Shanna collected several rocks she found beautiful, we planted flower seeds, visited the animals (I'm proud to say Shanna no longer screeches in horror when they come up to her, like she did when we first went out). Her funniest quote however was "oh snap, they're going to all come to me 'cause I have their bucket of food!" 
I told her my story how this city slicker was the brunt of one cowboy's joke when he told me to bring in the horses. When I asked how, he sent me out into the field with a bucket of feed and told me to shake it. I complied and yelled "now what?" He was already laughing as he hurled out "run!!!!" I looked over and 30some horses were stampeeding me! By the time I reached the corral, a couple of them were eating out of the bucket and jostling me around as I tried in vain to outrun them.
A couple of smarter and friendlier goats saw Shanna before the others and tried to climb her to get some food, which is so ironic, 'cause we had just poured some new food to distract them as we got in the pen, but I guess her's was even fresher!
Ivan warmed up to Angie after a little bit. He's wearing one of her shirts since we underdressed. There was still a nip of cool in the air in the morning.
He wasn't too sure of the goats at first either, but before too long, he was giving them kisses! Good thing his kisses never make contact! yuk.
Angie also has a pet deer her and her husband rescued from the side of the road, where it was injured. Ivan is always excited about opening his blinds since there are deer painted, so I was glad that he gets to see a real one up close. It's one thing to read about animals and see their pictures, but so much better to have the experience of being with them. For months, we've read animal sounds and they are coming slowly. He learned dog and cat sounds right away, 'cause he hears them all the time. Well, what would you know, it didn't take 5 minutes of being at the farm before Ivan was crowing like a rooster. We could throw all those books away on animal sounds if we lived on a farm. He would just know them and the knowing would be such a deeper, fuller knowing.I asked Shanna a couple of years ago what meats came from where... bacon, ground beef, steak, turkey meat, chicken, sausage, pork chops... She had to guess at most of them. She got chicken meat, but not turkey meat and started guessing "the pig" for everything else since that answer came up so often! I remember being shocked in Africa to discover that peanuts grow under ground. I had never thought about it or wondered where they came from, apart from out of the plastic bag from the store. I had the same reaction seeing coconuts in trees! At least I had a mom who bought coconuts from the store, so I new what the fruit looked like, not just the shredded stuff of baking.
I took Shanna to the lake a couple of years ago so we could swim for free, instead of going to a pool. I didn't realize she had never swum in anything but a pool. She was terrified. The fish "were biting her" (yeah, right), she couldn't see the bottom (it's a dirty lake), the seaweed flipped her out, the rocks hurt her feet and she either spent the time with her body firmly wrapped around me or walking along the beach, at the water's edge!
Urbanized living has brought a lot of advantages, but in many ways it's made us more complacent and less knowledgeable too. It would probably be worthwhile to have a month of actual farm life as part of any school curriculum.
How farm or wilderness savvy are you? Have you ever gone somewhere less urbanized and had that sick feeling of being totally unprepared, and miseducated? Would you like to try a farm experience or even survivor type adventure?
7 comments:
How farm or wilderness savvy are you? not very good at either of them, but love to try them out! Have you ever gone somewhere less urbanized and had that sick feeling of being totally unprepared, and miseducated? definitely on numerous occasions (canoe trip, camping, at a farm or around real cowboys!) Would you like to try a farm experience or even survivor type adventure? only if it wasn't too intense, maybe not survivor, but camping or a new culture would be great- no insect eating please ;)
i grew up in te big city suburbs. But my appreciation for the less urbanized and survivor type adventure grows every day.
Easily, I could move to an acreage out of town
How farm or wilderness savvy are you?
Well, I grew up with a garden attached to our house. My mom knows most plants by name and we have apple, cherry, pear, hazelnut and other kinds of trees there. We grow tomato, potato, strawberriey. wine, raddish and other things there.
My parents also took us to the woods to look for mushrooms and we went on vacation for similar things. I think I am pretty good prepared for the wild.
Have you ever gone somewhere less urbanized and had that sick feeling of being totally unprepared, and miseducated?
No. Not that I am always prepared. There are things I don't know but I am familiar with most things and those I don't know I learn pretty quick if needed.
Would you like to try a farm experience or even survivor type adventure?
Been there, done that. *g* More the farm stuff then the survivor thing but I would like to try that too.
Actually, I want to go canoeing with Ian, Jenn, John and Andrew (if he goes along).
I always joke that I grew up in the "Big Metropolis of Saskatoon". However, since I spent the majority of my spare time in my youth at the stables instead of the mall, I consider myself to be quite well rounded. I can adapt quickly to a rural environment or to city life. Having said that, however, I have way more apprehensions about going to a large city (say New York, Hong Kong, or Mexico City) than I would visiting a small community.
I guess that's why we love Calgary so much, it's a small city of only 1 million people. And we're less than an hour's drive away from the mountains.
Like Ange said - no Survivor for me. I still prefer my amenities.
Not farm or wilderness wise at all.
The most was a trip to the Catskill Game Farm.
I was engaged to the dairy farmer a looonnngggg
time ago, but I came to my senses.
I frequently feel totally unprepared for many things.
And no, I would not be any good at a farm or survivor experience. I would probably escape.
I had the best of both worlds growing up. Both sets of grandparents lived on small truck farms. I lived in the big city, and spent a lot of my summers and holidays with my grandparents on the farm. I learned to love rural life and small town people.
There are experiences you get on a farm that you cannot get in an urban setting. like how to wring a chicken's neck, and why you need to. How much work goes into the food you eat is another lesson, along with the realization that fresh vegetables and freshly killed meat really do taste better.
The best of all was the constant companionship of loving grandparents. I'll never forget my grandaddy hitching up a trailer to the tractor just to chauffeur all us grandkids around the farm near sundown. Or the times we just sat on the porch swing together and talked about clouds. Those moments were golden, and even today provide me with a peaceful place to go in my mind, when I need to overcome stress.
Kim- I'm shocked you call Calgary a small city with a million people. Do you realize that is the population of Saskatchewan? I know there are WAY bigger, but to me, anything bigger than Saskatoon will always be big. Abilene is 1/2 the size, so to me it's small.
Andrea- I love your sense of adventure! I know you would do well anywhere you go. With your personality, you adapt so well!
I totally identify GMS, although I'm trying to get better.
Grandpa Ray- thanks so much for sharing. That is about the most beautiful thing I've heard and need to have Brian see it. Those are wonderful memories- we'll have to share them with Ivan.
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