DairyDays

I had an early morning the other day. I needed to be up for a morning milking out in Morrisville just outside of Stowe nestled in our great, Green Mountains. I began my career at the Free Press with a slightly traumatic milking experience up in Hardwick. You can read about that: here. Let's just say this milking trip involved much less pitch black snowshoeing, flash popping and nervous encounters with a strange, woodsy, sugar tapping man. I met up with life-long dairy farmer, Ted Keith, and his 60 Jersey heifers. Ted milks twice a day and carries out hours of farm chores in between. As I told Keith, I truly admire any individual who works in a tangible profession. Good hard work and manual labor is so often overlooked, so I admire those that have the gusto and willpower to take on these jobs. So much of our days is consumed with iphones, computers, cell phones, digital everything, ipods and now, now, now devices. I use most of these things everyday for work, but I justify it by getting outside and taking pictures. Keeps me sane. I spent just a couple hours with Ted that morning, but I managed a peek into his world and well, all of the smells that go with it, too. Several loads of laundry later I think I've managed to eliminate that dairy cow barn smell, but I'm not sure how the aroma managed to settle into my cameras. Shooting portraits two days later I had to apologize because the stench was so strong. Turns out I was the only one that noticed. Oh well.

Watch the audio slideshow I produced right here: DairyDays