Like Sand Through The Hourglass....

As of today I have been in Northern Ireland for 1 week and 2 days. This evening was spent figuring out what buses I have to take to make it to my next farm which also has a bakery. I will be going there on Sunday. It is near the town of Navan which is just west of Dublin.

I have become so comfortable here and am really enjoying it. While I do not look forward to a day filled with weeding and hoeing, there is comfort to be found in the stability knowing what is expected of you. A day spent hearing sheep in the fields next to me and filled with great conversation with Alix and Erin is what I will really miss when I leave here. I love it here, and find it is so peaceful and will surely look upon this time fondly and look forward to lasting friendships with Alix and Erin. As I sit on the most comfortable bed (I am convinced it is so comfortable because of the amount of manual labor I have been doing!) or when I am in the fields weeding and hoeing I continuously find my thoughts turning inward. I keep coming back to many questions that I do not have the answers for. What am I supposed to be doing with my life? Am I doing what I love? What is really important to me? What do I want out of life? I know bits and pieces of the answers and am hoping to figure out more of the answers over the course of this trip. But does anyone ever really find out all of the answers? Am I meant to have this restless feeling inside forever? I guess it is time to open up the Alan Watts book that I brought " The Wisdom of Insecurity." Will keep you posted on how that goes.

As for farm life, it is going swimmingly. Yesterday morning Alix and I weeded carrots first thing in the morning and followed it up with picking and shelling peas. The carrots were large carrots so it was a bit easier to see them and the weeds with most of my time spent bent over at the waist or crouching down into a squat. Today my knees are doing a bit of protesting.

The peas grow to about waist height but the ripest peas were at the bottom of the vines so more bending down! You move quite fast when you pick them so I noticed that it definitely made my lower back achy. The other WWoofers stated the same feeling so I know it is not just me being a wus!

After we picked the peas we went into the house to shell them.

Me: John we are here to shuck the peas.
John: We shell them in this country.

Alix and I had some tired fingers post shelling and a new appreciation for peas! It takes a lot of work to produce those little buggers! They are quite good out of the shell and Molly was enjoying eating the ones we dropped on the floor. (:

After lunch we were dreading more weeding but then we heard these magic words:

John: It is time to herd some cattle!
Us: Hooray!
John: Because we are taking two to the slaughterhouse in the morning.
Us: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Herding cattle is not for the faint at heart. If you look on my facebook there are two videos but that is after we got the difficult stuff out of the way. When the cow charges towards you the proper thing to do is hold out your arms to make you appear as big as possible and then say "Shoo Shoo." Sounds easier than it is!

John made Jorg the "lead cow."

John: Now I want you to stand at this gate and call to the cows and hopefully they will follow you up the path to the corral.
Jorg: Okay. (Looking very unsure)
John: When you call to the cows say "Here cows, Here cows, come on, come on, here sukie sukie sukie." (All with a Northern Irish accent)

Erin and I were wondering what makes the cows respond to sukie sukie sukie, but hey, whatever works! Jorg did not work as the lead cow. We then chased 13 cows around a field for an hour until John decided to be the lead cow and they all followed him.

John: Now you might be wondering why I didn't try that first.
Me: No, I am wondering why you are choosing just 2 to slaughter? (They raise all of their cattle for meat so I know keeping it in the fields to live a happy cow life forever isn't an option.)
John: Because that is all our freezer will hold.

After we separated the two and John told Jorg that they will look really good on a plate. I disagreed and told the cows that if I had it my way they would be frolicking in the fields. Then it was time to return the others to a field about 4 fields or one mile away. This was done by John being the lead cow once again and us running after the cows to close all of the gates. After we got them in the field John provided us with some very interesting information about the region. Nearby is Slemish mountain which is where St Patrick was a slave for 6 years in the 5th century.

We asked about the spray painting of sheep and he informed us it was a way for owners to identify which sheep had been given medication or "tupped." Tupping time is mating season and the owner of the sheep will put a certain color of paint on the "tupper" or ram so that when he "tups" a female he will leave a bit of the paint on her back. Thus the owner which of the females are floozies. (: Really it is so he can scan them with an ultrasound machine to tell which are having twins to adjust their feed accordingly.

I also found out the the term "creek" is an American term and here it is called a "stream." Duly noted.

Last night we went back to the Ballad Inn, our local pub for a few pints of Guinness and some craic. Craic=conversation. It was poker night so we met a bunch of locals that were able to chat with us while simultaneously playing poker. Also we enjoyed a lovely dinner of Guinness and curry chips. AMAZING!

One of the gentleman who was in his 70's shared that he used to work on an oil rig with Americans and that they are they nicest guys but that they are wasted all of the time. He said he didn't object to them being wasted or the large amounts of hashish that they used to smoke or the air freshener that they would spray to cover it up. He did object to them using ant spray as an air freshener replacement when they ran out. He ended the story with reiterating how nice they were though. (:

Today was spent weeding more carrots and hoeing. Hoeing is some serious business! I think I may have He-Man arms when I return. Or would that be She-Ra?

At lunch today we had a nice light conversation about capitalism and Ronald Reagan. In the states I would assume that an organic farmer would be a liberal, but this is not the case here! John asked me if I thought capitalism was a bad idea and I relayed that I think one of anything is a bad idea but I don't think it is right that he who has the most money decides what happens. I then had to bring up my schpeel that included key points about Jamaica & their debt, and Naomi Klein & destructive capitalism. Wish I had my Dad on an earphone mic so my arguments would sound a bit more researched! Ah well we ended with amusing stories about Iris Robinson. (:

It was unseasonably warm this afternoon after work so Erin and I sat in Laura & John's "cottage garden" and I wrote postcards while she read. It was so peaceful and calm. A lovely way to finish the day.

Tonight Erin made curried vegetables with basmati rice and it was amazing! Right now she has a banana bread loaf in the oven. Not sure where the bananas are from but know they are organic. (: