Yesterday -- Sunday -- the Monitor featured a story about our farm closing down.  Some people then posted comments about the article to the Monitor website.  A few of the comments were hurtful and seemed borne of both ignorance and thoughtlessness.  So, Dave and I decided to respond.  Here's the link to the column and the comments.

Speaking of cows expressing milk…

            Madeleine and I have been in D.C. for the past few days, while she takes part in a national youth choir.  Right now, all is going well – Madeleine is soaking up the long hours of music, and I’m comfortably ensconced in the hotel lounge, quietly depressing my keys.  But things were not so hunky-dory at first.

Years ago Barb and I drove a small car on the Autobahn when traveling to visit her relatives in Germany.  At one point in the trip, I looked into my rearview mirror and saw headlights wink in the distance. In my US highway mindset, I thought, “I have plenty of time, that car is a half mile away.”   I looked back at the road in front of me and steered out of the passing lane.  At that moment, a large black sedan rocketed by me and was just as quickly taillights in the distance.  It seemed impossible that the sedan could have been traveling that fast.  I varnished my freshly road-grit-blasted frame of reference with new layers of concern for our safety.   

Oh man, we are in a mess. 

In the category of “Another Sign of the Coming Apocalypse” I offer to you, Chile Lime Tequila Popcorn.  The little blue box at the top of my Google email account offered up a a link to a recipe for this a day or two ago.  

The only good thing about snowstorms on our farm is that they happen in the winter. Things are slower-- there are fewer animals and there is time to think, plan and write.   But all farm tasks take longer in the cold.  On brutal cold mornings I dread the slowing of the pulsator on the milking machine.  The increasing interval between clicks  indicates the vacuum that pulls and releases the milk from the cow is failing against the crystallizing water vapor from the warm milk.   Waterers need thawing and the hose that we use to draw the water from the frost valve needs to be drained.  Even walking from the house to the barn takes longer due to the layers of clothing that retard the swing of legs.  So the time taken by snow removal; clearing the house, the barns, the greenhouses and the paths to each, is lamented but is not despised.  I have the time. 

One of the daily activities here on the farm involves collecting eggs from the chicken coop and transporting them to the kitchen for washing and packing.  After several years of handling eggs I have rules I wish to share should you ever be inclined to get chickens of your own

In one of my favorite parodies, a character quips, “there’s a fine line between clever and stupid.”  The challenge comes in knowing when the line has been crossed.