I left the farm in West Virginia very early on Thursday morning and arrived late afternoon to Indianapolis where I had a wonderful Couchsurfing host named Chris. The following morning we had breakfast at his Argentine friend, Alex's place before I got back on the road for a grueling drive to Madison. Passing through Gary, Indiana and then around Chicago I vowed never to visit those places in depth. Had I not had the radio on and heard the air quality warning I would have thought that Chicago had inner city fires smouldering. The smog was so bad I could not see the skyline. It was terribly hot to hold all the bad air down, I was stuck in traffic going around the city for 1.5 hours and the gas prices were over $4.00 a gallon. I was very happy when I crossed into Wisconsin. Like magic the terrain changed, the land was green and the air was fresh.
I stayed in Madison, WI, a college town that has what I believe more bicycles than cars. It was a yuppified academic refreshment. I stayed with another Couchsurfing host and two other surfers, one from Germany and one from Australia. They went out in the evening but I was way too tired from driving and just went to bed. I was up before everyone and out the door to drive once again to Grantsburg having to pull of the road for a big weather front of rain that crossed my path.
Arriving to the farm I was instantly put to work and until today I haven't had any time to myself. Sundays are special days. This sheep farm has a CAVE for making cheese. In fact it is the second one in the country to be built with multiple 50 foot chambers. They also built a grotto outside with a stone oven for organic loaded pizzas. The event is open to the public each Sunday during season and it takes everyone on the farm to pitch in and become pizza prep chefs along with the regular chore work. This is a 200 acre sheep and cow dairy farm. We start early and end late. Needless to say today I was exhausted and escaped mid-day by car to a Walmart 25 miles away to get some serious hand cream.
I have about ten minutes before I am off to the barn again. Herding and milking happens twice a day, feeding, watering the animals and more and God only knows about dinner tonight. I was in charge after this morning's chores of making breakfast for everyone while the others moved some temporary fencing. So as I am in a rush I am only going to post some introductory photos. It is a pity that I haven't shot any of me bottle feeding the calves but it takes both my hands and it gets slimy. They suck HARD.
I have more photos in my camera but I don't have time to go through them. This will have to do for now. ENJOY!
OK I had time after publishing... here ya go - PIZZA BY THE POND #1
Pung is from China volunteering too.
2 comments:
Have ya had enough farm animals and teats yet? You are a trooper! You'll be rock hard cause this whole trip has sounded like a real workout. Have fun!
Linda
Linda that is only good in theory. I have gained flab. Today I went to Walmart and got a scale that also measures body fat and I am up on it a lot. The change in my routine and food I guess. So I also stopped to find out about hiking trails at the Nat'l Park office. I am working hard on the farm but it is not the same as trekking or biking at a good clip. I need to button my farm jeans.
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