Life on the farm!

Work is going well and I am learning a lot! Alongside the goats I got to visit an olive factory this week to see where everything gets processed. Olives are everywhere here and are very important for the area! We visited Juans olive patch and his is the only organic one within the local area. The difference on the ground is immediately obvious as there is grass everywhere whereas the mass produced areas are bare, waterlogged and full of gullies. He is an inspirational man and talks highly about the ecological aspects of both olives and farming (and I understood what he was saying!). 

He only started up the farm six years ago with his family and is very passionate about it. His plans for the future include vermiculture for the insects that are on the farm, increasing the number of goats from 500 to 800 and opening up opportunities for agritourism such as showing children where their food/drink naturally comes from and possibly horse trekking. I wish him all the best in his endeavours as he has the passion and vision to carry it forward.

Every day at the farm we milk around 300 goats in the morning and then we have breakfast. Following this we feed all the goats, clean the shed, feed to the pigs, dogs and collect the eggs from the chickens. It is not a bad life! We have also made some cheese which is something that I hope to do again when I get home.

The happiest goat of all time!

Milking the goats has provided many entertaining moments so far. I have sadly already been pooed on, as much as I tried to avoid it! I am getting slightly concerned that I now recognise more of the goats by their back end rather than their face! For anyone who has seen the edited version of the Taylor Swift song with the goats should know that they make those sorts of noises all the time and it can be quite something. If you are milking and that sound comes out it can be quite unnerving as I might well make the same sound if someone came up behind me and attached suckers without asking haha! I am really enjoying working with these animals and they are providing plenty of entertainment. My technique for catching kid goats definitely needs to improve as at the moment I am just running up and down the shed being outsmarted by a 6 month year old animal!

This weekend we went out on the Friday night to celebrate us completing our first week of work and on Sunday we walked to Úbedas neighbour town Baeza. We went through olive fields, across dual carriageways and up steep hills but we made it in one piece! They had the best churros, beautiful buildings, the sun was shining and we had the Sierra Mágina all around us what more could we want in life?

These pictures don't do it justice as I was using my phone and I felt like it was time to include some photos of me haha. 

Laura xox