Day 1!

To my family and friends,

Welcome to my blog about my summer in Rutland, MA on Heifer Project International's Overlook Farm! This is my first time to blog, so I hope you can stick with me as I figure this whole thing out.

Let me give you a brief rundown of my past 4 days before I pass out; to my college friends, I understand that it's only 11pm, but I find that my day here seems to have exhausted me. I have the feeling that I will experience said exhaustion often.

I had my last exam at Maryville on Thursday morning. After checking all my residents out and packing up myself, it was 4am Friday morning before I finally finished. My tiredness seemed to affect my logic, so, instead of going to bed and finishing in the morning, I decided to just leave right then. Seriously. So, at 4am, I left Maryville for Newark, Delaware. Needless to say, my two naps on the way were well appreciated, and I arrived safely at the University of Delaware around dinnertime to begin a joyous reunion weekend with my best friend in the entire world, Beth.

I left Sunday around 1, and making a short detour through the Bronx to see my beloved cousins and aunt, I finally arrived in Rutland, Massachusetts around 10:30pm. What an incredibly long weekend.

That would mean that today, Monday the 19th, was my first day of work! We started with a staff meeting at 8, then a 3 hour long introduction to the world of farm chores (done twice daily). Outlook has a bazillion animals, including, but not limited to, Abu the camel (he's hilarious and so sweet), 17 cows of various breeds, a bazillion chickens, goats, sheep, pigs, water buffalo (they honestly smell like NOTHING I've ever smelled), yaks, rabbits, and guinea pigs. I believe we're expecting a shipment of some kind of heirloom turkey chicks later this week. Amazingly, the chores only take about 20 minutes when everyone pitches in. It's a really great atmosphere.

Today was a fun day in that I did several things I've never done before. I promise I will explain in more detail tomorrow, but as I said, I am exhausted, and I need to get my sleep if I'm going to be on Lamb Watch for the rest of the week (it's lambing season, and we need to check the ewes every two hours to make sure their births go smoothly). A short list: milked a goat, herded cows, corralled rogue kids and lambs (it is UNREAL how friggin adorable they are; more details and pictures to come), learned ridiculous facts about chicken eggs and other roosting birds, fed baby yaks (so cute), and ate tofu for at least one of my meals.

Okay, seriously, it's bed time. More tomorrow.
Peace,
Chelsea