I finished off my 3 week stay at a local farm a couple weeks ago.  My responsibilities included caring for, 250+ chickens, 6 cows, a dog, and a couple of cats.

The owners were on vacation and I was tasked with the job of keeping all those animals and myself alive for 3 weeks.  The stay was not without death, but thankfully it was only one chicken instead of something more significant.  It was good to get out on my own for a little bit and see whether I could maintain sanity under the weight of responsibility that only many animals, a house, and no one to clean up after you can incur.

Like most of the Berkompas guys who’ve had to live on their own for a period, I didn’t fare badly in terms of food.  However, I have a better appreciation for Mom’s cooking and influence in our household’s daily activities.

Mornings were spent making breakfast and evenings were occupied with many chores and 17 dozen eggs to wash.  During the day, I was at work.  So, yeah, I was quite busy.  It was good though…  Farming is hard, and I wouldn’t own that many animals alone, but I enjoyed myself.  I enjoy the brain work of programming, but am never completely satisfied until my hands accomplish some sort of physical labor.

I’m looking forward to owning animals of my own some day, but am also glad that I didn’t sign up for 6 months in Virginia at Polyface.  3 weeks is plenty of time to get a feel for things.

Some might ask what I was thinking when I signed up to take care of the farm…  It was a wonderful opportunity to gain some experience away from home and learn more about farming.  They needed the vacation, and I had the time/flexibility to pull it off.  Those are two things I’ve wanted to do for a while and were quite worth the painful hours of egg washing.  (Yeah, if you talk to me about this, I will mention the eggs…)

Sorry, but I don’t have any pictures as I don’t own a camera.  You can always request vivid descriptions in person.