sight from Mama sheep for a few minutes), or possibly that the baby’s teeth were too sharp when feeding, thus causing her to buck anytime he attempted to feed. But after filing his teeth and even dousing the babies in some vanilla to equalize their scents hoping to confuse her into accepting them both, it was useless. For whatever reason she would not let the little lamb nurse, so this evening we moved him into the house with the intention of bottle feeding him for the next two weeks. Sounds fun, right? No.
See, apparently baby rams (male lambs) should not ever get comfortable with humans because it will make them aggressive toward humans as they get older. Therefore they become dangerous and a liability to keep. This ram will also not be very good for breeding because he will carry poor genetics (bad mothering, temperamental personality, etc). So in this situation the lamb will either be castrated to tone down its inevitable aggression and kept as a source of wool and a companion for the other breeding rams, or will be slaughtered once it is older. At four days old, the little lamb’s fate is already in question. All because the mother has rejected it. The animal world is a harsh one.
But organic farming is all about sustainability, so while the animal world sometimes has to be a tough one, the plant world can be just as confusing. Not knowing anything (I mean, ANYTHING) about farming, I am continuously amazed by the amount of time and study that must go into the planning and execution of a thriving farm. On Thursday after feeding the animals and milking the goat, we went to another neighbor’s farm to plant seeds in the greenhouse. Everything about planting requires precision from how many seeds to plant to how deep to plant them. It takes time and focus and preferably tiny hands. But when you are rewarded with fresh, homemade pound cake, I have to say it is worth the effort.
Later in the evening Matt took us to Berea College for a Celtic concert by a band called Dervish. Let me just say, on the way to this concert I had no idea what to expect but it was somewhere in the vicinity of curly-haired red-headed drunk college students singing Dropkick Murphys out of tune. So needless to say I was quite impressed when Dervish turned out to be a world-renowned band. It’s a little long, but check out this video we took!
The coolest part about the concert aside from the obvious Irishness of it all, was the fact that midway through a pair of college students went to the front of the auditorium and started jigging. By the end about 40 or so had recreated a scene straight out of Titanic. It was so awesome I almost asked Jason if he wanted to go to a “real party” (I predict only the girls will get this). There’s nothing like seeing a bunch of 20 something kids who don’t need alcohol to stop caring about how stupid they look, while incidentally not looking stupid at all. Well, maybe a few.
Friday was our first day off so we took an hour ride north to Lexington. Ladies and Gents, if you are ever in Lexington, Kentucky be sure to check out the Visitor’s Center downtown. Not only do they give you free locally made soda (holla, Ale-8-One!) but also all the information you could possibly need to plan a day in the city. After taking a walking tour of the historical downtown, we spent some time in the old Lexington Public Library which is now a literacy center where you are encouraged to take one free book to keep every time you visit, ate at a local dive “Meadowthorpe Cafe,” visited Pop’s Resale — a pretty neat used vinyl shop, and checked out the University of Kentucky Art Museum. Here are a few pictures and videos from the day:
MLK Jr. mural in Lexington Public Library
We finished off the evening with a trip to a restaurant called “Willie’s Locally Known” which was recommended to us from a visitor’s center lady who described it as a dive with great music, which is probably my greatest expectation of what heaven would be like. So we were sort of excited to go here. Now, I’m a pretty laid back patron, but to anyone in Lexington let me say I wouldn’t entirely recommend this joint. First of all the band that was supposed to start at 8 didn’t actually come on till 9. But that wouldn’t have been a problem had we not arrived at 7:10, ate our appetizer, and waited for 45 minutes to order our meal…then after an hour having to walk up to ask about it just to have them deliver us the completely wrong order, cold…then after another 20 minutes finally getting the correct meal at 9:20. “Not all experiences have to be good experiences,” I kept telling Jason, for reasons I’m not entirely sure of as it did not make me feel any less annoyed by the situation. But they did tell us they’d comp our meals which we took as an opportunity to walk out on the bill, which we did with great finesse I’m still proud of at this moment.
Though we got home late Friday night, Saturday morning we got right to work, feeding the animals before helping Matt put up a temporary electric fence. Can I reiterate how much unseen work goes into farming? Never again will I mock the life of a farmer. Not that I ever did this. So it’s better to say I will never begin mocking the life of a farmer. They’ve got to be some of the hardest working people alive.
After we finished we cleaned up and went to friends of Matt and Meg’s for a potluck. Anna and Bryce are an equally awesome couple, living on Bryce’s great great grandfather’s farm, running it organically with the help of long-term volunteers Ariel, Eli, and Steve. Ariel was a bad ass chick and as far as I know was not wearing a clam shell bra. She has been working on the farm since August and will be leaving in May to prepare for a 2 year stint with the Peace Corps in Rwanda come June. Eli has been at the farm since January after deciding 20% unemployment in Michigan was not enough to keep him around and working on a farm was better than collecting unemployment on his couch. Steve is Anna’s cousin and is also from Pennsylvania. He volunteered for several months on a farm in California but has been here for the past few months.
These people are amazing.
Each and every one of them were positive, insightful, hilarious individuals who made it easy to forget I never met them before. We had an evening filled with laughter, INCREDIBLE healthy food, fabulous conversation, and a trek around their farm.
Cows: They Need No Introduction
bone pile collected from around the farm
Jason says we should live in it…I don’t think he’s kidding
We left feeling rejuvenated about humanity, which although a lofty statement, is an equally true one. In regular life it is so easy to get discouraged about people, to be brought down by their negativity, or inactivity. It is easy to criticize and form judgment, because when everyone is doing the same thing and living the same life no one really impresses you. I think it takes letting new people into your life in order for your life to feel renewed. SO many people warned me about the bad people I could potentially run into on this trip, but no one ever thought to mention the incredible ones.
Tonight is a week since we arrived in Kentucky and I’m feeling happier and more certain of our decision to be here than ever. I’d like to reiterate my advice to anyone considering a big life change. It is important not to over think your decisions. You may just think yourself right out of living.
That’s all for now.
Peace.
Lena
this is a blog about farming 