Farm-Sitting

After leaving Vainisi's, the kids and I headed south to Pontotoc. We had taken on the exciting challenge of farm-sitting for some vacationing friends!!! I am so glad they got to go away together, and the weekend turned out to be not too much of a challenge at all!

The Brandons have five children who are all very competent farmers. I did not even go to the barn while we were there! Goat milking, pig and chicken feeding... it was all taken care of. There was one small incident involving a poor baby chick and some cannibal turkeys, but we won't go into details... I think the chick is recovering, though.

I spent most of the weekend cleaning and cooking... How do my friends with 9+ children ever leave the kitchen? We all enjoyed the special treat of cooking organic chicken and drinking fresh, raw goat's milk. There is definitely a difference in chicken taste... it was delicious! Josh probably drank 2 or 3 quarts of goat milk while we were there, and all of my children came home begging me to get one for our family! Maybe goats will be next spring... I am actually considering raising and killing meat chickens after last weekend!Sarah and Neo at the race

Friday night was the Bodock 5k, conveniently located in Pontotoc. It was hot and humid! After cleaning all day, I was sure that it was going to be a slow run. However, I was pleasantly surprised and managed to run a 22:06. Sarah ran 29:49, and Hannah ran a 33:42. I was proud of them, because they are just now gaining some consistency in their training.

Look at all of these Spartans before the race!

Danielle and Julie started our Spartan season off right with runs just over 21 minutes. Our varsity girls' team has quite a bit of potential this year. The key will be to keep everyone injury free and postpone peak racing until the end of the season. They are all such good, hard workers, that it is hard to make them take it easy some days... That makes me nervous and proud at the same time!Elvis provided the after race entertainment!

Some of the Spartan girls after the race

We had 65 Spartans and Spartan parents participating in the race! I can't wait until we all show up in our t-shirts!Kate, Caroline and Lia are some of my younger runners- great job, girls!

We got back to Zion Farms around 11:00, and then Saturday dawned EARLY... well, actually, we got up BEFORE dawn to go to the farmer's market in Oxford. By 6:45, we had the tent set up and ready to sell some meat and eggs out of the Zion Farms meat trailer. We checked out the tents selling vegtables, baked goods, fresh flowers, fresh milk, and even hot coffee and live music! (The musicians had a sign reading, "We play for tips and produce!")

Hannah was delighted with the atmosphere of the day. In fact, she has decided that she is going to participate in the New Albany farmer's market next year! I think she is going to try to grow flowers to sell and do eggs or bread as well.

The rest of the weekend was relatively uneventful... We went to the channel, and I got to float over the "waterfall." I wasn't planning on getting wet, but there is something altogether too enticing about a wide, rocky creek! Saturday afternoon Scott came and picked up our children... Will had cut his hand pretty badly at the channel and needed some anti-biotics... we don't like swollen knots and red streaks!

The Brandon kids and I went and explored their creek (different from the channel), and had a nice, quiet evening. I was so tired by Saturday night that I think I passed out at 9:00 on the dot!

Sunday was church, and then Monday we prepared for the arrival of Heather and Ron. I believe I was labeled a "clean freak," but Scott laughed and (a little too strongly) denied it! We had a fun weekend, and I am so glad that my friends were able to enjoy a trip together!