7/27/21
10:13 am Tuesday
It is a big day at Cascadia Heritage Farm. It is Christmas for Viggo and Alaistair, the contractor helping us. Viggo woke up hearing the bulldozer and his eyes flashed open like a light being turned on. “Is the bulldozer here?” I said, “I believe it is.” Viggo jumps out of bed and opens the deck door and says, “Bulldozer is here!” We get dressed quickly to see all the action. Viggo is rattling off all the equipment here on the property. I asked what piece is his favorite. “Bulldozer!” says Viggo. We talk to Alaistair and he has a big smile. He says, “Renting the bulldozer was the right call!” Shuna, Viggo and I are all excited to be making progress on putting in a horse arena and the final location for the horse round pen!
I talk to Bobby, one of Alaistair’s colleagues, for a little while. He says he loves working with Alaistair’s team and he is always learning. He really appreciates what we are doing here at Cascadia Heritage Farm and wants to live more sustainably. He loves the M.I.G.H.T Project and how we are trying to help make the Malay chicken mighty again. He says he explains this project to his family and friends, and they have a hard time understanding until he says, “They are making three foot tall chickens!” Once they hear that, they understand. We also talk about young people having trouble finding things to be hopeful about and how what we are doing here is trying to encourage hope and appreciation. Hearing Bobby saying he has learned a lot from us and now wants to do something similar is really inspiring to me. Being a source of inspiration is what we are hoping to achieve here at Cascadia Heritage Farm, and it is wonderful to know we are achieving this. We want to do more, but we must not get burned out trying to raise and sell so many animals. We have become overwhelmed by the farm and now are finding our footing again. We want to be a showcase for these animals and lifestyle. We want to educate, inspire and be inspired. We want to appreciate and be appreciated. We are pivoting. Cascadia Heritage Farm is moving towards experiential versus commercial. I believe with our very small-scale farm, experiential is the only way to keep our farm alive.
By the way, yesterday I did something I believed I never would do. I put on a pair of rubber gloves and helped guide a horse penis during breeding.
I am thankful and appreciative for all of these opportunities.
