Local Eating, Part 1: Beautiful Bountiful Bovines!

I WILL arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,

And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:

Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,

And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,

Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;

There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,

And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day

I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;

While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.

~W.B. Yeats 

We are blessed to live in a rural area, where many families still farm the land of their great, great- grandparents. The pioneer spirit is strong in the Ottawa Valley, and we're seeing a revival of local food sources. Sustainability and self-sufficiency are concepts that never fully left us here, and the fact that some families are able to (almost) make a living providing high-quality, organic food is heartening!

In my days of university living, visiting foreign cities, and "finding myself" I felt confident that I would end up living on a farm like Fern's uncle's in "Charlotte's Web"...geese, sheep, a horse, some cows, and a pig living in happy harmony in a warm, sweet-smelling barn. I'd be spinning wool, knitting, selling socks at my farm gate, keeping bees, resting in a "bee-loud glade".

The reality is a bit different: my three kids ensure that I barely have time to weed the garden, let alone tend to a herd. In order to live on this little 3+ acre farm, my husband and I have to work "outside" jobs.
And really? I'm not sure I want to give up my rare knitting time to take care of a lot of animals! This is a recent realisation, and it surprises me a bit. I've always been the kind of person that wants to learn about and do everything.

My new energy-efficient leanings, though, lead me to wonder whether or not it is wise for every homesteader to raise all their own stuff, especially when the barter system is alive and thriving in this community, at least. Sure, it would be fun to write about, but let's face it: raising livestock, growing all your own grain and vegetables, AND raising kids is more than most women can handle, if they're also working a day job. I know my limits.

Luckily, we have a farmer who lives about a 7 minute drive away who sells shares in his Jersey cows. Today we picked up our first milk from him, in exchange for eggs! 1 dozen eggs=two beautiful litres of organic milk. I was hoping to show Violet the cows when we arrived, but was also kind of thrilled to hear that the herd had just wandered off through the bush for a day of roaming and grazing.

Stay tuned...tomorrow we'll be picking up our first CSA basket of the season, in exchange for, you guessed it: more eggs! Thank you chickens, for giving us your eggs to trade for beautiful local food!