First Impressions

Greetings! My name is Matt Didisheim and I am the apprentice at Side Track Farm in Hartland, Vermont. This will be my first entry, and as such I will focus on first impressions. I believe strongly in the significance of first impressions because they are instinctual observations that stem from our raw imagination and immediate existence, giving the observer primary source material that provides a starting point from which to expand upon retrospectively. Every day I tell myself that I’ve come here to learn, as a reminder and a re-dedication of purpose, and although it’s a voice in my head that comes as a relative whisper to the clamorous life lived on a farm, I hear it more as an echo that reverberates and never quite disappears. I am glad that voice is there, because it is the reason why I came here, and the reason why I remain. At the onset of my fourth week on the farm, as the daily tasks have grown familiar and my proficiency improved, I am able to take a breath and describe some of the thoughts I’ve been having about life on the farm.

As I crouch between rows of crops ecstatic that I am plucking away the weeds, or sit beside an impatient goat who wishes my milking efficiency would improve already, or reach my hand beneath an indignant hen in hopes of finding an egg, I am struck by the variety of attitudes to be found here among the flora and fauna. The goats are placid, most of the time, and after they have had their allotment of grain and their fill of grass they do not complain much. They can be found laying on the grass in the heat, the kids nestled up against one another, or roaming their pens in search of a snack, a sparring partner (for the fun of it), or an udder to suckle. The kids are growing up, becoming faster and abler, and the adults seem to show a rarefied contentment at the way things are going. The chickens waddle around in silly maneuvers, bobbing their heads and shaking their bodies, with the simple desires of scrounging food and laying eggs on their minds. Nearby, the young turkeys negotiate social cues and get to know each other, looking out from their covered pen at the chickens with jealousy at their freedom to wander, and the two species at times stare at each other as if resistant to the other’s existence. The crops survived a period of intense heat and are now happily soaked in what seems to be a very appropriate amount of moisture. Newly planted beans are shooting up, cabbages are forming promisingly, tomato stalks are reaching higher and higher, and squash leaves are multiplying. Amidst all this growth and change in its many forms, I am left astounded at the resiliency of life here, and as I go about my daily tasks I cannot help but gather from the flourishing life around me the willpower and motivation to strengthen my own existence.