Sunshine and Poo

The sun has been shining all day! Everyone loves it- me, the cows, the other workers… Right this moment some of the cows are out in pasture sunning themselves and giving the black and white birds some companionship. I bottled milk with Cemıle earlier. We’ve got a brilliant system between the two of us- efficient. It’s a rewarding feeling. I love the way Turkish women will take care of you, cluck-clucking if you make a mistake and giving you treats and warm kisses throughout the day. After bottling, since Mathilde was gone to the Bazaar and Paige and the other employees were no where to be found, I wandered into the young barn to push food. 

We have two barns: one for the young cows and the dry cows, and one for the cows that are milked twice a day. The young barn, as we call it, is more open. Sunlight was filtering through the aluminum roof and metal columns, warming and drying the hay. I pushed the cows’ meal towards them and a pleasant smell rose … now I understand why people say the smell of hay is sweet. It was warm and light, rustling. There was only the sound of silence… no machines or tractors running. As I pushed more food, small sounds floated into my ears. The trickling, garbling of water; the munching from the cows; the shifting bodies as the mamas push each other for a better access to hay; a few birds chirping.
The sunlight is shining through, turning everything golden. The scene I remember in my mind’s eye is so idyllic, it hardly even deserves to be described on this flat white electric screen.

I then wandered to the pasture and combed the sunning cows. They love being brushed, and a few would virtually hug me with their necks- ‘cuddling’ while aiming for a better scratch spot. These past few days have been like this- simply peaceful. 

Today, disrupting any monotony that might have been waiting to creep up on us, I had a little accident. Mathilde and I took a walk through the fields and forests behind the farm, and coming back we discovered some of the cows had escaped from the young barn. Mathilde hurried ahead to shepherd the animals away from danger. I followed, climbing over the bales of hay still out of breath from the mini hike. She turns back, looking for me. I tell her I’m coming- I’m over the hay and just about to cross a stretch of flat land. From the distance I hear her yell, “No!”… I wonder at what she could possibly be referring to and I take a step onto earth and …

WHOOSH!
All of a sudden I’m chest-deep in what is nothing else than a Pool of POO.
That stretch of flat earth, the ground I was about to step on to catch up to Mathilde and the run-away cows? That was not ground, my friend. Yet I was so unaware… I did not even hesitate and stepped right in! Even up to my chest in the pool, I didn’t feel the ground. I didn’t even think of it as poo at first. My immediate thoughts were of my father telling me about quick sand, and how you have to not struggle and flail about but slowly work your feet upwards. Luckily I was adjacent to a stucco wall, and immediately Mathilde was at my side, pulling me out. Up over the wall and we collapsed backwards onto the beds of grass and hay. “Oh! Are you okay, are you okay?!” Mathilde is holding me, checking for any injuries and calming any panic that might have arisen inside of me but I’m hardly upset. I’m laughing- completely surprised at the entire happening, still! Perhaps it was my dad’s words echoing in my head or my lengthy experience in swim, but I remember feeling absolutely no panic. 
We walked back to our lojma, me leaning on Mathilde. For me at least, ‘walking’ is an overstatement. I schlepped all the way home, my boots filled with shit-water. We were both panting with laughter and astonishment and confoundedeness. Paige met us near the house, and as soon as she learned the story all she could do was laugh. That’s pretty much the reaction I got from everyone today, and I was laughing at the hilariousness right along with them. So many puns were made and the sheer dramatic irony of it all had us rolling.

These past few days have turned as golden as the sunlight this afternoon. So much laughter and harmony between Paige and Mathilde and I. I joked after today’s little ‘swim’ that at least nothing Worse could happen- but in fact, I might even call today’s event a blessing. I am so grateful for my place here on the farm, this feeling of simply Existing; harmoniously; together.