when it rains...

it pours.

Hello there. It has been nearly a month since my last post, due to quite the series of unforunate events in our lives. Things are looking up and we are enjoying our lives more each day, though coming through these difficult times has been trying. Backing up a few weeks, here's a quick taste of what the universe has been throwing my way (in mostly the right order.)

-my grandfather had a stroke (a bad one)

-our dearest kitty Zaphod was hit and killed by a car

-my grandfather passed away

-two flat tires on the way to vacation (not on our vehicle, though)

-a blown radiator hose on the Jeep

-a total flea infestation of our apartment

-a flat tire from a nice chunk of wire

-air in our radiator hose (after fixing the broken hose)

-and finally, my phone went into a coma.

I am very lucky to have Jonathan by my side through all these things, I have been weak and very tempted to quit our internship, run home and hide from the world, but he has held me together, kept me strong, and helped me see the good in our life. We did leave for a week after losing Zaphod, returning home in time to see my grandfather one last time (he passed away later the same night.) It also gave us the chance to bury our dear kitty at home, in his jungle, where he belonged. We moved the other two kitties back home as well, not wanting to tempt the god forsaken highway we live beside any more. Coming back to the farm has been quiet and lonely, such a quick change from four animals to zero.

There have been quite a few changes around the farm in the last month, which you have been missing out on! Here's the highlights:

-we have three new pigs, two pregnant sows and a boar

-a handsome new ram, with a black head and feet

-the turkeys have taken over the yard

-several dozen new feral yard chicks

-an unexpected calf was born to a teenage dairy cow

-the garden has provided us with buckets of potatoes

-quite a few escaped sheep (on the main road, lovely)

-a new piglet, with another to come soon

-forty new sheep (bringing our herd to around 250 now)

Somehow, it seems as if we have crossed some unknown line in our time here, and finally switched from counting down the time we have left excitedly, to solemly. Only two and a half months remain in our internship, and while we are ready to return home and start our own homestead, we can recognize all the things we will miss about This Place. We will never again live with hundreds of animals in our backyard and depending on us for their care. Flocks of chickens and turkeys running amuck in the yard, barns, workshop, and of course, in the cars. Multiple guard dogs always on duty. Rogue pigs breaking down chicken fences and causing outright riots. Okay, we won't miss ALL of these things, but we will miss the excitement, the entertainment, the adventures. Oh, and I can't forget the food. More importantly I think, the relationship we have developed with the food we eat. Most of our diet was either raised, grown, or foraged on the farm, and what doesn't was bought or traded for at the farmers market, from neighboring farms. Even during our short week home we missed the meat, the veggies, the milk, that we have come to love. It is going to be a long gap between the return home and reestablishing a connection with our food in another area. The time will come, though.

Until next time,

Angela Kelly