Alpaca Farmgirl

Farming is a metaphor for life. Everything that happens on a farm – birth, growth, harvest, successes, failures, and eventually death – happens in real life as well.

In most jobs, we expect to have things go well. And when they don’t – we have a bad day. We’re disappointed and hope the next day goes better. The same thing happens on a farm, but in more of a Man vs. Nature format. When things go bad on the farm – let’s face it – they can go really bad.

Mother Nature is the friend and the enemy of the Farmer. She’s like the little Girl with the Curl. When she is good, she is very, very good (Think adorable baby alpacas who come up to you for butterfly kisses). And when she is bad she is horrid (Think Hurricane Katrina).

I am the kind of girl who would rather be at a spa than a camp ground. I actually wish farming weren’t dirty. Yet I am inexorably drawn to the constant in-your-face struggle with nature. We usually win. Life on the farm is peaceful, beautiful, and serene. The joys and rewards that come with farming have no equal in my eyes. Yet there is the darker side. It’s a rollercoaster we must ride. In order to have the highs, we must endure the lows. Do you remember in the Ron Howard movie, Parenthood, when Granny tells them that she likes the rollercoaster?

Me too, Granny. Me too.

This morning, after a 2 hour nap rather than a full nights sleep, I sat, bleary-eyed, feeding our new premature cria, Pippi. Exhausted to the core, I looked outside the barn to see the alpaca herd grazing. Occasionally a cria would jump or run. A light fog was lifting. The grass was so green it jarred my sleep-filled eyes. The sounds of alpacas gently munching on the grass was a song in my heart.

I looked down at the tiny being in my arms, depending on me for everything – her very life. The thought she might not make it brought a tear to my eye. But that is okay. It is who I am. Farmer. Nurturer.

Walt Disney once said that for every laugh there should be a tear.

He would have been a good farmer.

This was originally posted on the Alpaca Farmgirl blog. If you liked this article, you might also like How Can You Eat At a Time Like This?