back in the saddle

It has been a little bit crazy the last three months. But I have a shrink, so, you don't need to hear too much about that. Suffice to say, I rehomed my ox, moved away from the farm I lived on in the country to a house in town, and got a job at Jasper Hill Farm.

I am the assistant herd manager. This means I milk and take care of the cows as well as work to assure their health and well being. It is the first "for realz" farming job I've had. I have had some internships and produced some of my own food (eggs, veggies, syrup) for sale; but now, when shit breaks, it's up to me to figure out what to do about it. When the cell counts in the milk come back high or low, it's my ass that gets questioned or praised. When a mastitic heifer kicks like a bastard as I try to get the last of the bacteria filled milk out of her swollen and sore udder, I have to grit my teeth and take the hits because ain't no body else gonna do it.

I love it. I took this job because I wanted to see if I had what it took to have my own dairy farm and if I could milk cows in a way that produced milk I would feel confident selling to people as raw (eventhough that's not what we do here). Can I work a 16 hour day and then get up at 4am and do it again? When shit breaks, can I trouble shoot or figure out who to call? Do I like being around cows all day (almost) every day? ... The answer is a tentative "yes".

It is also a good inbetween step from working in an assisting role, to doing it alone. The herd manager here is a great guy with alot to teach me. We each get 2 days off a week, which is quite excellent for one's sanity, I think. We also get paid a fair and livable wage.

This is one of the farms profiled in the book The Town That Food Saved. The book questioned whether or not a town could really benefit from a farm that produces cheese so expensive and unusual that some people who live there would have a hard time affording it or being willing to try it. But I think a place that makes jobs, tries hard to produce a high quality product that is healthy for the people who eat it and the animals who make it and offers good experience for future independent farmers can definitely benefit from such an operation, and I am glad to be part of it.