We got this request on Twitter about a week ago:
I would love to see a post about how you're adjusting to the long hours, hard work, and general transition to farm life. Also relative social isolation after leaving the city.
Succinctly answering the request is nearly impossible, but I’ll give it a shot. We get this type of question a lot, so clearly it’s on people’s minds. It’s hard to write for both of us because we’re in different shoes, so I’ll write from my standpoint.
Over the past 4 months we went from living in a 700 sq ft apartment with no animals (or experience raising animals) to managing 85 acres with 2 cows, 4 pigs, 11 dairy goats (potentially going to 13 soon), 5 livestock guardian dogs, and close to 30 chickens and guineas. Only time will tell if we find success, but thus far it’s been quite a transition, involving a lot of long hours, hard work and isolation, as our reader suggests. We're not yet "full-time farmers" (as they're reverently referred around here), but it's a first step and maybe in a few years that will be the case.
Only Love Can Break Your Heart
You may have noticed that after a deluge of baby goat photos and updates we've been relatively silent for the past 48 hours... We've been a little down, you see, some bad news arrived this past Friday night. It was about the baby goat.
After 2 whole days of milk and care, she had transformed from a lifeless rag doll to a sweet and perky little companion that had easily stolen our hearts. She raised her head and let out a soft baaa whenever we approached, nibbled preciously at grass during the daytime when it wasn't raining, and somehow made waking up at 3 in the morning to warm a bottle, a joy. Despite her great improvements, there were two things that were nagging at me by Friday afternoon. She still wasn't walking and something seemed to be wrong with one of her eyes.
The Cuteness of Guinea Keets
It stopped raining today, so we got a chance to photograph the little guinea keets. They're so tiny! Just compare them to the blades of grass they're standing up against.
Enoy!