Saturday, August 29, 2009

marla, the tourist.

in the words of chuck palahniuk, "marla, you little tourist."

that's what she was. just here to visit. to grace us with her presence. to enrich our lives. to give us the greatest gift... life. the twins.

marla passed away suddenly this morning. a postmortem determined she suffered from an acute case of liver flukes. a parasite derived from snails and not common in this part of the country.

we are all at a loss here on the farm. there is not a being here that does not miss her presence. the dogs, the goats, even the turkeys are in mourning. and i am heartbroken. it's hard being an organic farmer. loss is the biggest challenge. you are aware that loss is a possiblity going into it, but it doesn't make it any easier when confronted face to face with fatality.

we have decided to give our goats a preventative wormer from here on out. this will, of course, be chemical in nature and therefore not be considered purely organic. but knowing that this parasite is found on our land, i can not stand back and let innocent animals suffer.

so i suppose our mohair won't be considered certifiably organic, but it's damn near close.

and now for a pictorial memorial...

marla & the twins

tree leaves... it's what's for breakfast

marla and her BFF bernadett

a lovely lady

4 comments:

Jason said...

We'll only have to use chemical wormers for one season (until next fall), and then be back on the wagon as the fluke cycle will be broken.

Also, there are plenty of organic certified wormers out there; whatever that means.

I'll sure miss Marla, though.

Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry, Larissa. I applaud you and Jason for how hard you work to raise your animal family organically and with immense love and care, but I also agree that to not worm on the basis of the principle of being organic, knowing that they are in harm's way, is far crueler than the use of chemical innoculation against the danger could ever be.
Much love to you in your sadness.

Kendra Holliday said...

I am so sorry to hear about Marla. Her poor babies. Glad they are in good, loving hands.

larissa said...

the kids are doing surprisingly well. haven't needed much milk replacer. they are actually grazing! and have full bellies. they are really incredible creatures. but they do miss their mom which just breaks my heart.