Hey, look...
It has been 9 months since I wrote here. 9 months since I actually looked at this journal.
And yeah, 9 months since I worked on the dairy farm.
It was a tough time. I have never had to leave a job with nothing lined up with this much debt (mortgage) before. I had a full week off, recovering, before 2 temp jobs and now a permanent job. Yes, a city job.
I miss the countryside, I miss the fresh air. And now it is coming into winter again and there are no daylight hours at home aside from the weekend. I love the crisp winter Canterbury days, where the sky is just so pure and clear, after a frosty morning. I do admit though, that I hate the mud and I hate the cold.
City job is a good job. I like the place, and love the people. The job, however, I find difficult and stressful. Mentally draining, and emotionally draining at times too. This is the sacrifice after having a physically draining job that was too much for me.
I really think that dairy farming COULD be an awesome job. If the hours and workload was balanced enough. Maybe I just don't cut it? In which case at least I gave it a go.
Will tackle things from a different angle now.
Yes, I want to work with animals. No, this won't happen again just yet.
If I slowly gather myself up some more qualifications, then this could guide me into an animal job that suits me better. I am thinking along the lines of vet nursing, milk testing, tb testing and AI. Not the sort of jobs that I can just walk into. Plus, a lot of them are seasonal, meaning less secure income. This is why this can't happen yet.
The plan is to do some part time study. Correspondence etc. Vet Nursing itself I believe is 3 years part time, but I won't tackle that just yet, I will start with something smaller to get myself into it. Pet Care, Animal Behaviour and Equine Studies are courses I have my eye on, and also Animal Science.
So, the new mission is to keep the city job, and have my sights a little more into the future. We have also decided that there is much other stuff to be done before I can take on study, such as become a little more settled in my new job, and tie up a few loose ends around the place. Plus get myself a study space. Easier said than done...
In the meantime, though, we now have 4 yearling calves! Yes, I think this qualifies me to call myself a "cowgirl" again. Yay!
3 heifers (1 jersey, 2 friesian), 2 of which we hope to raise and breed from. Plus one friesian steer, who is a bit of a sooky pet. One day we will have a house cow. And one day soon we will have beef in the freezer.
They were delivered yesterday, and we got them for a bargain price. Wasn't going to take on any just yet, but we've scored ourselves some good winter feed, so all is good. They are in with our yearling colts, and slowly settling in. The girls aren't that tame, but hopefully Tom the steer will become cuddly once he gets to know us. And hopefully the girls will become friendlier over time too.
This makes me happy :)
It has been 9 months since I wrote here. 9 months since I actually looked at this journal.
And yeah, 9 months since I worked on the dairy farm.
It was a tough time. I have never had to leave a job with nothing lined up with this much debt (mortgage) before. I had a full week off, recovering, before 2 temp jobs and now a permanent job. Yes, a city job.
I miss the countryside, I miss the fresh air. And now it is coming into winter again and there are no daylight hours at home aside from the weekend. I love the crisp winter Canterbury days, where the sky is just so pure and clear, after a frosty morning. I do admit though, that I hate the mud and I hate the cold.
City job is a good job. I like the place, and love the people. The job, however, I find difficult and stressful. Mentally draining, and emotionally draining at times too. This is the sacrifice after having a physically draining job that was too much for me.
I really think that dairy farming COULD be an awesome job. If the hours and workload was balanced enough. Maybe I just don't cut it? In which case at least I gave it a go.
Will tackle things from a different angle now.
Yes, I want to work with animals. No, this won't happen again just yet.
If I slowly gather myself up some more qualifications, then this could guide me into an animal job that suits me better. I am thinking along the lines of vet nursing, milk testing, tb testing and AI. Not the sort of jobs that I can just walk into. Plus, a lot of them are seasonal, meaning less secure income. This is why this can't happen yet.
The plan is to do some part time study. Correspondence etc. Vet Nursing itself I believe is 3 years part time, but I won't tackle that just yet, I will start with something smaller to get myself into it. Pet Care, Animal Behaviour and Equine Studies are courses I have my eye on, and also Animal Science.
So, the new mission is to keep the city job, and have my sights a little more into the future. We have also decided that there is much other stuff to be done before I can take on study, such as become a little more settled in my new job, and tie up a few loose ends around the place. Plus get myself a study space. Easier said than done...
In the meantime, though, we now have 4 yearling calves! Yes, I think this qualifies me to call myself a "cowgirl" again. Yay!
3 heifers (1 jersey, 2 friesian), 2 of which we hope to raise and breed from. Plus one friesian steer, who is a bit of a sooky pet. One day we will have a house cow. And one day soon we will have beef in the freezer.
They were delivered yesterday, and we got them for a bargain price. Wasn't going to take on any just yet, but we've scored ourselves some good winter feed, so all is good. They are in with our yearling colts, and slowly settling in. The girls aren't that tame, but hopefully Tom the steer will become cuddly once he gets to know us. And hopefully the girls will become friendlier over time too.
This makes me happy :)
So this will be the final update. Probably for a long while.
Due to major exhaustion my doctor has advised me to step away from the dairy farm.
This is sad. I love the cows and I like the work.
12-13+ hour days are fine... but not every day
picking up heavy calves is ok... but not all the time
skipping meal breaks can be done occasionally... but not all the time
Sadly, the farm demanded what I am not capable of - a combination of the 3 sad things above.
Puff got grumpy. The Department of Labour says it is the employers responsibility to manage worker stress and fatigue.
I didn't get grumpy, as I had barely enough energy to string a sentence together. I just got sad.
I certainly support a move to Once a Day milking, at least over the calving and ai period. Apparently the farms are making plenty enough dough to justify splitting the day into 2x 8 hour shifts that overlap, or something. I certainly support the idea of having more staff on the farm.
I guess it is no surprise that your average Kiwi doesn't want to work on a dairy farm. I was so tired that I forgot stuff - like closing gates. Stuff that I honestly thought I had done. Of course that adds to the stress also, thinking you are going mad because you didn't do something that you thought you had.
People are a big thing. If there are only 3 people running a farm, then there must be some form of respect for each other, and things must be organised enough so that people know what's happening. Communication is a huge thing. This stuff needs to improve for people like me to be happy on the farm.
It was very very VERY interesting working at the Lighthouse farm. The difference between the management styles was astounding. If I could've stayed there I probably would still be dairy farming.
Doctor wants me to do standard 8-ish hour days though, and when it comes down to it, I want that for myself too.
I hope to get into calf rearing and/or relief milking at some stage. I like the work.
At this stage, however, I need more regular hours. Mortgage does that to you.
In the meantime, I will probably play city girl and get another city job.
*love and hugs*
Due to major exhaustion my doctor has advised me to step away from the dairy farm.
This is sad. I love the cows and I like the work.
12-13+ hour days are fine... but not every day
picking up heavy calves is ok... but not all the time
skipping meal breaks can be done occasionally... but not all the time
Sadly, the farm demanded what I am not capable of - a combination of the 3 sad things above.
Puff got grumpy. The Department of Labour says it is the employers responsibility to manage worker stress and fatigue.
I didn't get grumpy, as I had barely enough energy to string a sentence together. I just got sad.
I certainly support a move to Once a Day milking, at least over the calving and ai period. Apparently the farms are making plenty enough dough to justify splitting the day into 2x 8 hour shifts that overlap, or something. I certainly support the idea of having more staff on the farm.
I guess it is no surprise that your average Kiwi doesn't want to work on a dairy farm. I was so tired that I forgot stuff - like closing gates. Stuff that I honestly thought I had done. Of course that adds to the stress also, thinking you are going mad because you didn't do something that you thought you had.
People are a big thing. If there are only 3 people running a farm, then there must be some form of respect for each other, and things must be organised enough so that people know what's happening. Communication is a huge thing. This stuff needs to improve for people like me to be happy on the farm.
It was very very VERY interesting working at the Lighthouse farm. The difference between the management styles was astounding. If I could've stayed there I probably would still be dairy farming.
Doctor wants me to do standard 8-ish hour days though, and when it comes down to it, I want that for myself too.
I hope to get into calf rearing and/or relief milking at some stage. I like the work.
At this stage, however, I need more regular hours. Mortgage does that to you.
In the meantime, I will probably play city girl and get another city job.
*love and hugs*
So, the getting round to updating has been escaping me!
I spent 2 weeks at the Lighthouse farm, Synlait's winter milking farm.
All of the empty (not pregnant) cows from the other Synlait farms get brought to Lighthouse to become a winter milking herd. The pregnant ones are dried off about May for the winter.
We started out with about 500 winter milking cows, but that has slowly dropped as the lower producing cows were dried off. They start to dry themselves off if they have been milking for a while, and also the longer you milk them for the higher their somatic (sp?) cell count. This is something that we try to keep low, so these cows are generally dried off also.
I very much enjoyed it up there. So much so that I would've been very keen to stay on, had the decsision been mine, but now I am back at Sakura, and that's not such a bad thing.
Bronwyn is the new manager of the Lighthouse. It is a brand new farm, converted from a beef and sheep farm, and they started milking there in April. Sadly, it was poorly run before Bronwyn got there, but she has done heaps of work and it seems to be going well now, with happier cows and better milk.
I got on very well with Bronwyn, I understand the way she works. She was explained lots of things to me and taught me heaps. I like this. At Sakura it seems much of my learning is done by osmosis. Bronwyn is a horse person and a dog person too, to my delight. We may do some horse stuff together in the future.
Being back at Sakura means that I am heaps closer to home. This is a good thing because I can pop home for lunch without breaking the bank on fuel. If it weren't raining horribly outside I would be able to catch up on my horse stuff, but today it's just inside chores and intnernet.
All the farms are starting to milk now, as the calves slowly arrive. From memory we have about 8 calves, and are milking about the same number of cows. I still don't know much about how to operate all the equipment. I learnt most of it at Lighthouse, but the Sakura shed is about 10 years old to my knowledge, and everything is set up differently.
There isn't enough milk yet for the tanker to come and collect. The cows have colostrum for the first few days (4?) which is kept to feed to the young calves. The older calves get standard milk, and the milk from penicillin treated cows goes down the drain.
One cow had heaps of blood in her milk today. It looked disgusting. It sounds like there is nothing much that can be done and that she should come right in a couple of days. I'm told it's probably because she has just calved.
Other cows have retained their placenta, and some hangs out the back. This is gross and as it starts to rot it smells vile. If it were a horse it would kill her to leave her like this, but cows seem to cope fine. After a week or so you can pull it all out, but if you pull at it too soon you can cause more damage than good.
I know stuff about horses, but not about cows, so it's all very different for me!
Anyway, Low Battery on this here laptop, so will update more later.
:)
I spent 2 weeks at the Lighthouse farm, Synlait's winter milking farm.
All of the empty (not pregnant) cows from the other Synlait farms get brought to Lighthouse to become a winter milking herd. The pregnant ones are dried off about May for the winter.
We started out with about 500 winter milking cows, but that has slowly dropped as the lower producing cows were dried off. They start to dry themselves off if they have been milking for a while, and also the longer you milk them for the higher their somatic (sp?) cell count. This is something that we try to keep low, so these cows are generally dried off also.
I very much enjoyed it up there. So much so that I would've been very keen to stay on, had the decsision been mine, but now I am back at Sakura, and that's not such a bad thing.
Bronwyn is the new manager of the Lighthouse. It is a brand new farm, converted from a beef and sheep farm, and they started milking there in April. Sadly, it was poorly run before Bronwyn got there, but she has done heaps of work and it seems to be going well now, with happier cows and better milk.
I got on very well with Bronwyn, I understand the way she works. She was explained lots of things to me and taught me heaps. I like this. At Sakura it seems much of my learning is done by osmosis. Bronwyn is a horse person and a dog person too, to my delight. We may do some horse stuff together in the future.
Being back at Sakura means that I am heaps closer to home. This is a good thing because I can pop home for lunch without breaking the bank on fuel. If it weren't raining horribly outside I would be able to catch up on my horse stuff, but today it's just inside chores and intnernet.
All the farms are starting to milk now, as the calves slowly arrive. From memory we have about 8 calves, and are milking about the same number of cows. I still don't know much about how to operate all the equipment. I learnt most of it at Lighthouse, but the Sakura shed is about 10 years old to my knowledge, and everything is set up differently.
There isn't enough milk yet for the tanker to come and collect. The cows have colostrum for the first few days (4?) which is kept to feed to the young calves. The older calves get standard milk, and the milk from penicillin treated cows goes down the drain.
One cow had heaps of blood in her milk today. It looked disgusting. It sounds like there is nothing much that can be done and that she should come right in a couple of days. I'm told it's probably because she has just calved.
Other cows have retained their placenta, and some hangs out the back. This is gross and as it starts to rot it smells vile. If it were a horse it would kill her to leave her like this, but cows seem to cope fine. After a week or so you can pull it all out, but if you pull at it too soon you can cause more damage than good.
I know stuff about horses, but not about cows, so it's all very different for me!
Anyway, Low Battery on this here laptop, so will update more later.
:)
Thursday the mum of the first calf fell ill.
We got the vet out and she picked up heaps.
After some investigation it turns out that although there was water in the trough when we put them in the small paddock, the water wasn't actually on, or the ballcock was broken, so they had run out of water.
Given the amount of milk this girl was making, I'm not surprised she got crook. I'm putting it down to dehydration.
She seemed all fine Friday, etc, but then was found dead on Sunday. I am kinda sad, she was a lovely cow. My guess is that the dehydration caused kidney damage, and that she possibly died from kidney failure.
It does happen all the time on dairy farms, but I am still a little sad. The baby has started suckling from the other cow, so that's all good.
Yesterday we had another cow calve, this time a dead calf. Although I am ok with that, actually picking up the dead calf and putting it on the ute to dispose of was really yukky. Cold and slimy, and not that easy to lift either, due to the sliminess.
Cow seemed a little sad. HEAPS of milk, she was dripping it everywhere. She has gone to another Synlait farm, where they are winter milking.
We've had a few problems with the cows going through the electric fences into the kale breaks. Today we went through and put heaps more fence standards in, every 15 metres instead of 25-ish. Plus we checked all the power on the fences. Seems all good, *fingers crossed*. That took half the day today, along with feeding out the straw, mainly to do with the HUGE amount of mud. Cows are very good at making mud, we never have anything like it with the horses. I nearly got the ute stuck a number of times. Also the tractor wouldn't start this morning which delayed things a lot.
The boss is planning to send me out to another farm for a few weeks, one of the winter milking town supply farms, so that I can get more of a feel for the milking before we start on our farm. From the sounds of things this will start next week. I am quite looking forward to it.
And, for your viewing pleasure, some photos of the dairy shed :)
We got the vet out and she picked up heaps.
After some investigation it turns out that although there was water in the trough when we put them in the small paddock, the water wasn't actually on, or the ballcock was broken, so they had run out of water.
Given the amount of milk this girl was making, I'm not surprised she got crook. I'm putting it down to dehydration.
She seemed all fine Friday, etc, but then was found dead on Sunday. I am kinda sad, she was a lovely cow. My guess is that the dehydration caused kidney damage, and that she possibly died from kidney failure.
It does happen all the time on dairy farms, but I am still a little sad. The baby has started suckling from the other cow, so that's all good.
Yesterday we had another cow calve, this time a dead calf. Although I am ok with that, actually picking up the dead calf and putting it on the ute to dispose of was really yukky. Cold and slimy, and not that easy to lift either, due to the sliminess.
Cow seemed a little sad. HEAPS of milk, she was dripping it everywhere. She has gone to another Synlait farm, where they are winter milking.
We've had a few problems with the cows going through the electric fences into the kale breaks. Today we went through and put heaps more fence standards in, every 15 metres instead of 25-ish. Plus we checked all the power on the fences. Seems all good, *fingers crossed*. That took half the day today, along with feeding out the straw, mainly to do with the HUGE amount of mud. Cows are very good at making mud, we never have anything like it with the horses. I nearly got the ute stuck a number of times. Also the tractor wouldn't start this morning which delayed things a lot.
The boss is planning to send me out to another farm for a few weeks, one of the winter milking town supply farms, so that I can get more of a feel for the milking before we start on our farm. From the sounds of things this will start next week. I am quite looking forward to it.
And, for your viewing pleasure, some photos of the dairy shed :)
This is our first baby, in fact the first baby for all of the 14 Synlait farms (to my knowledge). He is Friesian cross Jersey, which, by the sounds of it, is the standard for the Synlait cows, and sadly not destined for a very long life. We have since had another calf.
Calving technically wasn't supposed to start for another month. We expected a few early ones, but nothing really this early. From the sounds of things a bull may have got in with the cows before they came to us.
I love the calves. Would love to be doing the calf rearing, but that isn't part of my job, at least not this season.
I spent a few hours yesterday shovelling shingle into the pot holes on the tanker track. As a result I am very achey today. On the plus side though I am feeling a little fitter, getting used to the work and the hours.
The gumboots are interesting. Big clompy gumboots with chunky grippy soles are the go, with all the mud etc. But they really are heavy and cumbersome to walk in when you're not used to them. Add this to the mud and the walking through kale paddocks (winter feed crop) and I really feel like a little bit of an elephant. It makes me feel all light and bouncy when I take them off! hehe.
Photos from the shortest day :)
Note the freshly painted posts and rails ;)
The product of 3 days painting last week.. (still more to go!)
Note the freshly painted posts and rails ;)
The product of 3 days painting last week.. (still more to go!)
Work has provided me with a MOTORBIKE! http://www.otorohonda.co.nz/new_bikes/2
Now this is nothing unusual for a farm job, but of course it is all brand new for me! They have been really sweet and given me a little girly one, with auto clutch, so it's easy to ride, not too heavy to pick up if I drop it, AND I can touch both feet on the ground while sitting on it, which is all good.
I have only ridden 2 wheelers a couple of times before, so it's a new thing for me. Am getting the hang of the bike now, and it is VERY much fun! :D
The mud, rocks and marshy bits are a bit more of a challenge, but still all good.
So I have now been 2 weeks at my new job.
It is the quiet time of year on our farm. All of the Synlait milk is processed into milk powder, so the cows are all dried off over winter, as the milk isn't needed for Town Supply. This means that the whole herd can be shifted to the run off block, away from the dairy shed. It also means that all the calving happens at the same time of year, starting late July.
The quiet time means heaps of cleaning. I have spent a lot of time in the dairy shed, waterblasting and scrubbing etc. The worst bit is the concrete cleaner, Chloride of Lime.
It is evil. Stinging eyes and fumes. I am glad it is over.
Also, tidying up around the place, which has most recently involved playing with a weed-eater.
Both the weed-eater and the water-blaster are very fun, in SMALL doses.
Any more than about 4 hours and I am feeling like I never want to see them again. Thankfully it will be a while before I need to play with them again.
As a result, am feeling rather achey. At least I don't have to worry about finding time to exercise.
Sleep Now!
Now this is nothing unusual for a farm job, but of course it is all brand new for me! They have been really sweet and given me a little girly one, with auto clutch, so it's easy to ride, not too heavy to pick up if I drop it, AND I can touch both feet on the ground while sitting on it, which is all good.
I have only ridden 2 wheelers a couple of times before, so it's a new thing for me. Am getting the hang of the bike now, and it is VERY much fun! :D
The mud, rocks and marshy bits are a bit more of a challenge, but still all good.
So I have now been 2 weeks at my new job.
It is the quiet time of year on our farm. All of the Synlait milk is processed into milk powder, so the cows are all dried off over winter, as the milk isn't needed for Town Supply. This means that the whole herd can be shifted to the run off block, away from the dairy shed. It also means that all the calving happens at the same time of year, starting late July.
The quiet time means heaps of cleaning. I have spent a lot of time in the dairy shed, waterblasting and scrubbing etc. The worst bit is the concrete cleaner, Chloride of Lime.
It is evil. Stinging eyes and fumes. I am glad it is over.
Also, tidying up around the place, which has most recently involved playing with a weed-eater.
Both the weed-eater and the water-blaster are very fun, in SMALL doses.
Any more than about 4 hours and I am feeling like I never want to see them again. Thankfully it will be a while before I need to play with them again.
As a result, am feeling rather achey. At least I don't have to worry about finding time to exercise.
Sleep Now!
4 days so far at the new job.
So far not much has been going on.
Sakura, the farm where I work, is a new farm for Synlait, so it's kinda like starting from scratch. The machinery hasn't arrived yet, and the cows aren't arriving until July/August.
It is, from memory, 190 hectares. It has a nice 50 bail rotary shed, and we will be milking a little under 600 cows. Mainly fresian, jersey, or crossbreds of the two breeds, but also the odd ayreshire (sp?)
They are lovely cows. All shapes, sizes and colours.
So far, we have started on cleaning the dairy shed, so that it's squeaky clean for the start of the season. This is my job, and it will be my job to keep it as squeaky clean as possible.
The cows are at Burnham, 20 or so minutes drive from the farm, so every day or so we go and check on them. There is an awesome guy there that is grazing them for us, we help him out when we can.
Tomorrow will involve even more cleaning of the dairy shed. I fear I will be cleaning and scrubbing for the next several days!
Early start, so that will be all for now. xx
So far not much has been going on.
Sakura, the farm where I work, is a new farm for Synlait, so it's kinda like starting from scratch. The machinery hasn't arrived yet, and the cows aren't arriving until July/August.
It is, from memory, 190 hectares. It has a nice 50 bail rotary shed, and we will be milking a little under 600 cows. Mainly fresian, jersey, or crossbreds of the two breeds, but also the odd ayreshire (sp?)
They are lovely cows. All shapes, sizes and colours.
So far, we have started on cleaning the dairy shed, so that it's squeaky clean for the start of the season. This is my job, and it will be my job to keep it as squeaky clean as possible.
The cows are at Burnham, 20 or so minutes drive from the farm, so every day or so we go and check on them. There is an awesome guy there that is grazing them for us, we help him out when we can.
Tomorrow will involve even more cleaning of the dairy shed. I fear I will be cleaning and scrubbing for the next several days!
Early start, so that will be all for now. xx
I hear you ask...
The city job just got a bit much for me. I don't like dealing with customers (unless they are nice) and unhappy customers really ended up building up a level of unhappiness inside of me. That, teamed with a working environment where I didn't feel I had the tools and support to do my job properly, meant that I was suffering from an unhealthy form of stress.
I have no problem with the 40km commute into the city, but, the photographic industry that I was working in has been changing a lot, and is now at a stage where there is very little money to be made, so thinking outside of the industry that I know became a neccesity.
Luckily, or unluckily, perhaps, I wasn't earning a huge amount of money. This meant that I could afford to start at the bottom of a new industry, without suffering badly. Although I looked into other opportunities within the city, the urge to work closer to home won out.
Synlait are a very good company, and when an opportunity came up to work for them, I would've been a fool not to take it.
My decision to leave my old job was made in February, which is when it became obvious that I couldn't sustain that level of stress happily, and that it was becoming detrimental to my health. It has taken until now to get it all happening.
There is so much stress out there. I saw it every day in my co-workers and my customers. I didn't want to keep living this way. It is hard to remain in good spirits when those around you create an unhappy and stressful environment.
Why did it take me so long to wake up to the fact that I needed a bit more simplicity in my life?
Now, this new job won't be free of stress. The main stresses, however, will be physical ones, and I believe that I can cope better with these, than the mental and emotional stresses of trying to do 6 things at once, failing, and still attempting to remain in control of the situation.
Also, the fresh air and natural light of the working environment are no doubt healthier than the enclosed, air conditioned shop. The whole time I have tried to ignore the rather claustrophobic nature of the place, but it still occasionally got to me.
In many ways, my new job is a dream come true for me :)
Outdoors, fresh air, all the sunlight that is available.
I get to work close to home, and with animals.
And I get to learn about farming, which is awesome, as I have been a wannabe farmer for a very long time.
In many ways I should be ecstatic, and in some ways I am, but in other ways I know that I don't know completely what I am in for just yet, so am a little cautious in my enthusiasm.
The city job just got a bit much for me. I don't like dealing with customers (unless they are nice) and unhappy customers really ended up building up a level of unhappiness inside of me. That, teamed with a working environment where I didn't feel I had the tools and support to do my job properly, meant that I was suffering from an unhealthy form of stress.
I have no problem with the 40km commute into the city, but, the photographic industry that I was working in has been changing a lot, and is now at a stage where there is very little money to be made, so thinking outside of the industry that I know became a neccesity.
Luckily, or unluckily, perhaps, I wasn't earning a huge amount of money. This meant that I could afford to start at the bottom of a new industry, without suffering badly. Although I looked into other opportunities within the city, the urge to work closer to home won out.
Synlait are a very good company, and when an opportunity came up to work for them, I would've been a fool not to take it.
My decision to leave my old job was made in February, which is when it became obvious that I couldn't sustain that level of stress happily, and that it was becoming detrimental to my health. It has taken until now to get it all happening.
There is so much stress out there. I saw it every day in my co-workers and my customers. I didn't want to keep living this way. It is hard to remain in good spirits when those around you create an unhappy and stressful environment.
Why did it take me so long to wake up to the fact that I needed a bit more simplicity in my life?
Now, this new job won't be free of stress. The main stresses, however, will be physical ones, and I believe that I can cope better with these, than the mental and emotional stresses of trying to do 6 things at once, failing, and still attempting to remain in control of the situation.
Also, the fresh air and natural light of the working environment are no doubt healthier than the enclosed, air conditioned shop. The whole time I have tried to ignore the rather claustrophobic nature of the place, but it still occasionally got to me.
In many ways, my new job is a dream come true for me :)
Outdoors, fresh air, all the sunlight that is available.
I get to work close to home, and with animals.
And I get to learn about farming, which is awesome, as I have been a wannabe farmer for a very long time.
In many ways I should be ecstatic, and in some ways I am, but in other ways I know that I don't know completely what I am in for just yet, so am a little cautious in my enthusiasm.
Hi guys, I'm ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
fireflypixi
Here is a new journal for a new chapter of my life.
That sounds big and scary, but I'm hoping it won't be.
After over 10 years working in Christchurch city, over 9 of them commuting from a rural area, I have given up my city job in favour of a rural one.
I am now a dairy farm assistant, on one of Synlait's new farms. www.synlait.co.nz
I don't really have a farming background, having grown up in the city, so there will be a lot of new stuff for me over the next few months, so this journal is for me to write about that stuff. It may not be very exciting, but hopefully it will be interesting for me to document how I adjust to my 'New Life' TM
More later :)
fireflypixiHere is a new journal for a new chapter of my life.
That sounds big and scary, but I'm hoping it won't be.
After over 10 years working in Christchurch city, over 9 of them commuting from a rural area, I have given up my city job in favour of a rural one.
I am now a dairy farm assistant, on one of Synlait's new farms. www.synlait.co.nz
I don't really have a farming background, having grown up in the city, so there will be a lot of new stuff for me over the next few months, so this journal is for me to write about that stuff. It may not be very exciting, but hopefully it will be interesting for me to document how I adjust to my 'New Life' TM
More later :)
