Finally, a Decision

It seems like a lot has happened within the last seven days, when I first got a call from the Oregon farm. I talked to them several times via phone and email, and my conversations with them and their references influenced me to accept a position at their farm. The last thing that I heard from them was, "see you in May," so the search is truly over. Oregon it is.

I am very glad to have chosen this farm for this year. The more I think about my decision, the more comfortable I become with the thought of it. It is an important choice, one which might influence the rest of my life (if I decide that I like the West and want to stay there, for instance). This does not make it frightening, though; it only serves to make me more excited about it. I am almost literally "counting the days" until the semester ends and I can board the train in Jacksonville.

On a related aside, I had the fortune to go to a local horse-drawn plowing and harrowing demonstration at a living history farm this weekend (this links to a short article with a photo: http://www.gainesville.com/article/20090208/ARTICLES/902081005). Though I had seen many pictures and videos of horses plowing and dragging harrows (the implements that come after the plow and serve to break up clods and make an even seedbed), I had never seen it in person. It was a really wonderful sight (at least to me). I was very glad to be able to explain parts of the harnesses and hitches to my family, who came with me to the demonstration. There were at least a dozen horses, two mules, two miniature donkeys and a pair of oxen (who were not old enough to work on the plowing) at the event. Excitingly for me, many of the horses were Belgians, the breed that I will be working with in Oregon (the horses shown in the linked article are Belgians).