First things first ( I wonder where that saying came from..of course first is always first !) Happy birthday to my (not so little anymore) granddaughter. Happy birthday, across the pond in beautiful Scotland Carla is another year older, another year more beautiful…and growing into a horse lover !!! Granny will see you soon.
Sarra and Edward our most recent WOOFER guests are now well and truly settled in. Both have been chewed on by Misty the Jersey calf, slobbered on by Lady the gentle Shire mare, smooched by Charm the golden palamino gelding and both have felt the intense pleasure (not) of mucking out the aromatic and occasionally pretty nasty livestock stalls.
Carla is currently away, playing in the big city and Quatra happily returned from her foray into Seattle yesterday to immerse herself back in the goat pen, holding long and detailed conversations with Song and Cody the goat kids. Whilst our two long term volunteers were absent from duty our two new intrepid volunteers went to war with brush that had been just waiting for their arrival . Sarra and Edward had little time to take in the scenery in truth, they had little time to take a breath as they very quickly became part of our farm family and even more quickly made best buddies with the tractors, chainsaws wood chipper, log splitter and other big boy toys. The peace and tranquillity of our beautiful valley was filled with persistent clunks and thunks, the zipping of the chainsaw blade and the chuntering of the chipper whilst the sun shone and the temperatures rose.
Our two young WOOFERS were introduced to our beat up and well used “wanna be Jon Deere” tractor, Edward, quietly confident and fortunately familiar with the perculiararities of using a stick shift quickly graduated to the hot steaming muck pile. The tractor engine roared and the bucket groaned, Greg barked out instructions and Bran the dog found somewhere safe to hide. Sarra, not quite so confidently and totally unfamiliar with the daunting prospect of driving the big green giant wisely elected (or maybe Greg chose !) to take her initial driving lesson in a big wide unpopulated unoccupied pasture.It was all good, it isn’t the first time the Jolly Green Giant morphed into a wanna be kangaroo and Sarra big wide smile never faltered as the tractor engine growled, the gears clunked and the old beast hopped…. and hopped a little more. Undaunted Sarra persisted, mastered an element of control over the misbehaving vehicle and driving a big rusty farm tractor can now be added to her CV !!
Down in the creek bed with the sound of the clear rippling water cascading over the rocks and a myriad of bugs Sarra completed a water quality analasis. As Acorn, Alicia Cody and Song watched longingly through the pasture fence, Sarra collected measured and logged the information gathered. It seems we have a lovely clear stream, isn’t science a wonderful thing !
Well, the cuckoo clock has beaten me again…and my brain is still downloading !!
Got to go, take care, keep safe. M