On our last day of vacation, we drove into Watertown to Murrock Farms, run by my cousin Darryl. When I was growing up, his parents, my Uncle Charles and Aunt Betty (my dad’s sister) owed and ran the farm.

After my Grandma died, when we visited New York in the summers, we stayed with Aunt Betty (Uncle Charles had passed by then). At 91, she still lives in the farmhouse on the property and watches over the farm, noting every car or person who comes by; she has all her wits about her. Amazing.

Uncle Charles and Aunt Betty (far right. Okay, her eyes are closed, but it’s the only photo I have). Next to them, my mom and dad. Next over is dad’s sister Rosalind and husband Art. Then his brother Doug and wife Irene. Then his brother Fred and wife Anna and finally my grandmother, Lucy.

Aerial view of farm without the calf barn or new milk barn.

On a side note, only a few years before Uncle Charles died did I find out that he hated his nickname Chuck. I was so surprised when someone (Aunt Betty? my Dad?) told me. It felt weird to make the transition to Charles, but I wasn’t about to keep calling someone by a name they didn’t like.
We showed up somewhat unannounced. I’d told Darryl we were planning on stopping by, but never confirmed when (sorry and thank you!!).  Jeffrey (Darryl’s son) and his dog Sarah pulled up in the truck and were the first to greet us. He was working on the new barn, which will house the new offices (currently in various rooms in the farmhouse) and new milking robots. I know. Whoa, right?

Current milking set-up…

Blue container is catching milk for the calves.

New milking set-up (photo from Lely.com)…

I was fascinated by the milking process as a kid (I say kid, but well up into my teens. even now). I always made a point to watch at least once a day (there are three a day, the first one starting at 5:00am) when we were on the farm.

According to what I read online (click link for article), robotics milking not only saves money in the long run, but also includes other benefits like “more milk for cow,” “more freedom and improved animal well-being” and “better social life for farmer.” :)

We made our way to the calf barn.

The babies were super cute. The girls held out their hands to be licked. One calf got a pretty big mouthful of my daughter’s dress! The date on the tag is the calf’s birth date. Jeffrey started over at number 1 for their tags not long ago. I believe Darryl said they were up to number 3000 at that point.

Darryl made the move to organic farming I want to say about eight years ago. It took a couple years to become fully organic, as the entire farm (corn fields/feed, cows) had to meet all the criteria. Most of the farm’s milk ends up with the Horizon brand.

Such a fun day reliving childhood memories and sharing them with the girls.