Life at the farm

Jump with the moon and move it.

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Life at the farm

Jump with the moon and move it.

The sun has been beaming all throughout the last couple of days and yet everyone has been acting kind of restless and edgy. Maybe it’s the heat…

It started off by me injuring my foot on the corner of the fireplace. It wasn’t until I realized I was bleeding out of my little toe that I started cursing those stupid metal edges and the ridiculous spot the fireplace had been installed. I mean WHY make sure the metal corners are uneven and position them right in front of an entrance?! Both Rekha and I had hurt our foot on these several times before, I just hit it harder this time…

Then we had to move all the goats and separate them according to mates to properly set off the mating season. But it felt like Rob had no clue of what he wanted to do and was just pairing them up as we went along and then changing his mind or forgetting what he wanted to do. All the while we were blocking or chasing after the goats in the giant paddocks. Then Scotland got really angry and started cursing. I thought he was going to burst and it wasn’t helping the animals’ mood either… I kept on asking for instructions from Rob, but I got nothing and all of us were starting to get extremely frustrated and hot and sweaty. At the end of it all, no one was happy. And I felt like I should go and talk to Rob to smooth everything out, although I really didn’t like his lack of communication throughout the whole process.

Then while Rekha and I started the weeding of the first veggie patch, I got stung by a bee. Not that I wasn’t protected, I had boots, pants and a long sleeve shirt despite the heat, somehow it still managed to get to my wrist. It was the first time I ever got stung so I had no idea how my body would react and I freaked out. Again, I was cursing and I wondered if it was a good idea to have put a bee’s hive in the veggie patch. Not that I know anything about bees. I was just angry.

The next day Rekha and I wanted to continue the weeding there and she went: “you are not allowed on that end, you stay on the other side”. I had every intention of doing as instructed, I entered the veggie patch and ventured to the side opposite the bee hive. It took about 3 second for a bee to get caught in my hair (though I had it in a tight bun) and sting my neck. I was absolutely furious. I had taken all the precautions yet still got stung again and the neck was even more painful then the wrist. I couldn’t stop cursing Roberto and his beehive, especially since the honey isn’t even collected from it. Poor Rob couldn’t understand why I was getting stung, so asked me to do some weeding on the roses patch, which is a little further away. I did it diligently and that kind of helped cooling me down. But then it was Rekha’s turn. I heard the poised and always happy Rekha screaming and jumping when I realized a bee got stuck in her hair as well. Although she was only wearing shorts and a singlet, the bee went for her scalp (maybe we shouldn’t have washed our hair the day before. We should’ve kept it unclean for another week or more) I told her to keep calm, but who was I kidding. We could hear the bee buzzing but couldn’t locate it till we both ran for cover in the house. It was too late of course, and she got the same punishment as me, slap a slice of lemon on the bite.

Another thing that is making me feel quite uneasy is the new kid. A new backpacker joined the ranks last Friday. He’s 18, German and wants to learn English. Yet he never talks to us. Rekha and I have tried to make conversation on multiple occasions, but it’s not happening. Scotland never even tried, with his accent, even I have to ask him to repeat himself 3 times before understanding him. But the weirdest thing is that Germany keeps to himself all the time, even though we mostly all hang out together. His manners and attitude are a little rough when we’re all sitting around the table and he never stays with us if we decide to watch a movie after the news. The strangest moment was when we were all working in the shed together, Scotland had put some music on for us, but Germany put his headphones on. Weird.

All in all, even though there is definitely this strange vibe floating around us, I’m still counting my blessings as the weather is beautiful, the gorgeous birds are still keeping us company, my toenail is still intact (despite Roberto telling me it was going to fall off) and my first bee bite has completely healed in less than 24h and hasn’t been itching at all (again, despite what Rob said). I probably won’t be as lucky with the neck bite, it really hurt like a bitch, but I’ll survive!

And even though the 59-year-old farmer has definitely showed us his pessimistic and uncommunicative personality, I still believe he means well and has a heart of gold. No doubt about that.

And maybe I’ll learn to keep calm when the bees come close… or work on anger management altogether :p

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XoXo – from the mountains with Love.

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