23 March

Cow hug. Rouse Farm

by Jon Katz
Hug for Hare. Get in the barn

I’m struck over and over again by how much this farm family loves their cows. They know each one by name, and watch for stomach, hoof and any other ailments. Judy is often seen hugging or scratching the cows, who come up to her for attention. I’ve got some neat video of Judy and her father during milking Tuesday, but I want to go through it and do some editing before I put it up. Maybe it will be the next Bedlam Farm Diary.

23 March

American hero, farm style

by Jon Katz
Judy Baldwin

There are all kinds of heroes, but among the most unsung heroes to me are the people who do difficult work day in and day out conscientiously and with an almost defiant determination to succeed. Judy Baldwin (Ed Rouse’s daughter) works as hard as anyone I have seen, shoveling manure, hauling hay, bending over maybe 1,000 times a day, moving huge cows around with affection and authority. There are no days off on a farm, not when it is cold, when there is a blizzard, when it is pouring or muddy.

I could take photos of this women forever. She has a lot of character in her face, and a lot of determination, even some anger, in her eyes. The relationship between a photographer and a subject is tense by nature, I think. Photos can make people look bad, and Judy always looks me right in the eye and almost dares me to make her look bad.

I wouldn’t want do, and I doubt that I could. She is as honest as her father, and as unintimated by the outside world. When I visit, I learn of a dozen crises that would have sunk almost anyone, but is just a days work for this family.  Judy is a farmer, a cow milker and handler a wife and a mother of two girls. There are no easy days in her life, just some harder than others. She could be working behind a desk if she wished. She doesn’t. That is heroic to me.

23 March

Rouse Farm: Judy and Hare. The movie cometh

by Jon Katz
Rouse Farm. Judy and Hare

I returned to the Rouse farm after an absence of some weeks – Judy says it was months and she is usually right about things. I was very happy to get back to the farm and I think the Rouse family may have even been happy to see me. Ed looked askew at my video set-up and he smiled when I said I expected I would be even more annoying than before. “Well you didn’t miss many details as it was.”

He hurt his back last weekend and tomorrow morning the vet is coming to open up one of the cows and move her stomach around. Ed explained it to me but I didn’t quite get it. It was a tough winter on the Big Valley Farm and mud season has set in with a vengeance. Judy is as photogenic as ever and I shot about an hour’s worth of video in and out of the dairy barn. Next up for the Bedlam Farm Diary, Vol. 2: The Rouse Farm: the Movie. Definitely the high-def video camera captured the feel and sound of a dairy barn. I am very happy to be back on the farm. And in awe of the work these people do every day.

23 March

Dinner

by Jon Katz
Dinner

There is no more focused and attentive creature on earth than a Labrador Retriever waiting for dinner. This is where I teach Lenore to “sit” and “stay,” two things she is eager to do to get to her food. Border collies can usually take or leave food, and will abandone it altogether if there is work. Frieda’s a bit like Lenore. She will abandon food to chase a rabbit, but is otherwise excited. I wrote a story about Frieda online, inviting rabbits to the farm.

23 March

Ghost Barn

by Jon Katz
Ghost Barn

I have this strange affliction. Barns talk to me, especially old ones, those that are tilting and falling down, as so many of them are. They seem to open their eyes and mouths to me, and they whisper of acceptance and some sadness, as if they know they are not needed anymore, and noone will repair them anymore, and they are worth more as sold wood than as barns. New barns are plastic or aluminum and they do not rot or tilt or collapse. Say goodbye, these barns tell me. We are leaving the world with dignity. And they are.

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