Dear Farm Journal,
My feet couldn’t be happier. The greenhouse soil hit that magical temperature today, and I dug my toes right in while my boots and long sleeves lay abandoned in the corner. I weed greens and plant seeds in the sunshine, actually sweating. It feels like that first steaming sip of robust coffee permeating your core. Papa Rich and I continue to “talk cows”, and are considering island hopping north from Jersey to Guernsey. Some of the compelling traits of the Guernsey are: a finely tuned temperament (not nervous or irritable), the lowest incidence of calving difficulty, the calves are big at birth with a high survival rate, and they have a high rate of carrying the protein Beta Casein A2 and the Kappa Casein ‘B’ gene in their milk, which influences higher quality milk with a fitting structure for cheese making. They aren’t as small and cute as the Jersey, however, I was told that “cuteness” was not a parameter for purchasing farm animals (Rufus). I’m getting into the Guernseys as I research them. They’re the breed my grandpa Miller and Rufus’s great grandpa Rufus (his namesake) owned, so hopefully we’ll be naturals.
~Joy