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View Full Version : My last day at the farm.



trales
07-12-2008, 08:45 PM
After a week of taking care of 40 some animals I have come to some conclusions.

1. I am really not the farm girl I always wanted to be and am really the suburban white girl my parents raised.

2. Chickens still scare me, but I learned how to get eggs without getting pecked.

3. Goats are cute as long as they belong to someone else. They eat a lot of hay, feed and drink a ton of water. Good thing they have an old cast iron bathtub in the barn.

4. Barns have rats and spiders, both of which are really scary. Brown rats are less scared than black ones.

5. Pigs are gross. They have no redeeming qualities and Charlotte's web is a lie. I now understand why two major world religions don't eat them.

6. Sheep are dull, they have no personality at all. Except Romeo, but what do you expect from a sheep named romeo, who drags his package on the floor.

7. I can now identify the differnce between goats (fuzzy, sheep like ones) and sheep with confidence.

8. The pigs had it in for me, they coated me with mud everytime I went near them.

I will miss the animals and go up and visit often. But I am glad not to put on my Wellies on a hot day and muck around in the mud with the pigs. Though there is something romantic to carrying buckets of water on a gorgeous sunny day, wearing boots from a James Harriot novel in a pretty field with animals getting really excited to see you. The times like that made me almost want to get some goats and chickens. I went as far as looking up plans for a hen house and barn, pricing them and picking breeds, then reality set in and I realized as much as I want to be a character in a James Harriot novel, I am a city girl whose romantic notion of living in the country contrasts with the reality of her house hunting in the city a few days a week and dreaming of Eritrean food and the ballet.

Sigh. If only it were possilbe to live two lives. Maybe I could have my pied a terre in the city and my country home with all its lovely barns and happy little farm animals. Though I suspect having animals is not as fun when they need water and it is 10 below with 5 feet of snow (this past winter).

A girl can dream right?