Report from a Farmsitter
Our new friend Bonnie calls herself a ‘farmaholic.’ The best way for her to get a fix is to take care of our farm now and then so we get a break. Her last stay was typical—lots of quiet time, and a few exciting times. She left us a fun report and I’d like to share parts of it. (Bonnie, if you read this, I promise I won’t publish any more farm reports, so you don’t have to get all uptight about grammar and cute drawings!) Here’s the report from a farmsitting farmaholic [with a few comments by yours truly]:
“Hi there, Melissa and Catherine!
Everything went smoothly…I’ll tell you some things in case you have FMS syndrome (Fear of Missing Something). I have FMS, and love knowing what went on when I wasn’t home. So…
Rob and Soph [dogs] were great company….Rob has me well trained; we played for hours…
[During the heavy rains last week, a peahen sitting on an exposed nest lasted as long as she could, but after days of rain, finally gave up and abandoned the nest. Melissa put the eggs in a box on a heating pad.] The peababies are in the cage. Second chick gave final push out of egg at 2 pm on Saturday and third chick busted out fully at 2:30 am this morning. I got to see both. How cool it was!…
[Here’s what a baby peafowl looks like:]
Last night 11 renegade ewes hopped the coiled gate and were grazing the pasture to the south of the driveway. I could see that they hopped the fence there because the two strands were tangled in the middle like this:
I set up a water tub in the field and left them there until A. [a local teenager we’re training to do chores] came this a.m. because I knew I couldn’t get them back alone.
Well! This a.m. when A. and I went to check and move them, ALL the renegades had crossed back over the gate. Now it looked like this:
Sheesh! So after a head count, we moved them all into the Sunday pasture. Mysterious sheep.
I love the kittens. If they are missing, I know nothing of their abduction. Same with the two peachicks in the big bird pen.
[Here’s Bonnie’s note on the bag of kitten food:]
Thanks for letting me be here!”
No, Bonnie, thank you. While you dealt with renegade sheep and watched the peachicks hatch, I sat on the deck of a lake cabin reading a novel and Melissa spent hours in a boat fishing for walleye.
A farmer gives thanks for healthy animals, enough rain, plenty of sunshine, and farmsitters like Bonnie.
One Response
oh I’d farm sit if I wasnt a few thousand miles away!
I have trouble getting chicken sitters, last time I came home from a three day trip, they were all in the wrong houses and had no water, and this is from people who keep ducks!