Just Me and Cows...

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I don't really understand cows... but i think they understand me.



xoxoox

The Bull

Today I got a warning from Bort...
"Hey Leslie, don't go into Aubry's field, the bull is out."
Being the sassy trespasser that I am I was like "How do ya know?"
Bort: "He's got a huge ring in his nose with a chain hanging from it."
Me: "Oh, shit."

So, of course I had to go look! No way am I crazy enough to go into the field but I walked down the road along the fence line, to where the cattle's pile of hay usually sits, and found the ring nosed beast right away.
That jewelry makes him look fierce, and not in the hawt mess kind of way, but in the stampeding, kill you kind of way. Bort told me the chain was to keep the Bull from attacking you and that if it decided to plow down the fence and trample me, to grab onto the chain and keep walking it in circles. Luckily this Bull was feeling mellow, cool, and shy. He not only didn't come towards me, but he tried to avoid me - hiding behind his ladies. Then slipped off over the hill.
How emo...
XOXoxoxo

Bike Ride On Willow Creek Rd.

I love riding my bike around here because there is so much to look at - but I wish going uphill was a hec of alot easier! I can only make it so far on my bike, so I have been scoping out Willow Creek Road over and over, flying down hill, then pumping uphill all slow and out of breath. Old men pass me by in their farm trucks and wave hello, but have a look of "WTF are ya doing lady!?!" on their face.
Passing cows, barns, brick ranch houses and some fields down the road I arrive at my destination. Standing away from the gate facing the road are endless rows of corn. Big Sandy Mush valley is really two walls of mountains protecting the corn down the center. Corn is the hot shit 'round these parts.
I jumped (another) red metal gate...this one was tricky. It is on a busy part of the road, and without thinking I went out right at 5 o clock, so way more people were going by then usual. I hid my bike in the tall weeds against the fence, pretended to be taking endless pics of the corn across the road and listened carefully for distant cars before hopping over the gate.
This place is one of wonder to me, I have felt attracted to it every time I saw it from the road, I felt like it was a forest similar to the one I lived under in Marshall, NC - my place that I loved but had to leave. As soon as I jumped the fence I smelled the sweet smell of that perfect mix of trees, of a secret pocket that doesn't get alot of human traffic, of native plants growing unimpeded. It may not look like much, but it has just the right feeling, just the right lighting, just the right scent.
The first thing I saw was this little "tree house" -- if it had just been a tad bigger I might have moved in!
But then I begin noticing some junk that didn't really belong. It wasn't a total dump or total loss, but here and there pieces of someone's past trash lay randomly spread amongst the magic. Chemical tanks...
Oh, and a washer... (a bunch of tires, metal bowls and plastic buckets were all part of the landscape too). This wasn't discouraging, I wanted to help clean it up - but then I heard a dog barking really close by and another sound that was probably a human doing something at their house- a house I didn't realize must be right over the hill behind the trees. I used my quiet stalking skills to creep softly away and back to the gate- silently hopping back over and getting on my bike.
On my ride back home I noticed a tiny creature in the road, a baby snapping turtle! I love snapping turtles and wanted to take it home, but then realized it had been killed in the road, along with some other baby snappers. :( Poor wittle turtle. After that I couldn't help but notice all the micro casualties in the road - so many dragonflies and crickets all smooshed by cars. Makes me glad I have a bike and will soon be jus' riding a donkey! I hurt for that turtle, and I don't really care if that's being too sensitive for most peeps living in this fast paced society.
Bye bye cows! Time to go home.
XoXo

Peek Inside A Modern Dairy Farm

Yesterday I went for a long walk down the road and happened upon one of the many dairy farms in this area. Many don't appear to really be organic, yet I learned some things that helped me understand the way we get our food (particularly our milk) that gave me an entirely new perspective (organic or not). The workers were really super nice and let me and Bort right on in to the milking house when he asked permission to watch. I first walked through a room with a giant silver holding tank where the milk ends up being stored, and that room smelled just like a sweet bakery (sugary and creamy)- there was a slight chemical odor too that I could not quite put my finger on. After stepping through that room, this is what I walked into...
Wildly noisy and like an alternate universe, cows were lined up on platforms and the worker was disinfecting the utters of each cow before milking. Absolutely fascinating, I never in my life thought about how they must use chems on the utters before milking to kill germs (this is cause the cows are very dirty, literally) - the room had a container of iodine, and smelled strongly of bleach (to clean up pee and poop I am sure). As someone with food allergies and chem sensitivities this greatly interested me, cause I began to wonder if some food allergies are more about the process in which we get our food, rather then the food source itself.
The cows were not being mistreated in any way, there wasn't anything terrible happening - but for me there was just something uneasy about mass scale farming in this way, because of the extra lengths a farmer must go to obey the laws, get germs off the turf, and get a huge amount of product out there. I don't think I expected to see the workers hand milking, but I never had taken the time to think about what the milking machines are like- they are loud, kinda like a strong as hell hoover vacuum that suctions onto each utter.
All the milk was being sucked out (surprisingly fast) going through all the crazy tubes and contraptions ya see here, and then eventually would end up in the sugary smelling room. Bort (who's brother used to milk cows at this farm) told me that once it's in the big holding tank the milk companies come to pick it up from there. These companies test a glass of the milk every time before selling the product to make sure no antibiotics are in it. If they find antibiotics in the milk on these farms (even though they are not organic) they will be penalized, the product not being bought and then companies won't buy from that farmer for a few months after (by regulation).
Did you ever think about your milk being here before it hits your lips? In a little tube right next to a muddy cow leg! Ha.
XoXo

Tractor Crossing

Where I come from, there are no tractor crossing signs. This sign is the coolest road sign I have ever seen. :) And here's some other stuff down the road from my house...

My new crazy donkey friend who I am sure felt our instant BFF connection as I did - I have been dreaming of having a small horse, mule or donkey to ride on as my main form of transportation. I can wear a blue sheet on my head and pretend to be the virgin Mary while I go to town ... jus' kiddin'. About the virgin part. And the mary part. Not the riding to town part.

See how twisty the road is, makes alot of people feel like they are going to barf trying to come see me. You can't see in the picture, but right on the road there was a dead corn snake.And apparently the teenage cows down the street are vampire zombies...don't look in those eyes, you will turn to stone!

xoxo