Impulse Traveling.

Today at my SOGO site, I had some good life chats with a group of seniors and some other volunteers. We were playing this game where you roll a dice, and the number you get shows you what card you have to answer. Each card had a different question on it, so we would go around answering questions. The game was called, "Getting to know you better."

There was only one slight problem, we kept getting off topic. Now that wasn't actually bad, it was quite good. At one point, one of the senior (lets just call him Joe) got onto the topic of impulse traveling. Apparently he was an impulse traveler in his youth. He would decide to go there, and when he got there he would call his wife and ask, "Guess where I am?" Of course his wife didn't like that too much, but that didn't stop him one bit.

He went up to Alaska for just two days one time, without telling anyone. He said that he would always travel alone. Joe also told us the story of him calling his wife from Amsterdam, he had just decided to pop over to Europe for a bit. This was all when he had kids even. What a guy. I am surely impressed (by him and his wife), and bit inspired as well. Maybe my next blog post will be from Japan XD (if only I weren't a poor high school student.)

Volunteers + New Chicks

These are two pictures that I found from this summer. We had just gotten brand new chicks, only hours old. Looks like there are some turkey's are in there as well. This is one of my favorite parts of the critter barn, the volunteers and new experiences that are always around the next corner. These kids have all held millions of chicks, but there is nothing more special than a just hatched chick.
When I brought them into the barn and all the kids came running up, wanting to hold one of course. I then was able to teach them about what to do when you get brand new chicks. When you take them out, and put them in their new home you have to dip their beak into the water so that they know where it is. Of course it was chaotic with all these kids trying to do that all at once, but it is worth it because it is such a great learning opportunity.
Kid's connect so well with animals, and I have seen that time and time again. To realize how helpless these new borns are, they can't even find water on their own. It teaches the kids how to care, and how to help something that is weak. Also, you have to be extra careful with the new chicks. They are only hours old, and that means they are fragile.
It's the little lessons that I love at the farm. All these things are so valuable in the scheme of life, even if the kids don't realize it at the time.

Animal Adventures

This summer I was blessed to teach a class called Animal Adventures at the farm. 

These are just a few pictures that I took of some of my classes. I had one class a week. They would come in the afternoon for two days. All the kids where from the ages of 5 - 8, so it was a younger group. We sure had a whole lot of fun, while learning lots as well. As a class we got to visit every animal on the farm within those two days. Their favorite parts where petting all the different animals, and getting to hold many of them, yet they did learn a lot. It was nice being able to share all my knowledge of the animals with these kids. Some loved the information and just sucked it up. They may be young, but that doesn't mean they can't learn. It was fun trying to come up with analogies to explain the concepts of the animals to the kids.

Teaching this class really taught me what it's like to be a teacher. How to keep kids attentions, now that was a key one. There were only 10-12 kids per class, yet to hold all of their attentions you really had to be talking about something cool. One other thing I learned, is how to share. If you let one kid hold the goat, they ALL have to hold the goat. Everything had to be fair, even if one found a feather; then they all wanted a feather. Kids are funny little creatures, yet they are one of my favorite things about my job.

Potatos

This summer we had a wonderful intern, Jennie, who took care of our garden. She transformed the entire place into patches of fruit, veggies and vegetation. She knows everything there is to know about plants and the ground, and so she grew us a plethora of edible plants. This included tomato's, lettuce, gourds, spicy flowers, purple carrots, mint, and so many other things that I had never heard of. She was always getting us to try some new leaf to chew on, or something she dug out of the ground. 

One day I was feeling a bit hungry, so we decided to cook up what Jennie dug up. She was in the garden digging up red skin potatoes, so me and Audrey took them into the house and boiled them for a bit. We flavored them with a bit of salt, and garlic and served them to everyone around the farm. We had many volunteers, guests, critter campers, and staff eating what we cooked. It was such a nice little treat, and I sure wouldn't mind eating them again. 

Yuki

I would like you to meet Yuki. She is just one day old in this picture. Most people at the farm know her as Twizzler (her mothers name is licorice) but a select few call her by her real name. Yuki has a very special story. She was born at the end of June this past summer. When she was born, no person found her until about 30 minutes after her mother gave birth. The problem with that is that the sack did not break around her, so she was stuck in the sack with fluids for about 30 minutes. That is a very unusual thing to happen. She actually had a twin who did not last the 30 minutes, and she was dead by the time someone got to her. Yuki did make it, though she was never very healthy. 

She would have 'fainting spells' where she would just fall over and look dead. We had to do many a CPR on her. We later found out that her lungs had been damaged, and so her entire respiratory system was out of whack. We where not sure how long she was going to make it, but she kept surviving. After about a month, when we figured out what was going on with her body we moved her out from all the other goats and put her mother and her into a separate room. This way no one would bully them, and we could keep guests and people from holding her too often. 

One great thing about this was being able to share her story with the guests that would come past. We had a sign that said to please not pet her, mostly because we didn't want her to be handled too much and put too much stress on her lungs. But because of this, many people asked about Yuki and what was wrong. I watched many people be touched by her story of her survival, and many volunteers fell in love with the little goat. 

The best part of the day soon became the hour we would take mom and baby outside to run around and get fresh air. People loved watching that little goat. She sure had a lot of energy and ran like any other little goat. Over time she kept getting better and better, and we were sure she was going to make it.

Sadly we were wrong, Yuki passed away the beginning of September. She went into one of her fainting spells and never came out of it. It was quick, so she was never in too much pain for long. I wasn't there at the time, but I heard about it a few hours later when I came and helped bury the body. I loved this goat, and she was probably one of my favorite (maybe even my favorite) that we ever had at the farm. Now that is saying something, because we have had a Lot of goats on the farm. 

Even though her real name was Twizzler, I always loved the name Yuki more. I was the one who named her that, and there was a reason behind the name. Yuki means snow in Japanese. She was the only white pygmy goat that we have on the farm, and so she was special. I found the name fitting. 

We buried her under the marigolds, it was a fitting spot.

 Rest in Peace Yuki.

A Day of Smiles.

Yesterday was not the best day for me. I was struggling through a lot of different things and for once I was not all too thrilled to go work with the special needs kids at Holland. Normally it is my favorite part of my week, but I was just not up for it. I went anyways and for once all of the kids were in a really good mood. Only three of them were their, but still Gavin and Elise where in wonderful moods (which they normally are not).

Near the end of my time there, I was glad that I went. Those kids cheered up my entire day. My favorite quote was when the teacher turned and said to me,"Isn't it great to have someone who is always excited to see you." ~ Mrs. Oseland. Gavin was just chatting away about lots of things, and she mostly said it about him.

I love those kids :) Every time I go, I never cease to learn something from them and it's not like they are teaching me. They are just kids, living out their lives. Even Elise, who normally is not a happy camper, was having a good day. We even had a tickle fight for a little bit. I've never heard a kid laugh so much.