The Time Has Come

Farm facts I’ve learned this week
Bulls can be a bit stupid

So, after two years together it’s time for me to move in with the farmer. This is despite both of us insisting for the first 18 months of our relationship that we were Never Living with Anyone Again. 

Then we went away for a long weekend together at Easter. It was wonderful. We had uninterrupted time together. Nothing died or gave birth or needed fed outside at 7am. We walked for miles, met friends for drinks and generally enjoyed being tourists. 

I won’t go into the details (because they’re boring, not because they’re salacious) but the weekend ended with me being dropped off in a car park to get a lift home. We both felt pretty deflated and it didn’t seem a fitting end to a lovely trip away. We agreed to talk about our living arrangements at the end of the year (we like to take things slowly). 

Fast forward to September and I was offered a job out of the blue a mile from the farm. (Luckily, it’s not farm-related because I know nothing and couldn’t even bluff it.)  So, every day I make a 50-mile round trip with a lunchtime visit to the farm thrown in for good measure. The universe was making it pretty obvious that I should possibly consider moving in the not-too-distant future. Maybe. 

• It’s probably time for my feet and my slippers to be always in the same house.
• And for me to stop packing and unpacking an overnight bag three or four times a week.
• And it’s a bit daft for my life and my belongings to be 25 miles apart. 

I’m collecting boxes and bubble wrap five months after I moved into my current house but it doesn’t matter. I’m excited about moving and finding places for everything and making my home at the farm. 

I’m also looking forward to learning more about the farm. This week I learned that bulls can be a bit stupid. It’s the time of year (on this farm at least) when the bull gets to have his way with the ladies. When it starts to get colder, the cows are moved into a shed with one of the bulls who then has a captive audience. Except the bull in question keeps getting his head stuck in a feed barrier even though moving his head a few inches to the side would free it immediately. The farmer has freed it repeatedly and did not laugh when he told me the story (I misjudged that one…). The bull has now been put outside in the cold and replaced with another less stupid one who is having the time of his life. There’s a moral in there somewhere.