Hi this is Janice. Remember in the last episode when I mentioned new discoveries during my journey to obtain our family farm?
Well, I have been volunteering on a local farm for a couple of months now. One of my chores involves caring for a flock of egg laying hens. During my first day there I learned so many things such as how to clean a chicken coop, how to identify a rooster from a hen, and how common mice are on a farm. Yes, you heard me correctly. Now, it’s not like like the farm was swarming with them like in the movie Ben, but the few that I saw during my first day had me rethinking this whole farming thing. What have I gotten myself into! This is truly a place where only the strong survive, but I was not going to give up that easily. Needless to say, I was VERY alert that day.
I came back the next week. I decided to handle the situation like a true farmer in training would. I approached the farmer and said, “Hey, I need to ask a favor of you. I need you to help me get comfortable around mice….a sort of mouse therapy if you will”. He agreed that we would slowly work on this. Feeling proud of myself, I proceeded to head into the coop to help with cleaning. Not more than 2 minutes later, out of nowhere, I spotted a chicken running towards me with what appeared to me Mickey’s little cousin in her mouth. I screamed, and quickly ran out of the coop. This was unreal. It’s like the mouse gods heard me and wanted to test my will. That is NOT what I had in mind.
After I calmed down a bit, the farmer patiently found a dead mouse on another trap nearby and assisted me with being able to hold the trap and then eventually, the mouse itself. That was an improvement. I have pics to prove it 🙂
I was so happy with myself, and I know I will need to continue to do this in order to gain more confidence. This journey is indeed filled with many surprises.
Until next time,
Janice
