Sheep Make Everything Better

Last week, I ran to my recently established sheep pen to find a little ewe, two hours old.

Jumping up and down a bit, I climbed in and checked if she’d eaten. She was a healthy lamb, friendly and enthusiastic.

Five minutes after taking this photo, I nearly collapsed and relied on great support to make it back to the car and eventually to my bed. I slept for four hours with no dreams, unusual for me.

But after that, I had a little lamb to visit. I named her Dahlia, after the flower. Her mother’s name is Daisy, and the dahlia flower is in the same family as the daisy.

Plastic chairs sit right next to the sheep pen so that I can watch the three amigos live life and browse peacefully through the hay. Continue reading “Sheep Make Everything Better”

Adventure, Agricultural Communication, Home, Photography

Of Curious Calves and Communications

2018 calves — Curious calves creep close to sniff at my Carhartt coveralls.

I can feel Spring itching to enter Indiana. We thought the Big Snow we had on the last Saturday of March was Winter’s last big showing, a last hurrah before consistent warmer temperatures and flowers finally reach us. But then it snowed on Easter. I enjoyed The Big Snow, crunching through it, watching new calves gallop around their mothers, tails held high, silhouettes in the coming dusk and falling flakes. The cold weather and snow, especially The Big Snow’s cold and dense and quiet six-inch fall, have helped me readjust to the Northern Hemisphere and, for the first time in three years, experiencing all four seasons in one year.

The spring has brought new opportunities, as well.

I’ve embarked on a new career. I am a farmer and a writer. I don’t consider one occupation more important than the other, as one exists at the same plane as the other for me. There is no writing without farming; there is no farming without writing. Take away one, and you might as well take away both and toss me into a car mechanic’s shop and ask me to fix the worn-out brake pad on a Hummer. Continue reading “Of Curious Calves and Communications”

Adventure, Agricultural Communication, Farm, Home, Transitions

The Roots of a New Start

My most vivid memory from kindergarten is when the entire grade gathered in one classroom to hear a local dairy producer talk about her family’s farm. Then we all went outside to pet a beautiful Guernsey heifer calf. (I think we ate ice cream later, too.)

The best day in first grade was the last day of school when we visited several classrooms for various activities. My favorite was the science station, where the teacher stood in front of the class with various objects, and we were to predict whether that object would float or sink. We recorded our predictions, and then she lowered the item into a glass bowl of water.

My second grade teacher was from Louisiana. In math, she taught us to remember how to write “greater than” and “less than” signs by thinking about them as alligators that would eat the bigger number. This picture fascinated me.

In third grade, my mind changed every day regarding a future career. I would say to my friend one day, “I’m going to be a writer!” The next day, I would say, “I’m going to be a vet!” Then the day after that, I’d say, “I’m going to be a writer!” Continue reading “The Roots of a New Start”