The After-Thanksgiving [E+C Blog] Special

When you grow up in a different time zone than your cousins and grandparents, attend a college that's a 21-hour drive from your home town, watch your sisters settle down in three separate states, marry someone from a state that makes hot dishes instead of casseroles requires a plane ticket home, and spend more time interacting via technology than you do face-to-face, you learn that distance does not always dampen a relationship.

In fact, living with family spread across the country has its advantages. Most recently, I've discovered that it provides us unique opportunities to gather together in unusual combinations of "mico-families." Just this last weekend I had lunch at the airport with my grandma from South Dakota, my Minnesota-based aunt, and my uncle from South Dakota and his daughter - but not her siblings. We were all missing people from our immediate family unit, and I'm sure the thought crossed all of our minds that we'll likely never be together with that specific group of people again. But it was fun, and I'm grateful for long layovers and that my family takes advantage of these little opportunities to stay connected.

Farm Tour Adventures

The other day I got you wondering what all of these plastic-covered shoes were all about:

Well here's the rest of that story!

Evan grew up knowing the terms mastitis, sire, and oxytocin; he was able to differentiate a field of alfalfa from barley at a young age; and he knew the meaning of hard work. Even now that he lives in the city he reminisces about the smell of milk replacement powder (mmm, pudding) and the wonderful bouquet of smells that are home to a barn. He will forever appreciate manure. As you may have guessed, or already knew from this post, Evan grew up on a farm. A dairy farm, to be precise.

Sapa Ska Farm, in Lake City, Minn., was founded by Evan's grandpa and is currently run by Evan's dad and uncle. The National Dairy Convention was held in Minnesota this year, and Sapa Ska Farm (which means black and white in some Native American tongue) was lucky to be one of the few properties to be toured by the convention participants. After a lot of hard work cleaning up the barn and renovating the old cheese house to hold the calves, Evan's family opened their doors to about 200 people from around the country. It was an exciting day to be a part of the family, and as you can imagine, I had a blast photographing the event. Here are a few of my favorite photos:

Farmer Denny

Evan's sister Riley painted these -- how clever! I loved them and couldn't help but take a photo.

Evan's cousins, granddaughters of Farmer David, keeping each other company as they survey the newcomers with some trepidation. Evan's sister Tessa enjoys the day.

Turn up your speakers and enjoy the slideshow! If your computer is able, select for it to be played in HD (a button appears once you hit play).

Bambi at the Farm

How does a cow end up with the name Bambi, you may ask? Being a descendent of Evan's original cow BonBon, this new calf had to have a name starting with the letter B (that is the naming scheme at SapaSka Farms). But what about the name Bambi is particularly fitting for this calf? Well, I can remember part of that childhood movie when Bambi's legs get tied up when he is skating across some ice. Later, Bambi's father stands above him in the forest, saying "Get up, Bambi, get up." You see, this new calf has some trouble untying those new legs and standing on its own two feet. When she was in the womb her front legs were twisted, causing severe weakness and instability in her front legs and wrists. Unlike most calves who walk within a few hours of their birth, this calf hobbles around on bent legs and spends the rest of her time lying down. Evan assured me they have seen this before at their farm and the calf will outgrow it -- she just needs time to strengthen her legs and wrists.

Evan and I visited the farm the other weekend to meet his new calf Bambi. What a cutie!

More Cows!

Here are a few more photos from my cow photo shoot! I posted these on my shutterfly website, so check there for the complete collection or if you want to order prints.

It was fun sneaking up on these guys (or gals, I should say). I moved slowly and quietly so as not to scare them. They barely even noticed I was there until I started clicking away -- the shutter release of my camera was enough to perk their curiosity and call them slowly towards me. When I moved down to the ground they too brought their attention towards the ground. I thought it was funny how they formed a row to carry out their investigation. Go to my shutterfly site to witness more of these cow personalities!

SAPA SKA

Evan and I spent a few days down at the farm right before Easter. When E went out to the barn to help with chores I decided to come along with camera in tow. Turns out cows are pretty good models! They typically just stand there so you don't have to worry about sudden motion and shutter speed issues, and they perk up with curiosity when my camera starts clicking away; ears perched forward, noses searching the breeze, beautiful eyelashes fanning my way. Here is a little montage I put together with the images I edited focusing on the particular shape of the bovine body and their trademark colors. Sapa Ska, which means black-and-white in a Native American language, is the name of the Pierson family farm in Lake City, Minnesota.

NOTE: Notice anything tricky about the photos? How you can't tell where parts of the cows start and where the backgrounds begin?