British Invasion

June has been a busy month for me, and I haven't kept to my writing as well as I had this spring.  In the last month, we had a British visitor stay at the farm, James.  He came to canoe race, and we had a fantastic time entertaining him for the week.

(James, left,  Racing with Weston in New York)

While James was here, we had the chance to learn some fun new British phrases.  Everything is either "brilliant" or "quite nice."  It seems to make everything more optimistic when you phrase it like that, so I can see why people who live in such a rainy part of the world would use this language.

I also learned a little bit of cockney, although I will probably get it wrong in the explaining.  Cockney is a dialect that has some interesting slang.  "I'll check up the apples" means that you will go up the stairs.  How does apples equal stairs?  Apparently Apples & Pears go together, and pears rhymes with stairs, so you replace stairs with apples, and it makes it sense.  It's kind of a fun code, although I would have to spend so long figuring it out what everything meant that it wouldn't be very efficient.

Our favorite phrase of the week was "loo roll," which is toilet paper.  We liked that one so much, that it has stuck, and become part of the Barton lexicon.  

While James was here, I took an afternoon to show him around the farm.  He isn't involved in livestock agriculture in the UK, but I was eager to hear what he thought of the farm, since the British consumer has different ideas on animal husbandry practices than an American consumer.  We looked at everything, from the feed mill, the shop, breeding, birthing, growing, marketing, and crops.  We talked about training, handling, growth phases, farm smell, and working conditions.  Usually, I can get a pretty good idea about someone's thoughts on a farm just by watching their body language and comfort, but really wanted to hear what James thought about our farm.

 He was surprised by how clean our facilities were, and how quietly the pigs behaved. Probably what stuck with me most was when James commented on how beyond everything, the farm needed to function as a successful business.  It surprised me, coming from someone my own age, who is from a country with very specific animal care standards would see farms as a business, and not be appalled by them.  This isn't an opinion I hear from my American peers who come from large cities.  Even my college roommates, all who have grown up in rural areas, lived with me, and toured the farm, are very skeptical of farms in the United States.  I am sure James' opinion is not reflective of all, but it was nice to take some one on a tour who genuinely wanted to learn.

Hearing what James had to say about the farm, I realized that I had made some judgments about his background that weren't true.  I thought he would see my farm a certain way, and he surprised me by being more open than I expected.  I am sure this isn't a mistake that I alone have made.  Even though I was nervous about what he would say, I gave him a tour of my farm, I was open and honest when answering questions.  We talked about things that we struggle with on the farm, and struggles of the industry in general.  In the end, I felt like we had an understanding and respect for each other.  


In other news, we have had huge rains for the past few weeks, and the corn (as well as the river) is very high!

(a little taller than knee high)