Welcome to Fat Rooster Farm

"Where I lived and what I lived For."-Thoreau

I now live on a dirt road in the middle of Vermont in the attic of one of the most eccentric houses I've ever been in. The only heat is from wood-burning stoves. There is no refrigerator. The house looks like 3 houses that just happen to be fit together. This is not the farm. The farm is about a mile down the road. Getting there in my car during mud season has been somewhat of a dangerous venture. My car swerves during the day and only calms down at night and in the early morning when the ground is frozen.

I don't think I have adjusted to the schedule yet. The first night I was here I could not fall asleep and then woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't fall back asleep. I got up at 6am and drove over to the farm. Newborn lambs needed to be fed. Shannon, an apprentice from last year taught me how. It's lambing season and since I have been here lambs have been born almost everyday. We bottle-feed lambs that have either been rejected by their mother or ones for which their mother does not have enough milk to feed all of her babies. I have taken a particular liking to the one named squirt and that I renamed squirt alert. When you feed him his tail wags vigorously. He can barely concentrate on feeding and stops sucking on the bottle every 30 seconds. His mother completely rejected him so he thinks whoever is feeding him is his mother. He now looks up when you call his name which is quite endearing. He runs to you everytime he sees you have come with a warm bottle full of lamb formula. Then there are the triplets. Their mother doesn't have enough milk for all 3 so we have been supplementing it with formula. 2 of the lambs didn't looks so good so we brought them up to the house to lay in front of the fire. Yesterday one died. He was sick and there was nothing we could do to help him. The other one still sitting by the fire is most likely going to die. He is a week old or so and can't walk and shudders constantly. The ewe that gave birth to the triplets will be slaughtered this summer because apparently this is the second year in a row that she has given birth to runts that didn't make it. I love the sheep. I love feeding them. I love watching them. The 2 week old babies run and jump and play. I love squirt. I wish he wasn't a male.

On Thursday we planted beans, peas, carrots, radishes, onions, and lettuce in the hoop house. We used a seeder which basically has a different attachment for different sized seeds and knows how far apart to space each type. When you push it digs a hole, plants the seed and covers it up. It's a pretty neat little contraption. Things learned: peas don't like onions and won't produce fruits if planted near onions. Carrots and radishes can be planted in the same row. By the time the carrots are ready the radishes will have been long since harvested.

Other activities have included cleaning animal pens, watching 2 pigs get slaughtered, and chores-feeding the animals twice a day. So much has happened and I have only been here for 4.5 days. It's crazy to think that I was sitting at home doing next to nothing less than a week ago and now here I am an apprentice on a small but diversified farm. I'm looking forward to having sore muscles every night, being exhausted, going to sleep early and waking up early. The farm is beautiful, still covered by a thin layer of snow. Today it rained and fog hung low in the air. For the first time in my life I am surrounded by animals and they are so full of love. The animals are helping me adjust to the farm, showing affection and keeping loneliness at bay while I get to know the farm family and before the apprentices I will be working with get here.

This feels right. What I was hoping for. There is so much to learn so many new experiences yet to be had. Spring cannot come soon enough.