motherly instincts

These past few days have been interesting.. on Friday when I went down to the barn I couldn't find the bottle that I use to milk the lambs with so I sort of freaked out because now I had nothing to give the milk to the lambs with. the famer wasn't there so he couldn't help me so I just had to try using something else. there was another bottle but it had a different tip so I tried that but the poor lambs were confused since they had never seen this type of bottle before. so they got a bit frustrated and so did I since they was nothing I could do to help them. this is where my motherly instincts came in and I decided I was going to do something about it. I got my dad to drive me to a warehouse store that sells farming equipment where the farmer of the farmer I work at buys most of his stuff. my dad is familiar with the store since he worked there when he was a teenager himself. sure enough we found what we were looking for the first place we looked. after that we drove straight to the barn to save 48 and 49 from their famine ;P so they thought it was good to have a nice warm drink of milk out of a bottle they were familiar with.

on Friday afternoon I went to a BBQ down at my stables for a summer social kind of thing for everyone who boards their horse there. I grilled my vegan hotdogs while others grilled their pork ribs and burgers. on Saturday I went down early to the stables to get in a morning ride before continuing on down to work on the farm. I biked down at 8 in the morning to get in this workout session. Punky was really good and awake! so we got in a nice solid hard workout before I turned him back out into the field again for the day.

these past nights my dad, my brother and I have been watching the matrix movies and I just love them! I just think the concept of the movie is so cool. how the real world is actually fake and in the real world the machines rule. the machines made up this make believe world called 'the matrix' where the humans live their lives inside their mind when they believe they are doing things when they actually aren't. the machines trick them into thinking they are living a normal life when they actually are hooked into this system. the humans do things in this make believe world and create energy which forms electricity for the machines to use in the real world.

it was raining the night before so a lot of slugs were out crossing the sidewalk. a lot of cruel Norwegian kids like to runt hem over while biking. but when I biked down to the barn I felt like the girl in the matrix who can do anything while I was dodging all the slugs at lightning speed down the steep hill.. it was an adventurous moment in the morning :P the field next to the barn was being sprayed with pig poo as a fertiliser (that's what Norwegian farmers like to do to save money and be more efficient with resources) as I rode down the sidewalk on my bike to go to the farm after riding, the farmer was rounding the corner with the tractor and as he was coming on the edge of the field right next to the sidewalk I almost got sprayed with poop! it was a near hit experience! that would have been bad.. anyways it was a good busy day with me being outside for most of it.

quote of the day: “A mother knows what her child's gone through, even if she didn't see it herself.”
― Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Gadis Pantai

bye bye and remember stay golden ;)

farm life = heaven on earth

Not everyone knows this about me.. but I want to live on an organic farm when I grow up and grow my own food and selling some of my produce as well. I don't tell a lot of people this so it is mostly just my family who knows this because every time we are on a road trip in some country I get overly excited when I see a sign for fresh produce for sale on the side of a road at the beginning of a narrow long drive way leading up to a picturesque barn with animals surrounding the red barn in fenced fields with grass greener and taller then I have ever seen before.

so anyways this summer I am working on a farm as a summer job one could say, but it is more voluntary due to I just love working there :D I wanted to work here for a bit just to see how farm life is like and get a reality check as to if this is really what I want to do in the future. since a couple years back I wanted to be a vet and then after I volunteered at a vet hospital for over 2 years I realised it just wasn't for me. so that is why I am working at this farm just for a few weeks before I head off to Phoenix for a month!!

I absolutely just love the atmosphere of working there, the farmer is super nice and chill as he comes and goes from the farm to his house to help out with his family as well. for example he will give me a task to do of cleaning out the pig stalls and then he continue doing his own chore and then head home after lunchtime to help his kid with some homework before returning back to the farm an hour later. I just love how flexible this lifestyle is, you do your work on your own time, you are your own boss, you make the rules, and plus you are outside all day doing what you love and being with animals. how much better does it get!?! farming has truly become my passion and I cant wait to explore more of it in college/university when I take courses on it and I can dedicate my education to it!

so the farm I am working at, at the moment is a pig/sheep farm. so there are many different chores that have to be done. one of the first things I always do straight away when I get down to the farm in the morning is to milk the lambs. there are two lambs in the herd that have been neglected by their moms who wont give them milk so we have to give them milk out of the bottle. these two lambs that need milk from the bottle are called 48 and 49 since that is their register number on their ear tag, so it is easy to figure out who is who in the field. I feel they need proper names since they are sooo cute and adorable and both have very separate and different personalities, so I believe they deserve better names supposed to just being called by their registry number.

so the first time the farmer showed me the formula they get for their milk and told me their number and just to go searching in the field. I was a bit sceptical because I didn't know how I was going to find these 2 lambs amist all the other sheep and lambs which would just run away from you if you got to close. as I was walking around in the field I was starting to think it was a hopeless case but then suddenly this lamb looks at me at sees the bottle and just starts charging straight for me, I was confused because it was doing the opposite as to what the other sheep were doing. then I realized it was 49 that had come to me, it was just a blissful moment having a baby lamb run up to you as if you were their mother. :) after it finished the first bottle it wanted more so as I started back towards the barn to make up another batch of warm milk it followed me all the way up until the fence stopped him. I could already tell we were going to be good friends during the next couple of weeks. when I returned from making the second bottle 48 had shown up and boy was he thirsty! once he saw me round the corner he got so excited he climbed through the small hole in the wired fence to reach me first before 49 even got a chance. I was so shocked and I didn't know what to do, out of pure panic because I didn't want him running away since he was basically free now on the other side of the fence, I climbed over the fence into the field on the other side trying to encourage him to climb back through the fence. he was confused and couldn't figure out where and how he got through in the first place :P but he found a hole and managed to climb back through.

that day my main task was to walk around the field spraying all the weeds and unnecessary plants with poison. it was one tough job that took a good 4 and 1/2 hours since it was a big field. even the farmer apologised for it being such a tough task on my first day, but I was up for the challenge!! I hauled a big plastic container on my back containing the poison up and down across the field that day and when I say field I don't mean a nice calm flat field I mean a field that has no flat land it just goes up and down with steep areas with rocks sticking out of the ground and slippery mud just waiting for you to slip on. so I got my workout that day and by the end I couldn't feel my legs or my back.. I did some yoga when I got home to try to relieve the tension in my back. it was tough work but I sure enjoyed it! I love doing hard work outside because I never get tired due to the fresh air giving me energy, the fantastic view of the sea that is only about 200 m away from the farm and the lambs following me around as to motivate me to keep on working. it was such an awesome first day!!

the next day I woke up bright and early to get some yoga in before heading down to the farm. when I went out to the field I couldn't see where the lambs and sheep were so I climbed the steep hill going to the top of the field where I guessed they would be. halfway up I see a lamb appear at the top baaing at me. I soon realised it was 49 so I kneeled down shaking the bottle to show him the milk and he came running down the field to greet me. I couldn't help but smile. he had a wet fur coat since it had been raining earlier that night. that day I had the job of cleaning out the troughs in the pig stalls before the new pigs arrived that day. when the pigs arrived the farmer and I herded them into separate stalls, 13 in each. we categorized them by size since some were bigger than others. after that we went over to talk to the guy that drove them over, and all I can say is he was one sketchy looking farmer! he had a heavy Norwegian accent with torn up clothes and 2 missing fingers on his right hand. ya you can say rough and sketchy alright... so after talking to him we got back to work, I cleaned another set of stalls in the other part of the pig house and prepared it for new pigs as well. it was another long job as well, took me about 3 1/2 hours and boy did it smell. I can see why they compare pigs to being gross when people say "you're a pig!" because they sure make a mess and I know from first hand experience!
when I went to go milk the lambs again before I left (they get milk 2 times a day) I took my phone so I could take some pictures of them since they are so cute! I saw two small lambs by themselves on the side of the hill near some trees so I figured it was 49 and 48. I started my trek over there and when they saw me they came a running and even with my poor eyesight I could see that it was indeed them (48 and 49). I quickly whipped out my phone to take a video and got another cute video of them milking from the bottle. after they were done they both just sort of stayed with me so I kneeled down on the grass and just started to pet them. they surprisingly loved it and wasn't afraid of the touch of my hand. 48 leaned in close to me and loved it when I rubbed his belly and stroked his head just like nickie my dog! 49 started to eat the grass beside me while 48 just loved being cuddled. when I took pictures he would look straight into the camera as if to smile :P he got so tired and relaxed of me cuddling and petting him that he layed down beside me. occasionally after a while of petting him he would look up and give me little kisses on my face, it was pure love and bliss. my day got 10 times better after that moment. its funny how one tiny little second can change your whole day just with the power of love and kindness. so remember that you can find pure happiness anywhere you just have to be open, look for things that make you happy and give things a chance. you can always find happiness in a dull moment.

so remember the power of positivity can alter your way of thinking and make you one happy person! give it a try! I challenge you to find something positive with everything that happens which seems negative. I also challenge you to smile at, at least 8 strangers today and say 1 positive comment to someone you do not necessarily like. the power of kindness is way stronger then the power of revenge. so if someone made you mad today simple say a nice comment back, it will through them off guard and there will only be positive outcomes of this action. the more positivity and kindness you share with the world the more you will receive back from the world around you :) so stay happy and positive through those rough times it will help ease away your problems, I guarantee it!

Quotes of the day:

Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough”
― Oprah Winfrey

“Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

byebye I got to go take my dog out for a walk then do some peaceful yoga <3 remember stay golden ;)

(I will post pictures of the lambs from my phone in not too long)

peaceful mondays are what everyone needs..

Mondays are always associated to bad and miserable days.. but it doesn't always have to be like that! the outcome of your day is based on your outlook on the day. positivity is key to happiness!! but everyone does need a peaceful Monday once in there life, eh? (my Canadian side is coming out) ;).

my Monday I have to say was spectacular!! not to brag or anything ... :P but anyways I have become quit the yogi these past couple of weeks with doing yoga almost everyday now, my body simply craves it and I love it! it brings such peace to my mind along with meditation. you could say I have become quite the crunchy granola with being vegan and practising yoga and meditation every day. so my Monday morning started off with a nice long yoga session with my mom, we tried out this new guy which turned out to be a hit! he is awesome and we already love after only doing 2 of his classes! his name his Chaz and you should check him out at yogamazing.com. :)) we had the intense insense burning to really get the mood going and make it last throughout the day. I just loooove insence!! UGH cant get enough of it.

after the yoga I followed it with an easy run in the hot sunny weather, it was hard though since I am more of a cold runner who thrives in cold windy and rainy conditions. after taking a shower post run, I decided to do some vegan baking! I haven't done any of my vegan recipes in a while and I was feeling an itch for it and since it is summer now I had the time to do it! I started off by making sunflower seed butter out of sunflower seeds, which is essentially the same concept of peanut butter but with sunflower seeds. it didn't turn out tooo creamy but it was still awesome!! then I made a gluten free vegan bread which had to bake for an hour. while that was cooking I made snickers ice cream bars all vegan, sugar, oil and gluten free!! there turned out oh so delightful and good and tasted just like the real thing!! you know vegan cooking doesn't have to be disgusting ;)  I had some blueberries in the fridge that I didn't know what to do with so I made some muffins and since I didn't have any dates left I just used figs, and I didn't have cashews so I used pecans! so it became a fig, pecan and bluberry muffin! my whole family loved them!

after all this baking I helped my dad clean his car and then since my dog hadn't gone out for a walk yet my mom, dad and I went to explore the farm fields and make the long walk up to this viewpoint not to far from our house that my brother and I discovered not to long ago. when we started the walk my mother was convinced that it would take hours but I proved her wrong when it only took 30 min. when I kept on saying 5 more min she said I sounded like my Norwegian father :P we had to walk through a field filled with cows, sheep and goats to get there and these two cows were following us determined to get us out of the field. we concluded that it was nickie that made them want to check us out and see what we were doing. when we came back they were mooing at us aggressively and cornered us on the side of the field so we decided to make a run for the gate when we saw it appear along the side of the fence. there were some cows alright! the field next to the field with the moody cows was filled with knee high grass which my dog had so much fun jumping through since he was too short to see over the grass tops :P he would try to jump like bambi or prance just to try to see where he was going. it was a funny scene to watch ;P he got quite tired of this jumping so I decided to carry him the rest of the way through the thick grass. I got some cute pictures of him though ;)

when I got home I made some zucchini pasta with this awesome mango, orange, parsley and tomato sauce it marinated in for awhile. the flavour was quite strong of orange since I added orange peel to it aswell, which could have been disregarded. but or else it was a good dish!

quote of the day: Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

see you later and remember stay golden ;)

 

Heres to New Beginnings

guess what?? it is finally summer!! the first couple of days after school ended it didn't feel like summer and the summer feeling hadn't really kicked in yet but I think it is started to slowly sink in now. so I started off my summer right with heading over to this cute café to have the annual end of school year lunch with my brother and mom. my mom suggested this place called "sting" which I had never heard of but was willing to try. I was open to the idea of eating out even though me being a vegan sometimes choices can be limited.. but I was open and didn't want to ruin our lunch. being that the place was called "sting" It sounded crunchy granola enough that I was sure there had to be at least one vegetarian dish on the menu.. one of my moms student works there and she herself is a vegetarian and has lots of tattoos and such so I was pretty convinced there had to be something on the menu for me. to my surprise when I looked at the menu the second dish on the menu was a "vegan falafel sandwich". AHHHH I was so thrilled and overly excited that I slapped my brothers arm so he could see what I was seeing, he made a sarcastic "OMG that is so great and totally awesome" sort of face which made me realize that I may have been over reacting a bit but nothing was going to steer me away from the sheer joy I was experiencing after seeing this dish on the menu. remember you have to enjoy the little things in life ;)

 

so that day was pretty golden and on Friday I went to the middle eastern market with my mom to get my celebratory jack fruit which wasn't there ;( so I got dragon fruit instead! I then headed down to the stables to ride punky and let my friend ride him. he was being particulary stubborn that day and it was confusing as to why that I might have been. I asked a lady who I ride with sometimes and has her own horse, Noah in the summer paddock aswell as to why she thinks he might be acting up. she said it was because of this new horse that joined the herd in the summer paddock just for the summer and she is a female in heat. so punky has a girlfriend!! he was very protective over her and claimed her as his own so when my friend and I rode him he was grumpy because he wanted to be with his girlfriend which he loves ;) and he didn't want the other male horses to get a chance with her. so after knowing this I couldn't help but stop being mad at him, instead I thought it was cute that he has a girlfriend now. when I went to go turn him out punky's girlfriend ran to the gate to great him with a kiss on the nose, she greeted me aswell as to ask for my approval :P I took pictures of them both and then punky gave me a look like "mom.. go away your embarrassing me". so I got the clue and said my goodbyes and headed home so I could get ready for a party. I went to an end of the year party at my friends house which was fun and filled with a lot of laughs ;) followed by a sleepover which consisted mostly of cleaning the house and getting a good hard and solid 8 and 1/2 hour sleep. on Saturday when we all woke up we decided to go swimming in the fjord, I know crazy right? but it was so refreshing that I felt more awake then I ever have been after  a sleepover. my mind was crystal clear and my energy was so high when my parents picked me up they were surprised themselves. when my parents picked me up with my brother we headed straight for Åmøy to spend the night there. we brought some freshly picked local strawberries which we bought the day before since it is a must in the summer when going to Åmøy. they were definitely strawberries with gold in them though, they were so expensive! 320 kr for 2 lbs (55 US dollars!!), but it is still quite early for the season so hopefully the price will go down over time..

 

when we got there we went on a walk down to the coast and across some leafy green farmer fields which were glowing by the gleaming sun. all the colours of nature have never been so clear as they were that day. I was really soaking in the rays of joy that summer gives that day. the walk was filled with some memorable laughs that my mom always achieves to bring whenever we are on a family outing. that afternoon after watching the movie "the odyssey' which I enjoyed watching since I had read the book earlier this year at school in English class, my dad and I wanted to pursue the moment so we decided to head out and take nickie out for a walk to watch the sunset at 10 pm. it turned out to be an eventful outing that I we were not expecting.. as I rounded the corner of the house whith my dog (nickie) I saw some sort of figure running down the road at full pace. at first glance I thought it was a dog but as it approached closer I realized it was a mini horse! (shetland pony) I didn't see a rider on it and after noticing the other horse galloping after it with a rider on top followed by a person running on the ground a few hundred meters back I realized it was a runaway horse! the person yelled to stop the horse. so me being the horse person put my hands out to slow down and stop the horse. I calmed him down so when the rider caught up she could take him. it was such a coincidence that me being a horse person who happens to know how to stop a running and panicked horse safely was there at that exact moment when a galloping horse was running down the road at 10 pm. the girl on the horse was overly appreciative and thankful. after my dad explained to them that I had a horse myself, they understood more fully as to how I was able to stop the horse. since they were surprised that just some random person could stop this galloping horse :P the morning after my brother and I had an epic badminton rally (30 hits back and forth!) , since it has been a tradition where we always play badminton at our cabin since we were little. after that I enjoyed some expensive Norwegian strawberries in the sun while reading my good book.

 

the next day on sunday I went to a BBQ with my friends at a beach to celebrate my friends Birhtday. it was fun and chill, we just sun tanned, ate some food, took pictures and swam in the water. when I got home I had another BBQ since my brother had a sleepover where they were grilling some food, so I decided to grill my water melon and mango which turned out simply decadent! I know it sounds weird to grill fruit on the barbeque but you should really try it and give it a go! 

 

quote of the day: “And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

 

bye bye for now and remember stay golden ;)