Motor

I had wanted to write something cheerful today about our first day of work in the fields but Motor, the orange tabby who lived here and who had been sick since the summer, was put down this morning. We were talking at lunch today about processing the chickens and pigs. Olivier asked us what parts of the pigs going to slaughter in November we wanted back and we all asked for the marrow and tongues along with the fat to render lard. Yet we took time out of our lunch break to bury a pet cat and Emily picked some hydrangeas for his grave. It's certainly not logical but is perhaps important to stop and think about the animals we raise for food and those we raise for companionship.

Motor was born down the road in the house where Patrick and his family live and he moved here with the first class of student farmers years ago. He had been on the farm longer than many of the staff. We all woke up to him crying, for lack of a better term, from a seizure early this morning and by the time we sat down to breakfast he was on the way to the vet. We buried him at lunch time under the perennials Jen, one of his biggest fans, had planted this past summer. Nate and Andrew shared some memories and I couldn't help but feel that he was cheated in that our new class of student farmers hadn't gotten a chance to know him. Those students who just left and those before them had a much deeper connection to him. Regardless of who was there today, he will be missed by many.