Mark had surgery to fix his knee on Tuesday. The top of his tibia got crushed by his femur when he fell, and the tibia was cracked. Fourteen screws, a plate, several pins, and one big bone graft later, we’re home. The operation took somewhere between four and five hours, and Mark came out of it in full Markian form. Turns out narcotics make him more hyper rather than less.
I can’t say enough good things about his surgeon, Dr. Bullock, nor about the nurses and support staff at Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake who took care of Mark for the two days he spent in the hospital. Now the long road of rehab begins. I am sending deep, heartfelt thanks to the many people who helped us this week, from the farmers who kept the farm running to the friends who took care of the girls and cooked for our family. What would we do without you?
More Baby News on Essex Farm
Two more sows farrowed this week. Nine surviving piglets in one batch, twelve in the other. The mamas are doing well and the babies are growing so fast you can almost see it happen in real time. Pig milk is rich. Watching them, it occurred to me that each species has its own distinct mothering style. The ewes are sweet and nurturing, nickering and nuzzling endlessly with their lambs. They are the attachment parenting moms of the animal world. Sows are more like the overburdened mothers you see in the grocery store who offer to show their kids the back of their hand if they misbehave. Big, scary, tough-love mamas. I suppose I might be like that, too, if I had twelve squealing babies attached to my nipples for hours on end.
Jane’s cosset lamb, Gem, has moved to the barn, where he is getting free choice cold milk and a little bit of hay and grain. He is with his own kind, but lonely for his young human caretakers. Jane likes to carry him from his pen out to the barnyard, where he follows her around like a puppy…” (Continue reading Kristin Kimball’s Essex Farm Note.)
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