and you thought you were a farmer huh?

Ha! now i know what it means to farm. to live, walk and dream your daily routine, your future plans and fantasy's, and your worst living nightmares.
sorry its been so long, i think of you all often and wish i could tell you all of the things that have happened, good and bad in my life on this farm in the last month.
short of it:
workshop- 40 people for 3 days on the farm. feeding 40 people (plus all the livestock) and keeping everyone watered during the hottest weekend of the year, learning, lectures, great conversation, networking with bio-community of the northwest....... exciting until......
mad cow- 2yr old bitch of a heifer gored the woman i work for twice then trampled her, not 3 feet from my horrified and helpless eyes. and the workshop must go on, people arrive not even an hour latter. the bad cow at this point in isolation in an upper Field, she proceeds to jump 4 fences and walk very near to innocent workshops twice, and scare the shit out of me completely.
slaughter- killing some of my animals i had come to be good friends with
haying- crazy fun, then the allergy's hit and my head felt like a football for a week, and im still blowing massive amounts of snot out my nose 3 weeks latter.
Farm sitting- last week my bosses had to leave for 5 days. leaving the farm in my care and responsibility. the very morning they left i woke to cows screaming all over the property and knew something was wrong. our 2000lb bull had literally squished a brood cow and in his exhaustion and her injured state the yearling males proceeded to jump her, trample her and injure her badly. i couldn't get one of them off of her at one point, had to run and get help. i fenced her off to no avail, the yearling males would run straight through electric fencing, must be all those hormones in the air. then had to move the whole herd to another pasture. this past week i have learned how to keep a down cow alive. homemade bloat cures, hip shifting massaging and stretching her legs. hauling five gallon buckets of watter and lettuce to her twice a day.
i haven't thought of anything other than keeping that cow alive for days. the boss man has returned and i can let go a little. trying to stay sane amid the insanities of the natural world. the brutality and rawness of it all is a little too much for me in my exhausted state.
oh, i also got chased by hungry big pigs, smart animals. they knew where i was running to and even going through a building to escape out the other side to go and get help they were waiting for me at the other dore. i was trapped. thank god for telephones.
extensive rambling. sorry.
hope some of it makes since. im so tired i feel like i could just die. but happy.
i am proud that i have risen to the challenges physically and mentally of the highest standards i have ever encountered, set upon me by my boss. and as tired as i may be i still sit down at sunset (if im lucky)knowing i worked as hard as i could. knowing that i did the best job that i could. and think how great my life is and how lucky i am to be learning more than i ever thought possible in one of the most beautiful places i have ever lived.
love you all and hope to have time this weekend to work on the assessment and read all of the posted blogs i have missed.
peace and farming, its what makes the world go round.
keep fighting the good fight.
erin