"Down on the farm" Topic

This should make some of you smile.

Some of you may know that Neal and I run 2 businesses, The Warstore, and Catapano Farms. Catapano Farms is a working farm and a commercial growing operation.

Today at the farm we had a 4 young ladies come in. They were dressed in leggings and low heels. They were out for the day to see the country. Did I mention they were from Manhattan? Our farm sells a number of things, annuals, perennials, shrubs, goat cheese (made by my sis in law), fresh eggs and fresh chicken. These ladies come in the delivery door of the greenhouse which is open because it's 90 degrees inside and a breeze is nice. One of my workers tells them the goat cheese and flowers are in front. They go traipsing down the greenhouse giggling. After several minutes, I follow because who knows what these gals had gotten into. And most of the workers in that part of the greenhouse speak mostly Spanish and very little English.

They wanted to see the goats (we have sheep) that the cheese is made from and pet the babies. They couldn't get close enough from the front fence so through the green house they went. They cut through the drainage areas between the smaller houses in back and got their nice shoes all wet from water drainage (it rained like crazy yesterday) and covered in sheep and chicken poo. They get to the back fence which is an electric portable used to divide the pastures. They reach over the electric fence to try to pet the sheep. Now mind you, the sheep aren't coming anywhere near that fence. AAAAAANNNNNNNNDDDDDD, you guessed it -- one of them gets shocked. So as I get down to the area where they are, these gals are looking really lost and confused. I asked if I could help. They said, in no particular order, how do you make all the cheese from so few goats? (We have 11 milking ewe sheep and 20 lambs.) Did you know your fence shocks people? (There is a sign on it that says Danger – Electric Fence.) How do you get inside to play with the goats? (They are sheep and you don't. See those guys with the horns. They could hurt you. Grown Ram and grown Buck goat.) Did you know your walkways between the buildings are full of ? (Those aren't walkways. Those are for drainage and two of them drain the barn). So I lead the gals back to the front and they still want to pet the goats. So I sent them over to the Dairy Farm which has the 120 goats my sis in law milks for the goat cheese.

Moral to this story -- some people shouldn't have kids and you can't help STUPID.

Let's just say it's a crushing lesson when kids learn animals aren't nugget shaped.

Luckily, when it's fair time Little Elmo has no problem identifying the Bacon parts, the Ham parts, etc.

Little Elmo is lucky. It sounds like he is on his way to a well rounded education.

Some people's kids.

I can't understand how some folks think. Or if they think. I'm originally from LA. But even in LALA land I knew better than go wandering uninvited onto another's property to go play with their critters.

Just recently (three days ago) there were some flatland
tourister types (from UNC-Chapel Hill) who came out to
the country to see 'real animals'.

Marston, the dairy farmer across the road, had put a
bull in his pasture, along with 2-3 cows.

Those kids need to go out for the UNC track team…

City kids. At least they actually wanted to see a farm.

Of course, when country kids come to the city, you get the opposite effect.

Knowledge reflects experiences, not intelligence. Of course, failing to read and understand the "Electric Fence" sign does not evidence high levels of either.

I can forgive their ignorance of animals, but not their lack of good manners and good sense.

However, I was teaching a physiology course at a community college in Oklahoma, the land of wheat and cattle, when, while trying to describe the arrangements of blood vessels in muscle bundles I said 'Did you ever look at the bloodvessels in between the lobes of a pot roast?' A young lady and native of the state burst out in an astonished tone, 'You mean meat's MUSCLE?' No accounting for ignorance.

As Ghandi once said "stupid people shouldn't breed."

@Parzival -- I agree with you there. But with these gals, it was just a combination of stupidity and being airheaded and not paying attention.

Most folks stop at the office and ask if they can pet the lambs and sheep. We say sure and I go out with them to tell them about the sheep, why we have them and give the little ones (usually under 10) the names of the lambs. We have a couple that are super friendly because they were bottle raised. If it's close to feeding time, I'll grab some grain so the kids can feed the sheep. Plus my being there also settles the grown boys down. They know me. And I still don't turn my back on either of the grown boys. A gentle I want attention butt is enough to push you down.

The electric fence sign is clearly displayed about every 30 feet and it's bright yellow and the size of a for sale sigh you put in the car. The drainage ditches are clearly a mess -- there is a reason I wear Wellington's when I am working back there.

I felt like Bill Engvall -- here's your sign.