Cookie is Coming

Here’s our BIG NEWS: we’re getting a cow! Her name is Cookie. I can hardly think or talk of anything else. I am deeply in love with Cookie, even though she has yet to arrive at the farm, and I have only spent a few minutes actually touching her. I am sure the fantasy will collide with the reality, but for now I spend some time every day preparing joyfully for her arrival.

“I built you a whole empire for miniature goats, and now you want a cow?” says Daniel.

“Oh don’t worry, I still will use the goat pens and will keep the goats,” I reassure him. He is not convinced spending another two hours a day milking is a good idea.

“I’m not a fan of change,” he says. Cattle have ruined many wild places in his beloved Montana, so he’s understandably unsure about bringing such a large and poopy mammal onto Hawthorn Farm. I’m not deterred, just inspired to make this the best permaculture home dairy cow set-up I can imagine.

All my childless-38-year-old maternal energy is getting funneled into 1,200 pounds of placid cow. When I tell this to Daniel he says, “Well, you should just have a child.”

“But I can’t have a child by November 1, and I can get a cow by then!” I reply.

Here is a picture of Cookie at 7 days old. She is now 2 years old, but come on! This is irresistible!

“Will you treat me as nicely as you treat your cow?” Daniel says in a mock-plaintive voice, and I laugh until I gasp for breath because it hits at the truth. Yesterday I consciously set aside my new cow books until I had cleaned up the kitchen and contributed to the household’s well-being, even making a big apple crisp (Daniel’s favorite dessert). I do love novelty, but I can’t let that blind me to the importance of maintaining long-term relationships.

“Just think, soon you will have food-challenge cream to pour on your apple crisp,” I say as I kiss the top of Daniel’s head. We’ll see.