Another week, another farm. After my week off of road tripping I have arrived at my second 3 month stint at another farm in the Ottawa Valley.

I’m no longer living in a cabin in the woods but I trailer on the farm. It’s very different but it’s still nice. It’s gonna get hot in the summer!! The cows are right behind me and I keep waking up to be bull mooing for whatever reason he moos.

I’m also sharing the trailer with another farm worker which I was a little apprehensive about as I’m a bit of a loner and find it tough to share space a lot of the time, I just don’t feel comfortable or at home very well. But she’s been great! She’s also an oddball, jokes about and likes beer. All good.

As I’m also writing banjo diary songs and I feel ‘Trailer Farm Girl’ coming up!

Compared to the cabin – it’s not as beautiful and peaceful, but it’s a little more relaxing at night as I feel completely at ease when I go to bed. No sudden noise keeping me awake. 

The people I work for are great, a young couple who are hilarious to be around (a big plus) and a couple of kids who are lovely.

I work with the two ladies everyday and it’s been fun. The difference from working with men on a farm and women on a farm doesn’t seem big. We still burp and fart and make sex jokes throughout the day – only, every so often, the subject of the importance of sports bras and she-wees come into play.

Every day we have a chore list – feed the cows, check the cows, water the cows, count the cows.

Same with the chickens, and when the pigs arrive… Same with the pigs.

Great!

I have found a beautiful cow, who I have named Disney. Because of her eyes.

There are two dogs here too, which is great, although I miss Wolfie and Maggie so so much! These guys are also nice company. The bond is not the same as being alone with Wolfie on a cold evening in the cabin though.

And then we garden. We mostly garden. Which has been very interesting, as I’ve never gardened before.

We’ve made beds, seeded and planted vegetables. I learned all the details about the correct and wrong way to plant, due to the last inch and also when to say ‘fuck it!’ And just wing it from experience. Brilliant.

Lettuce, broccoli, celery, radish, carrots, mesclun, peas, kale, cabbage, oh my!

Can’t wait to learn more… At this point in trying to learn as much as I can – because I really don’t know what I’ll do after all of this – going back to working in a city seems like an insane idea.

Working outside every day is.just.great.

And last night was Friday night… And for the first time… I went out to the local pub and had a beer. Brilliant.

Band was on, locals were chatting to us. Met the wierdo-you-just-ignore and it another Brit (he’s been here 40+ years) and even got invited to a festival in someone’s field today! They all seemed to know the couple we work for and everyone seems open to have a couple of foreigners hang around. 

It feels like a community you can integrate into. Wonderful.

I look forward to road trips at the weekends, camping with the truck, visiting Quebec province (which is a 15 minute drive away!!!) and visiting the cities of Ottawa, Toronto, Kingston, Montreal and Quebec City.

My aim is the work hard during the week and at the weekends, look for a place to maybe call home for a while after the farm work. Just finding it tough to imagine living in a city again… Maybe a small one? Visiting Kingston next week so will keep my eyes open and my imagination free…