I Want To Be a Farmer When I Grow Up

After my Broadway experience we drove out to my Aunt Lucy's farm in Hopewell, NJ. We got there extraordinarily late but she was awake to tuck us into bed.

We got up the next morning and found Uncle Charlie working outside. After saying hello we all came inside and he cooked us a delicious breakfast of Scrapple and Eggs! Yum! The scrapple we ate was made from the grass fed cows they raise on their farm. 

After a very delicious breakfast we headed back outside to visit with the new dairy farm calf additions, as well as visit with Mundy (Mon-dee) the lamb. The dairy farm calves were doing ok, only a couple were having a bit of a diarrhea problem. They were all awfully cute =]

After playing with the calves we went in to the barn and let Mondy come out and have her bottle. Sean tried to give her the bottle but she was too aggressive and thwarted his attempt at feeding her. Uncle Charlie took over and look at that lamb drink! She rapidly devoured her bottle and immediately wanted more.

We kept going through the barn and we got to meet the two Irish Dexters on the farm. They were pretty  with their horns and black hair. Phoebe the cattle dog was of course very interested in saying good morning and doing a little bit of ritual antagonizing.

My Aunt Lucy and Uncle Charlie's farm is called "Beechtree Farm". In the picture with my Uncle Charlie below we are standing in front of the famous Beech tree. Apparently Uncle Charlie has transplanted the tree a couple of times as he moved around before this farm.

After a yummy breakfast and quick tour of the barn, Sean and I are off to the nearby Farmer's Market. Aunt Lucy has been there for most of the morning and she needs a restock on some of her meats. We loud up a box of frozen meat to bring her and head on out.

The Farmer's Market was right around the corner and we get there in time. We bring her the box of meat and she thanks us by sending us off to buy ourselves some Belgian Waffles! Mmmmm they were so good. Aunt Lucy's was covered in strawberries while Sean and I had our waffles covered in this paste similar to nutella, "Speculoos". The paste's taste originates from a cookie that has windmills on it. I have never had this cookie but my waffle tasted delicious covered in this cookie paste.

We switched from helping with the booth to exploring the little farmer's market. On one of our explorations we went over to where they were showcasing animals for adoption. We found this little guy playing over there. Adorable. Enough said. (On a side note, Sean's dislike for cats apparently does not apply for any cat he meets =p )

After the Farmer's MArket we headed back to the farm and waited for Aunt Lucy to finish running a few errands. We had not gone to say hi to the second group of cattle yet so we headed in their direction.

The first one we noticed was the big bull. Sean guesstimated his wight to be around 1000 lbs... I knew he was closer to a ton. As we were loudly discussing this the bull noticed us.

He was said "Hey guys, yeah you over there" We said "Oh hi" He said "The real question is..."

"If I wanted to be on your side one the gate right now does it matter if I am 1000 or 2000 lbs?" We said  nothing and began backing away slowly.

The bull was really an impressive creature. He was so intimidating! But I did secretly want him to come over to us, just not at a dead run.

After we met with that bull, Aunt Lucy came home and showed us the goats! We met with Bentley (the billy goat seen below) and his harem. This goat had a beard the size of my forearm and horns big enough to go right through me. But he was a sweetie, very docile and well mannered.

We were all suppose to go out that night to an art festival so we only had another hour or so to hang out with the animals. This was Sean's first time around big animals so we decided to groom the horses. Acorn and Poker are the two horses on the farm. We didn't have enough time to be completely thorough but we did give them a quick curry comb, brush, and comes out there manes. After that we picked their hooves.

This was Sean's first time and he was so brave! It can be quite intimidating to be around creatures so large and powerful.

We all got cleaned up and presentable. I was so happy because it looked like Sean was hitting it off with some of my most favorite people in the world.

Being out on the farm felt so good. I always enjoy myself when I am out visiting this little safe haven. I am glad I had he chance to share it with Sean. I know I am lucky that my mom's best friend is my Aunt Lucy.

Aunt Lucy took the picture below.

I think the world is so beautiful in many different ways. But there's something about an open field and a skyline empty of buildings that has always brought me the most joy.

Here's a picture of us at the Art All Night art festival. The whole building was filled with people and art displays. It was different from the Coconut Grove art festival but nonetheless it was interesting to see some of the art people had created.

The next day Mundie the lamb was all over the place. She absolutely loved to hang out with the people and the dogs. She likes to think she is a dog herself! Her wool is so soft and springy, it was fun to have her prancing around and joyfully running with the dogs as we did things around the farm.

Sean and I spent our morning working in the horse pasture. The pasture needed a little bit of loving and we had volunteered to help out with it. After a couple hours of attempting to dig out the muddy parts we moved on to a different project.

It was time to ride the horses! We brought out Poker and gave him some quick loving with a brush.  We began to saddle him and managed to do so with only minimal snags along the way.

Aunt Lucy was there to help and when we were done she showed us how Poker knows how to "park out". He knew exactly what she wanted and barely put up a fuss.

It was good to be back on a horse again, however out of practice he and I both were. I will have a horse one day... I think I enjoy the intermittent encounters with them too often not to eventually have one of my own and be able to enjoy them all of the time.

Sean got to ride a horse for the first time! He was awfully scared but he did so so so well! He says he likes it so perhaps we will go again. I thought it was cute that he was a little scared because as you can see in the picture below his feet weren't all that far off of the ground! =p I thank you again Poker and Aunt Lucy for letting us go riding.

We had a phenomenal home cooked meal with some awesome new friends. We all got together and had a really enjoyable time. Delicious food and great people, there's no better combination.

On the last day we were at Aunt Lucy's we became professional cattle wranglers. Yes, that's right, Professional Cattle Wranglers. It was vaccination time on the farm and a group of up and coming vet technicians had come over to help out.

The wrangling was left up to Gus, Sean, myself, and a new friend, Jess. Gus was the only one of us who had done it before but we all acted like we'd been doing it our whole lives. I armed myself with a decent sized branch and began rounding up the herd.

We had to move the cattle from the big field to smaller alley-like field to the small pen where we could corral them into the metal squeeze. Making lots of noise, getting big, and shear will power kept these gigantic animals headed in the right direction. Every now and again a cow would get a little crazy and it was time for us to be the ones running but for the most part it went smoothly.

The hardest part of the entire thing were the calves. These guys were awfully cute and the size of great danes but they could run and kick and fight as hard as anything I have seen in my life! One escaped into the vaccinated pen from the unvaccinated pen so I took it upon myself to capture this fugitive. After fifteen minutes of running in circles I finally got fed up and literally launched myself at the rambunctious sneak of a calf.

Flying through the air I realized too late that this was perhaps not the right way to go about doing things. But committed I was so when I made contact with the calf I was on a mission. The slippery animal wiggled and bucked its way mostly out of my grasp but in the end I had a back leg and it was mine! Although it drug me around for a bit I refused to let my one handed grip go. Backup finally arrived and helped me carry the calf back to where it needed to be.

I was grinning ear to ear proud of my catch. I was pulling mulch out of my underwear for the next twenty minutes after being dragged around but it was alright because I had not been out done by a cow.

Disclosure: The picture above contains cute animals. Do not be fooled by their apparent docile nature, I repeat DO NOT BE FOOLED.

The farm was beautiful and our stay was amazing! The trip was as always too short but I know there will always be a next time and I look forward to it. Sean and I both wish Beechtree Farm the best of luck on their adventures and growth.

Korea Adventure Update: On the last night there we printed the documents we needed to get our visa stamped! The day after we left we were going to be in New York City again and the consulate was on our list of places to go.