I visited the Hudson Valley farm this morning, ostensibly to do a garden update, and I was a little bit nervous as to what I would find. I felt an odd sense of relief just to find the farm still standing and operating normally, but things were much better than that—things were good.
It was a beautiful, sunny morning, and I found both Emily and Andie hard at work and in good spirits. Emily took the brunt of dealing with the recent deaths and illnesses, but she has years of experience working with animals, and seemed to be able to take this in stride as a sad but inevitable part of farming. I was so glad to see the two of them upbeat and energetic.
I began searching for Arno almost as soon as I arrived. I had been very worried as to how he might be doing without Agnes. I had a tough time finding him—he is one busy goat. He is very grown up now and is doing just fine—Agnes raised him well. I finally found him palling around with a bunch of the other goats; he then moved on to rambunctiously charging back and forth with all of the sheep (only a few sheep are at Hudson Valley for the summer). Emily and Andie confirmed that he is doing quite well. Below is a cell phone shot of him–my camera acted up. Arno is in the center of the shot, almost head-on to the camera (um, phone).
Arno
Katie, the fourth goat with listeriosis, had been doing very poorly and was close to being put down. However, she has had an abrupt and well-nigh miraculous turn-around and is doing much better. She has her own pen at the moment for TLC and rest.
I also found out that Miss Linda is doing fine—both Odette and Ophelia had reached the point of not being very reliant on her, so Ophelia’s passing has not had the terrible impact on her it might have at an earlier date.
I’m so glad I went to the farm this morning. I had been a little afraid, but what I found there was all good and life-affirming. All of the animals looked healthy, happy, and relaxed (and the people). The garden update—well, that will have to wait ’til another day!