We understand that hosting our WOOFER volunteers means that, as one arrives one leaves…we understand that our young ( for the most part but not exclusively !) guests have homes to go back to, families that love them ( again, maybe not necessarily !) and our young friends have lives to get on with. What we sometimes find hard to grasp is how to say goodbye. These young people arrive, sometimes smiling and confident, sometimes on a scale of 1 to 10 (apprehensive being 1….10 being terrified !!)…clearly the wrong side of 10. New guests are welcomed, introduced to Bran the Border Collie (who quickly decides if he approves with the new selection), rules..(happily not too many) are explained and invariably the new volunteer hits the ground running. These volunteers become part of our family and it is hard to see them leave. So it was once again when Sarra left to return to the big city. Sarra lives in Boston and on Monday evening she took her rubber boots off for the last time and took home her memories, hopefully happy. Thank you Sarra for choosing to come to the Pacific North West, thank you for teaching a confirmed carnivore that not all food has to be red and thank you for your energy enthusiasm and big smile. We will miss you.
Carla returned from a long weekend…(if she got paid she would have had her wages cut. smile)). Edward is still taking on each and every task assigned to him with a quiet confidence and has added new accomplishments daily to his resume, from milking the goat, taking care of the horses and cattle to cleaning out the chicken coop ( Oh NO !!!) and driving the tractor. Looking like Cool Hand Luke in his now slightly ( muchly !!) battered and paint splattered Stetson, Edward has become a firm member of the ranch family.
New volunteer Sophie has arrived and has been quickly introduced to our ever changing routine…(schedule..what schedule ?). Alissia clearly intended to test Sophie’s mettle (and our “no blame policy”) by demonstrating that the sweet creamy goat milk that finds its way into the bucket doesn’t necessarily stay in the bucket. A well placed hind foot firmly planted where it really shouldn’t be ensured that our new milk maid left the parlour with barely enough milk to make my coffee ! To add insult to injury our precocious goat repeated her infarction on the evening session.. poor Sophie.
Our young team just had quite the wake up !! 20 Canadian geese had appeared in our pasture overnight. Gentle Giant Meadows Ranch has ( with little encouragement from us!!) of late become a wild life refuge. Doris the Destroyer has invited every deer in the locality to share the smorgesbord that is our orchard and vegetable garden. Daily Doris the deer munches her way through the peas and beans that we so graciously planted tended and weeded, she has snacked on our grapes raspberries and blueberries and inhaled my bedding plants, roses and shrubs. The Fish and Game department are extremely helpful ( not !!) and the web site advises tolerance…tolerance gets old and around here, tolerance has become obsolete and Doris the Deer is no longer welcome !! Just to test our patience further ( what is left of it !!) this morning the cast of the “Flight of the Wild Geese” made a casting call in our horse pasture. Greg got out the gun, the BIG gun, Bran the Border Collie hit the deck, under whatever it was he could hide and quiver in terror, Greg fired a warning shot into the air….and the birds didn’t move. Greg fired again and they still didn’t move. Send in the dog who was still hiding under the table, tail between his legs and trying for all the world to be invisible..but quickly got interested in the “chase the goose” game. That worked !!
Well, timed out again …got to go ! Take care, keep safe, M
Carla returned from a long weekend…(if she got paid she would have had her wages cut. smile)). Edward is still taking on each and every task assigned to him with a quiet confidence and has added new accomplishments daily to his resume, from milking the goat, taking care of the horses and cattle to cleaning out the chicken coop ( Oh NO !!!) and driving the tractor. Looking like Cool Hand Luke in his now slightly ( muchly !!) battered and paint splattered Stetson, Edward has become a firm member of the ranch family.
New volunteer Sophie has arrived and has been quickly introduced to our ever changing routine…(schedule..what schedule ?). Alissia clearly intended to test Sophie’s mettle (and our “no blame policy”) by demonstrating that the sweet creamy goat milk that finds its way into the bucket doesn’t necessarily stay in the bucket. A well placed hind foot firmly planted where it really shouldn’t be ensured that our new milk maid left the parlour with barely enough milk to make my coffee ! To add insult to injury our precocious goat repeated her infarction on the evening session.. poor Sophie.
Our young team just had quite the wake up !! 20 Canadian geese had appeared in our pasture overnight. Gentle Giant Meadows Ranch has ( with little encouragement from us!!) of late become a wild life refuge. Doris the Destroyer has invited every deer in the locality to share the smorgesbord that is our orchard and vegetable garden. Daily Doris the deer munches her way through the peas and beans that we so graciously planted tended and weeded, she has snacked on our grapes raspberries and blueberries and inhaled my bedding plants, roses and shrubs. The Fish and Game department are extremely helpful ( not !!) and the web site advises tolerance…tolerance gets old and around here, tolerance has become obsolete and Doris the Deer is no longer welcome !! Just to test our patience further ( what is left of it !!) this morning the cast of the “Flight of the Wild Geese” made a casting call in our horse pasture. Greg got out the gun, the BIG gun, Bran the Border Collie hit the deck, under whatever it was he could hide and quiver in terror, Greg fired a warning shot into the air….and the birds didn’t move. Greg fired again and they still didn’t move. Send in the dog who was still hiding under the table, tail between his legs and trying for all the world to be invisible..but quickly got interested in the “chase the goose” game. That worked !!
Well, timed out again …got to go ! Take care, keep safe, M
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