Keira

This is the newest member of the Old Man Farm animal community: Keira the Highland cow, named in honor of our first "WWOOFer." WWOOFers are "Willing Workers on Organic Farms," volunteers from all over the world who stay on organic farms to learn, experience local culture, travel inexpensively, and enjoy a unique vacation experience. This is our first summer as WWOOF hosts, and so far we have enjoyed the company (and assistance) of five different visitors, all of whom have brought their own particular gifts to share.

Keira (the WWOOFER) was a lively, energetic twenty-something who blew into Old Man Farm like a wild spring wind. In her week with us, she organized the barn shop, dug strawberry beds and planted strawberries, hauled firewood, loaded junk on the dump truck, helped retrieve our second-hand greenhouse from its previous location, pulled the children uphill and down on a sled (no, we do NOT still have snow), and generally endeared herself to all of us with her joyful, positive spirit.

A mere four hours before her departure on the bus to North Sydney, Keira was fortunate to experience the birth of the little beauty in the picture above. We all watched in awe as mom Ginger worked through her labour and pushed the little beast into the world on a warm, spring evening. Keira drank in the experience. I loved watching her, watching the birth - she was so fully open, so present in the moment, so aware of her privelege in witnessing the event.

Some people might feel... well, ambivalent, at best, about having a calf named after them. Keira, to her credit, was honored. And little Keira (the MOOer, not the WWOOFer), seems to be thriving.