City Girl at the Farm

Ok so in the past I may have said, “I’m a City Girl, but I’m quickly turning into a country girl,” but ummm….yeah you are not really a country girl until you’ve been on a farm. Well I can officially say I have lived on a farm for a short time and although I have lived in more rural areas the past several years, living on a farm is still incredibly different. Since July 5^th, I started helping in the 4^th barn to get ready for new baby turkeys to arrive the following Tuesday. I only did a few hours of work each day, so it didn’t seem like a lot, but there is plenty of work to do to get a barn ready for new turkeys including cleaning, setting up food bins/cartons, fences, and more. When the turkeys arrived they come in bins. We had to unload them in as much darkness as possible in the middle of the afternoon, and you have to watch your step as they run around under your feet, somewhat of a challenge in dim lighting! Little turkeys look just like baby chicks-and they are loud. When you get so many into one space, and the sound echoes-it is deafening. Ich weisse nicht how I handled the loud sound without getting a headache-but maybe I grew used to it. Throughout the week we would continue to work with the turkeys a little bit at a time, and they grow quite rapidly. By the time I was getting ready to leave, we took down the fences, picked up the cartons for food, and attached the food bins to a hanging device that could be raised as they grew bigger and also the feed was distributed directly into the bins instead of having to be done by hand (which is a lot of work!)

Outside of the turkeys, this week on Mittwoch (Wednesday) I made lunch: BBQ turkey sandwiches (I brought Famous Dave’s BBQ Sauce with me), oven-baked pommes (fries), and mixed vegetables. I also made choco-mallow bars! So yummy, and I think the choco-mallow bars may have been the favorite item from the meal for the family. As is usually the response, they don’t look as good as they sound, until you try one and find them to be delicious. Originally I had not planned on making them here because I didn’t think I would be able to find marshmallows, but Aldi’s had them, and that was great!

Anna and I went to the pool in Satteldorf with the neighbors. Anna’s friends then came for dinner and we made these kartoffel pockets-they turned out interesting to say the least. Dessert was more choco-mallow bars.

Donnerstag (Thursday) came with a trip to Crailsheim to go shopping for a Dirndl!!! Woot I now have my own dirndl! We also went to the market where I got tea from this area, as it is made from flowers and we don’t have that (or at least not that I know of), and German chocolate.

 

This weekend then in Reubach was a Sommer Theatre Festival. I helped on Friday night prepare the sandwiches, and then got to watch the play. That was interesting to watch a play in German. Although it was in High German it was still tough for me to completely understand a lot of what was being said. But I understood the plot right away, and the actors although locals and amateurs, were great because they were not afraid of using facial expression and really analyzed the script as I later learned from one of the actors. On Samstag, I also helped make the what I call “German Hamburgers”-these burgers are made from bratwurst instead of hamburger and had cucumbers instead of pickles on them-but they still tasted great, and after a discussion on Freitag, we determined they needed Schenken (Bacon) on them. And of course to being asked if I thought bacon would be good on the burger my response was the stereotypical American response (or at least in the Midwest)- “Everything is better with Bacon!”.

Sunday was a day of relaxation as Rainer, Ute, Lina, and I went to lunch and then to a lake-Erdlendsee. It is not a big lake like you would think of in Kansas. There is no boating or even jet skis on the lake, but it is secluded from the road, peaceful, and quiet. It is nice to go and chill at the lake, swim a little(although the wasser is serh kalt!), and big difference-you don’t have to pay for parking or for an entrance fee! Who knew! On my last day, we went back to the turkey barn, grilled for lunch, I went swimming with Lina and a neighbor in a nearby see(pronounced “say” and means lake/pond), followed by eating at a neighboring restaurant/festival.  

I am very thankful for the Hollenbach family. I feel very blessed to have been able to spend time with the Hollenbach family and cannot thank them enough for taking me in. I only hope to someday be able to return the favor :)