Happy Christmas, Happy New Year!

Season's Greetings from Harrison Farm! As the New Year approaches -- and I have finally finished my Christmas cards! -- I want to extend all my best wishes to those of you who support my efforts on the farm!

During the Christmas Season, we've had many new faces join us on the Farm, including the beautiful horse pictured with me! I am very grateful for the good friends who brought me Flirt the Horse on Christmas Eve! For the last several years, I had cared for Lassy the Horse and Abe the Mule. I grew up with these two equine, who had belonged to my mother. Lassy passed away in the fall of 2010, and Abraham passed just a few months later in the winter of 2011. Since losing these wonderful animals to old age, my friends Angie & Elliott had offered to help me find a new horse. I told them that I was only willing to spend up to double what I had given for the last horse I bought: Tewanna, who was nick-named "Old Dollar" for her purchase price! Despite that low price, Tewanna was the best horse I ever had. We had many wonderful adventures together when I was young!

Things happen in a special way on the farm. Shortly before I left for Germany, Angie & Elliott told me of friends who were looking to find a loving home for Flirt. She was raised at Honey Bear farm, had been a novice reining champion, and was the mother of a World Champion Paint Horse. Unfortunately, Flirt had developed uterine cysts and could no longer be bred. Her owners at Honey Bear Farm loved her very much and did not want to sell her, but they were willing to give her to individual who would take good care of her. After meeting Flirt, I could tell she was a very special horse. Angie & Elliott agreed to be the delivery service, and Flirt arrived on Christmas Eve. She is extraordinarily beautiful and very, very smart! I feel incredibly blessed to have this fantastic mare, and even more blessed that I have good friends who would make this possible for me!

Christmas weekend was very busy for us, with travels to Fairborn and multiple family gatherings. I got to see many members of my family -- family through blood, through marriage, and through adoption. It was a very hectic weekend, but well worth it. On Christmas Eve, I attended Mass with friends at my home parish, Holy Family. The first time I ever attended Mass there was on Christmas Eve in 2003, and then I made my confirmation there at Easter 2006. My confirmation name is Joseph, which was also my father's. It is a special name to me, since Joseph is the patron saint of workers and the model of a good family leader. Saint Joseph shows me the importance of loving the family that is sent to us . . . which may or may not be related to us by blood. During all the hectic travels over Christmas -- and the many events and places I wanted to go to -- I reminded myself how extraordinarily blessed I am to have so many family members that God has sent into my life!

My gift this year, from my step-father & his wife, was two sheep! I am very excited to have these lovely ewes joining the menagerie at Harrison Farm! Since Gabe passed away and I butchered Thunder, I have missed having sheep of my very own. A couple of times I have made inquiries about purchasing ewes, but nothing ever came together right. My new sheep are a blessing, and a happy reminder of all the wonderful memories I made working with my grandfather's and my mother's flocks of sheep. The older I get, the more I understand those two remarkable individuals. I am extremely grateful to have had them in my life, and I appreciate this gift that is making it possible for me to carry on the traditions they handed me. Family is a marvelous blessing!

The holidays have not been without sadness and struggles. Most vivid, of course, is the loss of my beloved Captain. Not a day goes by that I don't think of her and miss her. I detest waste, and one of my deepest fears was that her death was a total loss. A miserable accident that wasted a precious life. What I was given by The Captain, however, lingers large even after her passing. She was an animal of great spirit, full of affection & curiosity. What has truly amazed me, though, is the number of people she touched without even realizing. When I wrote my blog post about The Captain, it was with a heavy heart and with an unsure mind. I did not know whether to share those details, but I felt I was untrue to The Captain if I did not speak honestly. I was amazed by the way The Captain touched people: within 48 hours of me posting about her loss, 146 people had viewed that piece! Now, those are small numbers for many bloggers, but for Harrison Farm that was huge! The link to this piece was shared on Facebook by people I did not even know, and my hope is that people learned through reading about my beloved pup. In addition, a friend of mine contacted her cousin -- a vet -- who was able to offer some closure on what happened to The Captain. As best we can tell, it was still a terrible freak incident, but it helped me to say goodbye to my darling girl.

Augustus turned one year old on December 19th, and celebrated with a delicious hotdog! He was, however, very down after his sister died. It was a full week after The Captain passed before Gus acted at all like normal. Animals are creatures of instinct & sense, and Gus knew things were not right. As he mourned his companion, we debated how soon to get another dog. The loneliness I observed in Augustus and the loud howls of coyotes at night were signs that we should go ahead. Through friends, I learned about a litter of pups near Gambier. After speaking with the farmer, it turned out that I knew his wife and his father! On Boxing Day, we drove to see these Pyrenees dogs, and ended up coming home with a new pup! The farm where she grew up is in Harrison Township in Knox County, and just a few miles down the road from the cemetery where many of my ancestors are buried. I think it was meant to be!

The new pup is doing quite well! We are getting to know her and she is getting to know her new home. I was immediately struck by two things: she is very attuned to the livestock and she wants to please me. It is turning out to be MUCH easier to train one puppy than two! Augustus is a good role model for her. It took him a couple days of being afraid of this little dog -- only half his size! -- to overcome his anxiety. Now they are fast friends! The puppy is gradually getting more freedom and is responding well to training. While there is no replacing The Captain, I am grateful that God provided another dog that is fitting in so well to the farm. It is hard to lose the ones that we love, but life is about changes.

A new year is about new hopes, new expectations. If we live with regrets and sorrow, we will darken our own souls. On New Year's Day 2011, I watched the movie "Invictus". I was profoundly struck by the ability of Nelson Mandela to overcome the anger that must have been in his heart from the struggles he faced during Apartheid. As Mandela, actor Morgan Freedom explained this with the quote, "Forgiveness liberates." Everything in life is affected by how we choose to view it. The same thing, the same situation can be viewed by different individuals in radically different ways. Life has taught me that we must look forward, that we must learn lessons, and that we can choose our attitude toward what happens to us. I am excited for the new year, I am appreciative of those that support me, and I wish many blessings on you in 2012!

Conundrums of International Travel . . .

27 September 2011

This amused me: I flew all the way to Germany to eat Australian lamb in a Mexican restaurant . . . and it was excellent! Yay for Berlin!

Ohioans & Kiwis: We Love Lamb (and Goat)!

It has been a whirlwind on the farm of late . . . literally, in terms of the tornado! Figuratively as well, in consideration of all the activity! Along with cleaning up from the storms(!), there are baby goats arriving, pigs to fatten up, a baby calf to bottle-fed, and angry chickens to wrangle. It has been incredibly wet on the farm, which has prevented any corn from being planted as of yet on Harrison Farm. While the crops are a venture between The Grandmother & my aunt, it does impact me. If Ohioans cannot get their corn planted, the demand will sky-rocket thanks to a limited harvest, and prices for the locally made feed that I use will go up. Agriculture is very diverse, but all farmers are connected.

Despite all this activity, I managed to sneak away for a few days to Washington. The American Sheep Industry holds its annual lobbying trip the first week of May. This year, I joined them to represent the American Goat Federation. It was a fantastic experience! I travelled with Roger High (Executive Director of the Ohio Sheep Improvement Association) and Leslie (a shepherd & fellow AgriPower graduate). On our first day, we had a briefing on federal issues that impact the sheep industry and then we headed to a wonderful dinner at the New Zealand Embassy.

We were absolutely charmed by the Kiwis! They were wonderful hosts! We enjoyed delicious wines from New Zealand, along with an amazing meal of lamb chops & beef roast. At dinner, our Ohio delegation sat with the Ambassador's Chief of Staff, who was most charming. We enjoyed learning more about the country of New Zealand. The Ambassador himself gave a wonderful presentation to us, and was very hospitable. It definitely made us want to travel to see New Zealand!

I absolutely agreed with the Ambassador's statement that we gain a lot if our countries work together. For so long, American shepherds tried to position their product as being better than imported lamb. While I personally prefer American lamb, it makes more sense if we work with the Kiwis & the Australians. Demand for lamb & goat is VERY high, while supply is low. If we have a proactive attitude, we can capitalize on this opportunity. To do so, we need to recognize that Americans cannot produce enough currently to meet even our country's demand. Thus, we need imports to help meet the existing demand for our products.

Farmers are all connected. I need the Australian lamb producers and New Zealand goat farmers to succeed, so that consumers world-wide continue to have lamb & goat available. I need large ranches out West to continue to raise thousands of animals, so that the supporting businesses (slaughterhouses, woolen mills, feed stores) are there to help my little farm. I need grain farmers to flourish, so I can find quality feeds for my animals. Agriculture is very diverse, but quite connected. This is a challenge, but also a blessing!

Photo Caption: Katherine, Roger, and Leslie with the Ambassador and his Chief of Staff.

Delicious SHEEP Cheese!

I had a wonderful adventure yesterday attending the Ohio Dairy Sheep & Milk Initiative Symposium! I was there as a representative of the Ohio Sheep Improvement Association, and I greatly enjoyed it! In recent years, interest in dairy sheep has begun to grow in the United States. Throughout the world, sheep are often used as dairy animals, but in America we tend to consider them as fiber & meat animals. They can, however, be prolific producers of milk, which can then be used for delicious cheeses.

I first became aware of sheep cheese a few years ago, while shopping at my friend Said's market. His store offered an amazing Bulgarian-made sheep cheese, that was particularly good crumbled on a salad. Having had this enjoyable experience with sheep cheese, I was delighted to have the opportunity to be involved with the Dairy Sheep Symposium! The Ohio Sheep Improvement Association works to promote all sheep-related products, while offering education for farmers, and informing political leadership about agricultural needs. Thus, while the director of OSIA was attending the Make It Yourself With Wool Contest to support the fiber production of sheep, I got to attend a meeting promoting the dairy abilities of sheep!

The Dairy Sheep Symposium was held up in Wooster OH, which is a fascinating community. Wooster, in Wayne County, sits in the middle of beautiful agricultural land. This rich soil has encouraged large conventional farms as well as specialized niche operations. In addition, Wooster is the home of The Ohio State University's Agricultural Technical Institute (which hosted the Dairy Sheep Symposium) and the Ohio Agricultural Research & Development Center. Several of my student assistants have studied at ATI, so I have a connection to the college through my visits there to my kids.

Wooster is about two hours from the Farm, so it was an early morning for me yesterday! My dog was a bit baffled as to why she was leaving her comfy bed to be put outside on her lead at 6:30am, but I stressed to her the importance of promoting the sheep industry! The drive to Wooster is an easy one, and passes by scenic farmland along Route 30. I was a bit surprised to encounter snow falling the closer I got to Wooster, but fortunately it did not stick!

The event was well-attended, which definitely illustrated interest in the potential for sheep dairies! There were speakers on many facets of this niche market: a researcher on dairy sheep, a farmer from Virginia that raises dairy sheep, and experts on nutrition & grazing. I manned a table to promote the Ohio Sheep Improvement Association, which is sponsoring its annual Buckeye Shepherd Symposium in December. The Shepherd Symposium will be held at ATI this year, so it was a natural fit to encourage the attendees of the Dairy Sheep Symposium to return to the same location next month for even more opportunities to learn about sheep!

After departing the event, I took time to stop by Local Roots in Wooster. Local Roots is a market that promotes locally raised & made products. There was great community support for farm markets in Wooster over the years, but those were seasonally limited. Thus, a group of individuals came together to find a standing location where farmers could offer their items for sale throughout the year. A non-utilized county building was converted to a marketplace. Farmers can join for a fee to sell their products and shoppers can join for a fee to purchase at Local Roots, or a donation of time working at the market can fulfill this requirement. After hearing about Local Roots, I was very excited to see it. There was a bounty of local products, and this marketplace fulfills a true need of connecting farmers with those who wish to source locally raised items.

With all the fun of my trip to Wooster, the highlight remained the delicious sheep cheese that was served at the Dairy Sheep Symposium! Thin slices of a flavorful cheese, along with fresh grapes & apples . . . marvelous! Looking for sheep cheese in Columbus? I would like to suggest Al Safa Market at the corner of Trabue & Fisher on the west side of town. Take 70 west and exit at Fisher Road, turning north on Fisher. The next major intersection is Trabue Road, and Al Safa Market sits in a small strip of stores on the corner. Ask Said for some of the delicious sheep cheese and tell him that Kayt sent you!

Humans & Animals . . . Or, the Goatherd at OSU!

I was absolutely delighted to be invited to speak last week at OSU in Animal Science 597! This class focuses on issues relative to human & animal interactions, closely observing how humans use animals. I was excited to be able to address the students on this and to be able to share my perspective as a farmer.

I kicked off the two hour lecture by telling the story of Thunder the Sheep, noble guardian of Harrison Farm. I shared that Thunder had been born through a C-Section, and was the only baby of quadruplets to survive. My mother raised him on a bottle and we became attached to him. Thunder came to live with me at Harrison Farm, where he served as one of my bellwethers and was basically a big brother to all the goats. He was incredibly patient with the baby goats that would frolic & jump on his back as he lay down. Everyone loved Thunder!

Sadly, about a year ago, Thunder began to have serious issues with arthritis. And as he approached his 10th birthday, it got worse & worse. I had moved him up to the boxstall in the front of the barn to feed him, as he would no longer walk out to the field to graze. Eventually he would no longer get up on his own. I knew that this was the start of a long road downhill. When animals refuse to get up at that age, they rarely recover. Instead they slowly waste away. I decided I did not want Thunder to suffer slowly. He was a noble sheep and deserved a quick death. It was a gray & rainy day when my friend Abdi helped me to butcher Thunder. After I hugged Thunder's neck for several minutes and told him what a good sheep he was, Abdi & I got to work. The end was quick and we were able to stock a great deal of meat. I know I won't be able to get over the sentimental aspect and eat it myself, but I will be able to cook it for my dog.

I used this story to get the students thinking about my goals as a farmer to provide the best quality care for my animals that I can and to show them respect in life & in death. I wanted the students to think about what they would do. It was VERY hard to make the decision to butcher Thunder, but it gave him a quick death and it provided a protein-rich meat source for my dog to eat. He served me in life & continues to serve in death. So many people today are only familiar with their pets, and don't realize the differences between companion animals and livestock and wildlife. I encouraged the students to consider this, as we began a discussion about my perspective as a farmer, my work as a butcher, my experiences with religious slaughter, and the way that religions regard animal care.

As a former government teacher, I stressed to the students what a right truly is, and why it is a fallacy to use the term "animal rights". A right is something that must be codified, it must be won, and it must be protected with recourse. In other words, I can elucidate what my right to freedom of speech means. This right was won by Americans who fought for personal freedoms and enshrined this in the Bill of Rights. If someone compromises my freedom of speech, I can seek protection through our court system. In contrast, my dog Jolie cannot state her rights, nor has she won them, and she has no system for recourse of suppression of any rights. Thus, she does not have rights.

I encouraged the students to change the conversation to one of animal care. Using examples from various religions, I discussed that although the world's religions do not recognize "animal rights", they do stress the moral obligation to care for our fellow man, nurture our world, and shepherd the creatures in it. Thus, it is paramount that we show respect for the lives of the earth's creatures -- without losing sight of the appropriate relationship between humans and animals. Although my dog Jolie may not have "rights", it is my moral responsibility as her owner to care for her in a manner that provides a decent quality of life. It would be disrespectful of my fellow man, however, if I elevated Jolie in such a way that I served her over others. Far too many people go to bed hungry, do not have proper housing, and suffer from basic diseases. As humans, we need to keep things in the appropriate perspective as we strive to fulfill our obligation to animals, yet focus on improving the world for our fellow man.

I sincerely appreciated how hospitable the students of the class were! It was a great opportunity and I thoroughly enjoyed it!