The job I came here to do

I finally feel like I'm doing the job I came here to do. Whether it's an East Coast self-involved mindset or what, while Dale was gone the unilateral reaction to my presence was "Who are YOU? You aren't Dale!! Oh Nooooo!" There wasn't any "glad you're here, thanks for trying and just being you" sensation. I've asked for the responsibility and now I feel valued for being me - "Dale sent me to you" from other people when it's a situation I am wholly capable of addressing. I also feel "heard" when talking about certain animal health conditions and treatment options. This will be short because I have to go brush out the donkey, Chester, so he can go on his Palm Sunday promenade -- the fellow with the horse trailer is coming at 7ish. Someone else is coming to borrow some baby goats. Someone else is coming to buy one of our rabbits . . . uh . . . THEN morning chores and some visiting school groups.

The conference in North Grafton on organic pasture management/rotational grazing/ organic dairying requires a long blog dissertation on what I'm learning about food production in general. Where before I thought coming home from the grocery store with an "organic product" was "gravy" but not a priority . . . it is now an imperative for me. I will wait to couch my argument. Being an informed purchaser of foodstuffs is the EASIEST WAY TO CHANGE THE WORLD. And could possibly be better for the ol'body.

I came back from the conference in time to move all the ewe sheep from their different areas on the farm into one pen down the hill so we can begin graining them in anticipation of lambing. Ever seen a border collie in action? Oh beauty and wonder!

For the "women's lambing weekends" that start in mid-April, one of my male roommates remarked "two solid weeks of WOMEN"--rolling his eyes with the anticipated anthropomorphism that goes on in the way women relate to lambing sheep. I made a comment about a "gigolo"-- a word which Tony hadn't learned in his two years in the States. He was aghast that "women pay for such things?" It was terribly funny . . . he told us a bit about the man "hyena" is his country -- the fellow who steps in if the husband is infertile.

Anyway . . . off to brush and halter Chester.

Are ewe as tired as I am ?

Gonna go to bed here in a few moments. I have to get out to chores early to haul hay and then leave at 845am to go to a NOFA conference (Northeast Organic Farmers') in North Grafton that lasts most of the day. Friday we are going to get all our ewes in one place so we can start giving them a boost of grain with their hay in anticipation of lambing . We have some "fiber sheep" in the North American part of global village, some in stalls behind the hay barn, some out with the cattle. As far as who is expecting . . . the answer turns out to be "whoever got lucky." They all got to visit with the ram, but we don't have much more record than that. Oh well. I like surprises. Now we just need to trim em' up in the important places--yikes! :)

Sunshine,tractor driving and being heard

I learned to drive a tractor today. I'm no expert yet, but I got to move two loads of wood chips into the paddock where the sheep, cows, and water buffalo are slowly being sucked under by mud that would make the rainy season in Uganda seem modest. I also had a good meeting with Dale and the other livestock volunteer where I was frustrated enough to stand up for myself . . .fully express myself . . .however you want to say it. I said something to the effect of "I came here prepared to be the interim livestock coordinator and I have the maturity and intelligence to do that so BRING IT ON." I've heard from quite a few people "don't you feel better now that Dale's back?" and the truth is -- no, I haven't at all. I've felt useless and hog-tied . . .just like I felt while he was gone. I haven't been worried about anything other than not being able to use my talents and resourcefullness, my ability to organize and communicate, AND my ability to say "I don't know" when I really don't. I NEED responsibility. I would rather have people get mad at me for things I did than suffer for things I was afraid to say or do. Guess those are the apposing forces in my psyche.
And spring is here. Finally, we can see what was under the snow!
And I spent time with the animals today, just looking at them, watching them, learning about normal behaviors and . . . oh yeah, and how it feels to be knocked down and run over by a camel . . . thank goodness their feet are soft.

A box of joy and sweet success

Monday afternoon, when I needed a hug most, the very best "birthday box" a girl could ever get arrived for me. I opened it -- albeit it was about a week early. My eyes started to water when I saw everyone who'd contributed! Truly, I am blessed. Thank you doesn't quite seem enough.

It took all day, involved three employees, three volunteers, two Internet service providers and a whole can of "canned air" but I now have a working computer terminal at the house I'm living in. The keys feel wonderful under my fingertips and some sense of "normal" has just been restored to my days. My mac computer is still alive. Unfortunately, the power cord will need to be replaced (I've tripped over it while it's been plugged into the wall one too many times!) . . .and . . . without a way to recharge the laptop's battery, everything else is null and void. I couldn't get Internet here at the house with it, anyway. My current connection is dial-up so no big files, please!

My days off were OK. I got lots of sleep and ate a lot of good food. I visited a cat/dog animal rescue shelter and snuggled the kitties. I drove into Worcester only far enough to find a wonderful Kosher grocery store with seriously good gefilte fish and kosher marshmallows from Israel. Super-yummy!

Back to work today . . .

gefilteformatting removed by Karl - as in "you have a little gefilteformat on your blog there..."

Speaking of the Mysterious and Unpredictable

. . . I was reading the book "Cowboy Memories", a compilation of tales from the transport ships and planes with which Hiefer used to send animals directly from the U.S., and came across the story of some young men delivering 21 heifers to Japan. The cows were bred before they left the States and two gave birth on board. At their arrival in the Japanese port the authorities were so grateful to the cowboys that they radioed out they were going to give the boat a 21-gun salute. The cowboys immediately radioed back that they had nineteen pregnant cows on board and that any cannon fire would be a very bad idea!

Presumptuous questions can be good . . .

Yesterday's public pancake breakfast here brought out hundreds of people. While brilliantly sunny, it was still a bit cool -- certainly mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful. I was staked out at "the hoop barn," the temporary shelter that the goats and kids have been in since the main barn burnt. The crowds came in waves (I have no idea how they were seating people inside, all I heard was some radio blips about parking machinations) and were often several bodies deep at the perimeter of the goat pen. Kids stood up on the milking stanchions, rode on Dad's shoulders, babes-in-arms and front riding slings (whatever you call those doo-hickey's) pointed. I remember a little girl who nearly exploded when she found a chicken egg we missed gathering this morning. "MOMMEEEE AN EGGG!!!!! AN EGG!!! CAN I TOUCH IT???"

A young woman was doing interviews for her church group. At dinner yesterday evening, one of the questions she'd posed to other residential volunteers at different places around the farm was shared and reviewed. HPI has a Christian founder, but currently operates as non-denominational, choosing to honor that all human beings answer a need for spirituality differently. I'm sure I'm paraphrasing, but the question was "How has working with livestock deepened/broadened your relationship with God and strengthened your faith?"

Those who "suffered" this question felt challenged by it. I've been walking around since I heard it, bolstered and certain and amazed that it is so true.

I have faith in God because of the inerrant mystery of these animals. To count red blood cells, find a hookworm ova glowing with an embryonated center, to understand how a ruminant can live off of dried grass hay and give us rich milk . . .to understand it all and still be surprised by death and birth . . .to understand that we are only seeing tiny corners of the inner lives of these animals (and not just farm animals), to be made small by their differentness from us, this is re-establishment of "proof" for me.

Don't get me wrong . . . I'm a Darwinian Evolutionist to the core! . . .but several layers above what biology is doing, I truly beleive, is something we can't touch, something complex enough that it will not allow itself to be mapped.

When we chose to euthanize that goat the other day, I imagined her in "my garden." I've conceptualized "my heaven" as a garden place where all the animals I've ever euthanized are well and strong and doing their animal things and I get to wander, watch and pet. I realized, by this reasoning, I can now have a glass of goats milk while I visit there.

Saturday/computer stuff

I don't have Internet access at the place where I'm living, and I usually come to let Dale's dog out of the learning center around 7 am. Unfortunately, this computer doesn't allow me to log into my blog SO I, again, rely on the "Special K man" to fix the formatting when I send a post from this e-mail account. The computers above the red barn allow my to log into my blog, but my computer's wireless onless works in the OTHER volunteer house on the other side of the farm --which explains why there haven't been more photos . . . the software is on my computer, my computer only gets wireless access in someone else's house. Ah, life.

The weather has the promise of a spring that will stay. Most of the snow (and especially wheelbarrow impediments!) has melted. I almost let the the whole paddock of cows and sheep out yesterday when I tried to close the gate behind me and found my boot suction-stuck in the mud -- like the LaBrea(sp?) tar pits . . . they'd find me with hoof marks on my forehead. I only had to let the two cows out for their morning grain, but the rest of the herd is wise to the covert grain-operation :)

One of my housemates will be generously allowing me to take his car into Worcester for the Monday and Tuesday this week that I have off. I'm also trying to get in touch with a recommended local goat dairy to take a look at a real "production" farm and to get an eye for healthy goats that are stressed by poor housing, etc. Thursday -- if plans don't evolve again, I was asked to register to go to the "Northeast Organic Farmer's Associaton--NOFA" talk on rotational grazing."

I've gotta run. It's the last public pancake breakfast this am and I better
eat while there's still time.

A bit of clarification . . . and words on frustration

It's REALLY spring now. A warm rain overnight and puddles, puddles, everywhere.

I feel I need to quantify and justify some of the harsh blog-words from the other day. The farm steward, Dale Perkins, has been on this farm for 17 years and --until a year ago-- was a bachelor who had an apartment in the barn for ten years before they built the small house I'm/we are now staying in. His presence is so entrenched in this place and area that, when I was handed an e-mail about where to pick up chicken feed(an organic place that involved dirt roads and rural-ality that would make Alaska jealous!) the original order request was addressed from Dale to "Gramma Johnson." The other component here is that on Wednesday of this coming week they will be interviewing for a "Livestock Coordinator" employee, a position that has officially closed . . .the candidates had already been flown to headquarters in Arkansas and done initial interviews etc. etc. So, I have been operating as a brand-new volunteer in a vacuum full of an anticipation of a "new farm order." I have also been working with a volunteer that was here through the whole goat-kidding program and has seen a lot of goat kids die and makes her decisions in a very, very different way than I do. As I have not had real "farm experience" she has a healthy (and often distressing for me) skepticism about any of my recommendations. I have tried to stop making recommendations at all and allowed her to use her judgement or call the vet as she feels necessary.

Yesterday I did go into the office and "demand" a thank you from the super-busy-crazy volunteer coordinator. I got a thank you from a couple different people, and a few hugs, and that makes everything all right. We have a "hay shed" down the road that, at the beginning of the week, had 300 bales of hay in it. We are using 33 bales of hay a day. The kicker has been the snow. The "road" has been inaccessible to everything except a tractor. No wagons, no flatbeds, the diesel truck is an iffy proposition, and the only 4x4 truck I tried to use yesterday morning suddenly had the breaks go out (thank god(dess) for that snow burm directly behind me at the time!). I had arranged for us to go pick up a hay shipment in Dale's horse trailer, the way it's usually done. This involved finding someone to drive the HUGE trailer, someone who had the directions, getting local volunteers to help with chores that evening, making sure the seller of the hay could get to her hay barn after digging out from the snow, trying to get her son out of school in the afternoon to help throw the hay, and figuring out how to pay her for an unknown quantity of hay because "we usually just fill up the trailer." We talked about this at the staff meeting and the fellow who could drive the trailer was home sick so I had to call him at home :(
We ran out of hay in the main barn on Wednesday morning and have been making daily runs down the hill and getting stuck/getting lucky since then.
The plan yesterday evolved back into tractor-loading enough to get us through until Dale comes back from Kenya on Saturday night/Sunday am. Everyone just felt better letting him handle it -- which I'm sure he'll do with an easy-good grace.

Oh yeah -- and there was that great dog food recall while I'm taking care of Dale's dog!

Again, sunny day today. Pancake craziness tomorrow. All good enough and I'll start trying to be "a student" of this place and stop . . .well, whatever else I'm doing.

they keep them in log cabins

So -- there is a club called AKMGC the "Alaska mini goat cache". In Alaska, a real "cache" is a small storage cabin built on high stilts so bears can't rob you of your stash of moose steaks/salmon etc. Suddenly I see myself going up and down a tall ladder with water and mineral buckets and bails of hay . . .eegads! Anyway . . . a fine place to start when considering a small dairy operation   :)

http://alaskaminigoatcache.tripod.com/index.html

Just life

Crying, for me, doesn't ever mean "life is horrible". I cry fairly frequently -- and often with frustration and anger. I did that this morning around 1130, and my housemate apptly remarked "You're being asked to make decisions and your decisions are being called into question". Which is at the heart of the matter here. No one is mean spirited, and this is just an unfortunate chain of events, but that's the situation. There is this great sense that everything will be OK "when Dale comes back" -- and I'm sure it will be. In the mean time we need hay for the farm. I used Monday to line that up . . .but we are doing something different today because that's not my job . . .making sure we have hay. The reality is, however it happens, is fine. It just needs to happen. And, if it is not my job to fix a problem, then I'd like it if people would stop coming to me with the problems.

Do I still love Heifer? YES! Am I still having fun -- overall, yes! As a general rule, everyone, please remember that volunteering is the hardest work you will ever do. Often because of the phrase "oh the volunteers can take care of that."

Early March 22

Yes, it’s been a challenging few days –emotionally, physically, spiritually. I feel so grateful for what I’m learning, however, that when I get to step back from the realities of angling the truck out the mud with thirteen bales of hay piled in the open bed (that I loaded all by myself, yayayay for little-bit-of-me!!!!) I feel full of life and well-being. I’m not completely comfortable, a state I’ve called it spiritual boredom in the past – and that, to me, is grace.

Perhaps the most difficult part of this endeavor, at this point, has been that I got to meet the farm steward, Dale Perkins, for really only a few hours before he went overseas. It’s not so much that I wanted true directorship, but my sense of what “my role” was, or “my authority” or what other people’s boundaries, limits and comfort level were . . . have left me insecure with each step I take. So . . . I take things a little hard as I still try and “make everyone happy” and then I try and understand that I’m important, but certainly not responsible for the whole farm. Ah, life. Whatever your organization, and wherever you are, it is often the human communication portion of any job that makes life full.

True wisdom is knowing you know and not feeling like you have to peacock your feathers of it.

I'm out of time to tell you about the goat we euthanized, the pig we didn't, the local vet, the hay supply drama (and how it worked out!) and how much I think I'm actually cut out for farming.

Best all--

A small something I'm proud of

We buy our organic animal feed/grain from a family-owned company that today agreed to enroll the farm in a program that pays Heifer International 25cents for each bag of grain purchased. From what I can tell so far this will give about $250.00 to Heifer International every year. The farm won't have to keep track of bags, receipts or anything . . .our distributor does the recording. This makes me happy because it will be something that outlives my tenure.

I had today off from chores and other serious obligations. I can't seem to not think/do/read farm things on my days off, however.

Bottle Babies

It's still very hard work getting around in all this snow, especially with the icy crust that makes swinging gates and digging out pens and pushing wheelbarrows arduous. I'm quite sore, felt a little woozy in the middle of the day, but made myself sit down and eat an extra meal -- which fixed the problem.
We currently have only one female kid we are supplementing with a bottle of milk replacer. The gates in the barn are big enough that the kids can "visit" with other goats and duck in-and-out of the aisles. Mom bleats when they should return and their escapades are usually self-limiting (we did have one slip all the way out of the barn and we shut the doors before noticing --oh, what lungs they come with!). Carla, the goat kid we are bottle feeding, was visitting with the non-mother goats when I went in with warm bottle. I decided to feed her where she was when I was "attacked" by the one sheep we keep in the goat barn. This full-grown female sheep is called "Little Foot" and was, apparently, a bummer lamb that bottle fed and never socialized as a sheep . . . so she's in with the goats and ready for a trip down bottle-memory-lane!

Holy Sh*t! Welcome to farming!

An impressive storm started around yesterday at noon: snow, howling wind, freezing rain overnight. Late yesterday we cancelled the Saturday pancake breakfast (this is also good because we volunteers are getting SICK of leftover pork sausage!! sausage and gravy, sausage quiche, sausage and potato stew, sausage and jello . . . ), but this morning I got geared up to go from our volunteer house to the main building to let the dog out at 7am and the snow was up to my knees with a WONDERFUL icy crust to break through with each step! All I could think was that Malawian (sp?) Tony and I had to take care of the whole farm! All the staff left yesterday around 3pm and some of our other volunteers who had days off couldn't get back safely. I was out of breath and hungry by the time I got to the main building and ended up going to the employee fridge that only had 1/2 and 1/2 creamer in it. I had a glass of cream and then went out to begin pulling bales of hay with a lead rope over the snow-crust because there was NO WAY a wheelbarrow was getting through!!! Gary is here with the tractor now. He helped take the 6 bales of hay down to the cows and sheep. I still have to go out to "Tibet" -- a good 1/3-1/2 mile through the snow to get hay and grain to the yaks. It sure is nice not to have the public here today. Tha pancake breakfasts are wildly popular but the whole place kind of turns into a petting zoo and even getting a break for lunch is usually a problem. It's really not that bad now that I have something in my belly besides cream...

Don't leave out the realities . . .

Doing pretty well here, but again, things can feel pretty disorganized sometimes!. . .. . .headquarters mailed a very large check for an large order of organic feed that I am supposed to pick up tomorrow at 11 am from an organic feed store no one here has ever heard of. The truck I'll need is in the shop and I need someone else to help me move hundreds of pounds of feed. It's supposed to snow/sleet this weekend also.

The vet came out and was very nice. I found hookworms when I ran a fecal sample on the goats yesterday (with the lab supplies I found in the barn) they also have lice and now an upper respiratory condition. Without a barn or pasture and with cold weather coming there's nothing to do but see who makes it through. I gave injections of wormer/ anti-parasitics today. You can see its hard to stay in "the big picture" some times, hard not to feel a little powerless.

Massachusetts accent

The greatest maintenance guy in the universe, Gary, has the best Boston-area accent ever. We have guest who make checks out to "The Heffa Project" after talking to him.

Mr. Boot the Ram

It's his old-man-crabapple personality . . .and the way he orders the water buffalo and the camel around . . .that make him cute.

General Farm Photos

More Global Village photos

Global Village

Behind the main farm area is the Global Village where "micro countries" are set up with appropriate livestock and housing from the area represented. You realize that these photos all highlight the backdrop of late winter in New England, but you can get the idea. Peru, Thailand, Tibet, and China are some of the most popular areas. In th summer we take groups out for overnights in these areas, complete with a regional meal and discussion topics.

Little Bits' bits

I was sending an e-mail last night from one of the computers in the upstairs of the small barn. I was used to hearing Little Bit bleating and talking to her companion goat in the adjacent pen below my feet downstairs, but her bleating took on the noise of strangulation. By the time I made it down the stairs she'd already squeezed out one of the four she had. The kids in these photos are twelve hours old. Three of the four are hearty and healthy. We had college spring break group in the bunkrooms and I had to radio out for them to come watch the birth.

Goats' Milk and Sore "Ninnies"

I was showing some human-teenage-kids how to milk the does (female goats) while they were in their milking stanchions this am. We were filling a baby bottle for a goat kid whose mother is sick. They got a little squeamish about it and started daring each other to try it and I just took a swig from the bottle I was collecting and *AHA* it didn't taste goat-y or farm-y at all! I've always found that the goat's milk from stores or in yogurt or cheese was a little, well, gamey. These girls aren't on pasture yet, which I bet explains most of it. But it was GREAT. The rule on the farm has been that volunteers can use the milk they collect. Back when there was a real barn, with a real milking room, that was a substantial amount, but it's minimal now for the sole reason that there is no wind-protected shelter in which to milk anyone for 6-8 months of the year. (During the cold snap last week I didn't get to milk anyone or get bag balm on their ninnies, so now they are all a little sore. All the milking girls have kids on them.) Every other dairy product on the farm must be purchased. Overlook doesn't have a license to "sell" any milk. If folks have paid money to be part of a program here, say, a cheese-making program, we still have to buy the milk with which to do the cheese demonstration because money is transferred.
I'm off to learn how to teach the fiber arts workshop -- which involves the cleaning, spinning, and carding of sheep, llama, alpaca, goat mohair that I can barely remember from elementary school. I hope I can stay awake!

Realities of "Cowboy-ing"

So . . .I just figured out why we bother with a time change in the spring: So farmers can see to mend fences and bottle feed the newborns until past 6pm
and
I just figured out why they wear bandanas around their necks: It's a "dust rag" to hold up over your mouth so hay bits and chicken poop doesn't get into your lungs.

Part of today's project: fix where the llamas and the camel trampled the gates of their pen.

More later
pretty much all healed up
xoxoxcat

Saturday Evening

I got a lot done on the computer today, after the generous admonitions from my co-workers to stay inside and not do "field work." I've done some ordering, some write-ups, some figuring out of the confusing unmarked mineral supplementation bags for the different livestock. I've read up on and developed a plan for weaning kids from a (goat) mother with mastitis.

At around 1 p.m., at the pinnacle of public-pancake confusion, two teenage girls dragged a mud-covered dog into our volunteer house and asked "Are you the lady taking care of Dale's dog while he's gone?"

I'd forgotten! Dzo had been out chasing chickens in the hen house all morning!

The girl handed me the dog by the collar "He's limping" she said. Dale had warned me we were watching the dog's "old soccer injury". Before I could say anything the girl was gone and Dzo had gone DIRECTLY down the hall and JUMPED into my bed, splashing mud everywhere. It turns out that I am in the room Dale used to live in, before he got married and moved off farm :)

Something else I accomplished today:

Overlook Farm Animal Well-Being Information

Heifer International and Overlook Farm bring renewed focus to the relationship between people and farm animals that has existed for thousands of years. In these programs we get to re-experience how livestock can bring us milk, eggs, fiber, financial security, fertilizer, draft power, and hope. But what do the animals get in return? What might “passing on the gift” mean to them?

To the best of our abilities, it means we offer them the following:
· Freedom from Hunger and Thirst – by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigor.
· Freedom from discomfort – by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area.
· Freedom from pain, injury, or disease – by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment.
· Freedom to express normal behavior – by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company.
· Freedom from fear and distress – by ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid suffering.

The Humane Society of the United States has listed “the 4 pillars” of animal care, to which Heifer International has added two more.

1. Right Breeding:
We can show we care about animals by being sure to only breed males and females that are strong and well-suited to the environment. Choosing the right males and females will give the young the best chance for a good, long, and healthy life.

2. Right Rearing and Socialization:
Most of our farm animals need the company of their own kind for their well-being, and we do our best not to separate them, but did you know that getting young animals used to being handled by people is also an act of kindness? When it comes time for health checks or other procedures they will feel much less stress if they are used to the sight, smell, feel and movements of humans close to them.

3. Right Nutrition
Just as we are learning that proper nutrition can save lives and change the world, we can remember that the quality of life for our animals depends on the quality of their food. This often requires great creativity by Heifer Project Partners in other parts of the world, where animal feed rarely comes pre-mixed in paper bags.

4. Right Environment
A clean place to live with good ventilation, good bedding and appropriate shelter is important to everyone and every farm animal. Animals from colder climates will certainly have different needs than those from the tropics.

5. Right Health Care
If we are careful to follow the above “rights” we should find we do not often need to call in an animal expert. However, just as we have unexpected needs that send us to the doctor, our animals have times when we shouldn’t hesitate to call for help. Heifer International is careful to keep project partners within a network of veterinary support for this purpose.

6. Right handling and processing
Certain maintenance procedures in animals should only be done with good training (i.e. de-horning or castration) that is sensitive to pain control and swift accuracy. If you’ve ever gotten a shot at the doctor you know how important this is! And, while many Heifer International Animals are destined to lead long lives of production, for those that do go to slaughter, Heifer believes every animal deserves a humane end in honor of the nourishment it will bring.

Inside Gargling

I'm feeling much better today. I went to the doctor yesterday and got some super-expensive antibiotics to cover my bases as the work load shows no signs of stopping. . . and once the flu "goes respiratory" on me it usually gets into my lungs. I'm not messing around with that this time. I was back to work outside yesterday and my voice was gone. Is there any way to mime (sp?) the phrase "The ram has gotten into the camel's pen and I need help keeping him from butting AbuDhabi's knees" ?? Both the ram and the camel have a bad reputation but we are doing pretty well. The ram is named "Boot" -- 'cause he likes to do that . . .give you a boot in the rear with his blunt horns. He tried once on my first day. Now I scratch him between the eyes and all seems well. My co-workers thought I sounded so terrible last night that they cleared the decks so I could work inside today . . .no heavy lifting, cold air and hay in the lungs. Tony, from Malawi, in his staccato African accent says "You are confined." This did, however, allow me to be around to take a call from the vet, which I resorted to making last night. There's death and illness on a farm that is demonstrating sustainable agriculture, and Overlook Farm is no exception. Because of the makeshift housing for all the critters, however (Overlook's main barn burnt down one year ago on March 6, will be rebuilt SOON) things are just that much more challenging. Thank God the cold snap is over!!

So, I have some computer things to type up for the farm, for inventory logs, other bits and odds. It's another pancake breakfast for the public today, the parking lot is FULL but we should clear out by this eve. Oh! And I can't forget I'm supposed to take care of Dale's border collie while he's in Kenya!!! He left yesterday!

Bound to Happen

Well, yes, I got very sick yesterday. My energy is flagging again as I write this . . .my fever is gone and now I just have an icky cold. I ventured out to get into the farm's root cellar for potatoes, onions and garlic for the lamb stew I'm making. Acorn squash, too. I will take very good care of myself over the next few days so I don't get sicker.

There are some more interesting posts below.

Windstorm

I just came from a blissfully long, hot shower and am now at the computer in the upper office of the red barn. The water wasn't working in our house this morning and I'd already waited two days for a shower (why bother doing it every day when working outside on a farm in 12 layers?). It was luxurious. My face is windburn/sunburn. Temperatures are going down to zero and the wind is intense (OMG! OMG! "minus 20 with the windchill!"). We brought the llamas into the barn with the camel and are battening down the goats with babes.

Today I learned that Overlook Farm was donated to Heifer International in 1984 as a staging area for livestock shipment. Animals were donated from local farmers, "vetted" and tested for disease here and then shipped overseas. This explains the two working microscopes wedged at the back of the cabinet. The former owners of the farm are our neighbors down the road. It wasn't until the late 1980s/early 90s that animals were purchased in the areas and countries of their use. And, as a testament to Heifer's true genius--and a smidge of my personal disappointment--all overseas programs are administered and supported by local people. They do not use overseas/cross-cultural volunteers. I think this is brilliant. The other thing to remember is that the seminal gift recipient signs a contract to "pass on the gift", most often the offspring of an animal. Remember how it feels to give an appreciated gift, remember the spiritual endowment you get from just being able to give? Heifer creates a community of interlocking givers. Remember, also, that Heifer does everything from cows to silkworms to aquaponics to grasscutters -- an animal like a guinea pig that is a delicacy in Ghana. Each project gets to write in what "passing on the gift" means to them. I encourage anyone to look at the catalog that lists their projects for 2006. This raises all kinds of questions for me about feasibility in Alaska . . .about musk ox and caribou and gardening, about our local Calypso Farms about possibly becoming certified as a teacher so I can absorb more about real Alaskans in the villages, and about truly enjoying the problem solving of farm management. I also learned today that the 6 acre learning center in California will be closing as a public "learning center" and become a project development center. There will no longer be a learning center any further west than Arkansas.

On a (literally) lighter note, I've come to understand what it means to have "service groups" vi sitting in the bunkhouse of the main lodge--it means there are kids to carry the full water buckets!! The only downside is that it leaves some of us with occasional time to get chilly standing around and pointing. Ha! Plenty else to do!

As mentioned yesterday, Dale, the farm manager who's been here for 17 years and is, quite possibly, one of the most humanitarian people I've ever met, is going to visit some current projects in Kenya starting on Friday. After tomorrow eve, I'm kind of THE livestock person and . . .seriously . . .I'm just excited for a challenge! Wish me luck!!!! Dale's border collie, Zo, is in my care as well. She doesn't do as well with the sheep as she does with the chickens :) Mostly, I'm hoping that Little Bit has an easy birth (see her ballooning figure below).

I have to do some other reading and fact checking. Gary, the facilities guy (actually he's an "everything" guy . . .there are only five real employees here at the farm . . . and 22000visitors annually)told us to add extra wood to the furnace that heats the barn "sometime before you go to bed". Anna retorted, "You have no idea how early we go to bed!!"

Did I mention . . .

. . .my "orientation" is tomorrow with one of the administrators. As I recall, I also get tractor lessons tomorrow . . .or is it hoof trims on the sheep Monday and tractor lessons Tuesday? . . .or probably its no lessons, just tractor ignition keys and . . .
Times like these I LOVE being a stubborn "self-starter" !! I'm not kidding ;) And the real maple syrup tastes good, too.

In praise of "gap year"

I lay awake last night thinking about my long-term volunteer experiences in Africa and now here at OVerlook, and how struck I am that each time I've entered such programs a large part of my training and acclimation has been done by amazing young people. The "girl" who has been working as Overlook's Livestock Coordinator has been here for six months. She graduated from high school this past spring. This has been her first time living away from home and had only equine experience to draw on. In Africa I was greeted by others who had also decided to take "a year off" from school and who discovered aptitudes, capacities, and weaknesses that can give their life a focus like no other, had gained a self-knowledge that was truly awesome. While these folks have been exceptional to learn from, I don't think they need to be THE exception. The "kids" that I've known who've done this have ended up with management positions in the organizations they're in, have been able to tap into an energy that --even as young as I am-- is often no longer available to me . . .and I'm not talking about physical stamina! The idea that "you better go to college now" or "you will never go" may not be the right choice in today's day and age. I am also on "gap year" in my own way -- in an explorative career phase that I will spare everyone here. But for my friends who have teenagers or even about-to-be-teenagers, I want to encourage you to let them look at ALL their options. Maybe even encourage them to not go right away.

Day Off

I have today off because the young woman I'm taking over for as livestock coordinator leaves on Wednesday and then Dale Perkins, the agicultural "brain" for the farm is leaving for two weeks. So . . .I should be up to my eyeballs with creative problem solving and learning and acclimating and etc. etc. There are LOTS of photos below these, but last night I began excavating the supplies in "The red barn" -- where 'my' sick pigs are and the last pregnant goats are housed. I found TWO working microscopes, and an oto/ophthalmoscope! There's also enough donated vet supplies to practically do major surgery . . .which will NOT be happening.

Goat-a-palooza!

Well, that's actually Miles with the camel.
The second-to-last photo of the udders I have saved on my desktop as simply "Jugs!"

Cuties

We are coming to the end of goat kidding season. The last girl left to drop is, as you'll see by the 'for' and 'aft' shots here, ironically named "Little Bit". Twins are common in goats. If there are three or more the others are often sickly. I've then included some photos of the fuzzy creatures we expect to see come out that belly!

Where I live

So . . . I live in the small black house (NOT the maple sugaring shack at the bottom!!). I look out to the red barn. The fireplace is in our house and the yak skull above is what remains of the farm's former yak -- the one that gored Dale (farm founder-type/livestock guy).

Petunia had triplets

The second-to-last goat kidded this afternoon . . .like olives from a bottle the first kid took a few hours of preparation for Petunia (she talked a lot and was up-down, up-down) and then the remaining two just popped out.

I'm kind of down to doing random notes and impressions. My hands are stained with the iron supplement I gave to two orphan pigs. Scottie and I moved 500 lbs of animal feed from the feed store (where we bought the iron supplement) into the truck and out again . . .after driving the OTHER Heifer vehicle--an enormous long-bed truck--in the sleet and snow. All day was super-super wet, runny noses, wearing garbage bags inside my boots thank-goodness-for-chemical-hand-warmers. The pancake breakfast for 300 people is tomorrow am, but the kitchen was just renovated and re-plumbed so AFTER morning farm chores we had to move all the tables and industrial equipment back into the kitchen and get the sleet off all the equipment and cutlery (it was in an alcove outside). Farm chores involve hauling water buckets, hay, wheelbarrows, etc. etc. I'm obviously working very, very hard, and enjoying myself very, very much. There isn't any time for e-mails or phone calls I'm afraid.

There's just so much more to write, but I have to go downstairs and make sure the pigs are still alive and see if the kids have latched on to Petunia. I'm upstairs in the barn. My hands smell like sick pigs and molasses and iron supplement. Some of the other volunteers are spending their night making pancakes for tomorrow (its 7pm here) but I am the "old lady" who takes vitamins and joint supplements and I need some rest! I'll be heading to the kitchen to help before farm chores in the am.

First Day

OK, let me get some of this down before I eat my T-bone steak and potato latkes (purple Peruvian potatoes from the farm and cow from last fall). There are four other residential volunteers -- Anna and Miles did most of the cooking tonight. I just did the dishes.

I flew into Boston last night and was picked up by a spry older volunteer. He came to Overlook Farm from Columbia to do his animal husbandry training, returned to Columbia to teach the others, and then came back to MA to live--sixteen years ago. Between the two of us and Logan Airport's convoluted parking system, it took two hours to find the Heifer van. Traffic was pretty crazy but then . . . ah . . .quiet New England roads, little colonial houses and . . .the farm. I arrived at one of the volunteer cottages to find Miles reheating chicken soup and toasting his homemade bread in anticipation of my arrival. (He'd volunteered to stay behind when the others went out to dinner with employee-guests from Heifer Ranch in Arkansas). I am in a house with Miles from Upstate NY and Tony from Malawi. They are both great, mature, and easy going, and I have my own room and bath (until at least mid-April) by proxy of my gender.

After soup, Miles gave me a brief tour of the farm (in the dark) checking on the goats with the new kids, the orphan pigs, the cows, sheep, camel, water buffalo, rabbits, barn cats, yak and dzo (yak/cow cross) and checking on the two folks still in "the sugar shack" . . . boiling down the sap for the maple syrup. Mmmmm, wood smoke. . . We're doing pancake breakfasts here this weekend for the public.

Today -- chores this am involved milking goats (rather badly, may I add), feeding everything, hauling water and enjoying the warm, warm sun coming up. In the afternoon I was given the keys to the Heifer van and a map and best wishes for a safe return with bunches of daffodils from the florist for the "pancake tables." I got very lost but eventually found the store. Finally got some other important things for myself (I was sooooo hungry, only had instant coffee, couldn't figure out how to make a phone call to Alaska or get to the Internet. . . but there was/is so much to do!)

More soon. Having a great time . . . a few more goats 'scheduled' to kid tonight. Tons going on. This is an amazing, beautiful place. Pictures of adorable animals soon! The goat kids are teeny-tiny . . .and I've finally SEEN the meaning of 'gambolling'. It's interesting to notice the different way in which ruminants/herbovires/prey species move and relate as apposed to the carnivores we keep as housepets.