The Farm

So after much work and receiving my driver’s license in February and finally buying a truck, I stuck out on my first state-side adventure on March 14th! After a 1 ½ days drive in my dumpy old truck with my brother, Cody, and my Dad, I was happy to finally arrive on the farm. Where, I quickly jumped into action of mucking out sheep stalls. I scrapped them so clean they were like new, and I fixed a gate. Steve, the owner, said “I know there was good use for you, it takes skill to clean this with such efficiency. Not everyone has that.”
Then the next day was filled with weeding tiny little weeds out of the seedling flats. Then we were all called into the barn to dock and vaccinate the lambs. I let my two compadres, Sarah and Gabe, get into that, and mostly watched. They have little to no experience with animals, so I thought it would be good for them. They each did 2 lambs, and then Steve tells me to do the last lamb. So I confidently gave it a Sub-Q shot, then deftly placed the “little green-cheerio” (rubber band) on the tail at the 2nd digit, while making jokes, and taa-daa!!! No problems! I still got it! Thank you, mom, for teaching me all this stuff when I was 12. Now I just need to know the difference between a weed and a seedling… :D
I also got a good kick from a cow. This milk-cow named, Maxine, has just “freshened” (given birth) and has “edema”… I’m not sure what that means but her udder is all swollen and hard and she won’t let her milk down. So we started hot compresses, and I had the idea of using eucalyptus oil to help her relax, and it seemed to work. But in the process of all that and trying to milk her, I got a good kick to the thigh that has left a big bruise. But our efforts were rewarded with the incredible recovery of the cow!
I really like being here except that it’s COLD!!! I’m talking snow! But it’s great cuz I get to do what I love, learn more about my talents, and help others obtain good healthy food!!! :D