meganmac
Megan MacDonald Joined: September 10th 2009
Logged in: February 2nd 2012
Logged in: February 2nd 2012
THANKS XOXOXO!
Travel Blog Posts
The Garden Farme House, still kickin'
Well, There has been a change of plans. For several reasons, mostly money-related, I have decided NOT to move to San Francisco for the winter, and instead, will move home to Rhode Island. I have lined up a job as an assistant at a physical therapy clinic in my hometown and will be starting that as soon I return. I have hopes to save up as much dough as I can, then hit the road to farm again in the spring. Half of me is excited to move home, the other half, totally bummed. I will miss the farming lifestyle I have adapted to so well over the past year. I have become so accustomed to having all the fresh, organic fruits/vegetables/eggs/milk that I can handle at my fingertips. What will I do without goats or ... read more
The usual outfit/usual day/usual lettuce bucket
Hard to believe it has been ONE YEAR since I left Rhode Island on my US farm journey. ONE YEAR! When I decided to leave my beloved Boston to embark on a solo journey around the United States I was scared and nervous but ready for everything and anything, unsure of where I would end up, but excited to be able to look back on it all a year later.. and here I am, doing just that. This has been a wild and rewarding year of travel, love, physical labor, mental/physical/psychological growth, education, new and old friends, discovering this beautiful country, sleeping on or in couches/futons/tents/beds/motels and growing/harvesting/eating delicious organic foods. I have traveled from Greene, Maine to Key West, Florida to San Diego, California to Vancouver, British Columbia to Minneapolis, Minnesota; I have put 10,000+ ... read more
Bugs
After a much needed, but too short visit home to RI/Boston in July, I flew back to Portland, OR to begin the trek east to Minnesota. Lindsey, a friend from college, sacrificed a week of her life to join me… or maybe it was for the cowboys? One week from Portland, OR to Minneapolis, MN is a lot of driving but we managed to squeeze in a lot of fun along the way. First stop was Missoula, Montana where every person we met was into extreme outdoor sports like kayaking and mountain biking. Downtown Missoula hosted a white water kayaking competition on Friday night as the main attraction for the evening. A couple hundred people sat along the Snake River bank watching kayakers flip and spin into the rapids in hopes of winning cool prizes, ... read more
Dan leading the goats on a walk through the woods
June in Oregon, ahhhh. The Pacific Northwest is GORGEOUS and I think I chose the perfect time of year to be here. It rained the first week I was in Oregon, then was sunny and perfect for the rest of the month, so I cannot complain. I spent one week in Tiller, OR at PermaOrganic Goat Farm with Dan, the other wwoofer, located 20+ miles from anything, even a post office, with no cell service, surrounded by the national forest. Dan and I spent our time walking in the forest with the goats, reading, drinking goat milk and playing lots and lots of cards! We milked seven mini-Nubian goats every morning, using the milk to drink and make cream cheese and butter. There was more milk than we could consume or make cream cheese with, so ... read more
Squaw Valley USA!
Two months on the road! Whooee! I have traveled from northern Florida to Vancouver, Canada and have landed in Oregon for the summer. First and foremost, let me thank everyone who has helped me along the way - from providing me with a couch/futon/bed/floor to sleep on, treating me to dinner, offering information about cities and hiking spots along the way, or talking to me while driving 8 hours at a time to help me stay awake (Pete in particular!) - You are the best! And thank you to all the others who have made my trip so much fun thus far - strangers, friends of friends and farmers! Thank you: Joe in Pensacola, Peter in New Orleans, Ryan in New Orleans, Aunt Titi & Uncle Bob in Houston, Mike in Houston, Kelly in Waco, Mike ... read more
The girls playing in the pasture
The last month at Serenity Acres has been busy busy busy! The nine goat babies have been growing very fast and are all running, jumping and playing like wild maniacs. Cuddling with them has become less soft-warm-fuzzy-time and more of biting, jumping and nibbling time. They LOVE to nibble on shoe laces, clothing, hair.. basically anything you put in front of them. By the time I left they were all 20-25lbs, so having them jump three at a time into my lap became more of a work-out than anything. The baby geese and ducks were finally released onto the main property, free to roam around during the day. The geese look almost full grown and have lost all their yellow feathers. The ducklings have all their adult feathers and have taken to flying short distances around ... read more
Coco Puff!
Babies, we’ve got babies! The past two weeks have been so busy here! Sleeping is no longer a priority, as baby goats have taken up all our spare time. Browmyn gave birth to baby Coco on March 1st around midnight. We knew Bromwyn was in labor - she had begun nesting (scratching at the ground and establishing a space in a corner), her tail ligaments had gone soft (a sign of their bodies getting ready for delivery) and she was showing signs of dilation (use your imagination - I’ll leave at that so I don’t scare you with too much information). I was awakened around 12:30am to Julia knocking on the trailer door to say “We’ve got a baby!” Of course Bromwyn picked one of the rainiest, coldest nights to give birth, and we were ... read more
Riding lesson on Jet, thanks Julia!
Approximately three weeks have passed since I last wrote and it has been just enough time to get me going on my redneck identity. Seriously. I now I have my very own John Deere sweatshirt and a camo hat, both of which I wear on a regular basis. I have eaten fried pickles and fried-at-home turkey and learned to shoot a gun and to crack a whip! I’ve hung out with the townies at the local bar and gone “muddin’” on the back roads. What more could a girl ask for? The 6am chores have not changed, but they have definitely gotten easier- both because I am used to waking up at the crack of dawn and I know how to do all the chores efficiently now. I have been milking Valentine as often as ... read more
Scraping out the chicken coop
Hello hello from Florida, again. I’m in Pinetta, Florida at Serenity Acres Farm. I arrived here on the 18th of January, but before that, I spent about three weeks in RI, Boston and Captiva, FL. It was so nice to be back in Florida after spending two weeks in the freezing, icy, snowy cold of New England, although seeing family and friends was well worth it. My trip to Captiva (an island off the west coast of FL) was awesome, as I got to spend five days with Theo, Tiina, Hank, Karin and John on the beach. Theo and I drove in from Miami via Alligator Alley where the alligators can easily be seen lounging in the swamp on either side of the highway- no big deal. We stayed with Tiina and Hank at their ... read more
Julio and the full moon
What a crazy month it has been since I last wrote. Two of the wwoofers, Tom and Cassie, left the farm the first week in December. Tom went back home to New Jersey and Cassie went to Key West with Jason, a guy we met in Key West over Thanksgiving. That left just Chris and I on the farm in Miami. Nothing against Chris, but I have definitely felt Cassie and Tom’s absence more than I thought I would. I did not realize how much they made my day. This has definitely been a reminder that it is not necessarily how you spend your time, but who you spend it with! Their departure also elicited a change in Saul - this time, a positive one! Whether he is nervous the rest of us are going ... read more
