Patricia Temples Photography

Life at the Dairy Farm

Biggest Smile in Greene County

I spent a couple more hours at the dairy farm this morning.  I was invited to go out to feed the cows, which meant I rode in a truck through every field in the farm.  I got up close and personal to my favorite barn in Greene County, I walked among the cows who, once they learned I had no food, completely ignored me.  I saw where the milk is stored until the trucks pick it up every other day.  I saw where the sperm is stored for inseminating the cows.  I watched as three brothers moved a cow who was “down” to a shady spot in the front yard where she would be cool.  What an interesting day.  Dairy farming involves not only cows, but fields of corn, brewer’s yeast brought in from Williamsburg to be a supplement to the cows’ food, knowledge about animal husbandry, veterinary medicine, mechanical skills and using good old ingenuity in dealing with day-to-day issues.

A high point of the morning was when I climbed through a barbed-wire fence, walked through 4-foot high Johnson grass and dodged poison ivy to find the graves of Dr. May Burton and his wife Sarah Head Burton.  Thanks to Steve, my guide for the day, for a terrific view of a fantastic farm.

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Coincidences of Life

I have been thinking about my Dairy Farm Adventure.  Forty years ago this month I started my first full-time job as a teacher at Albemarle High School at the intersection of Hydraulic Road and Lambs Road in Charlottesville.  A year later I transferred to Jack Jouett Middle School, located immediately behind the high school, to become a school counselor there, which was my dream job and the goal of my educational experiences.  Jouett Middle School has an address on Lambs Road.  I learned on Monday that Lambs Road was named for the man who started the dairy farm (in 1953) that I am now photographing.

On the Dairy Farm there is a pre-Civil War home, once used as a tavern.  It’s a small, abandoned house in an area of the county once called Burtonsville.  Dr. May Burton once lived in that area and had a medical practice on that land.  My maiden name is Burton.  I have no idea whether my Burton ancestors were related to Dr.May Burton, but it’s worth investigating.  Some day soon I’ll visit the Greene County Historical Society.

Coincidences in life are amazing and spine-chilling to me.  I feel that I have come full circle in forty years.  What drew me to the farm?  Who knows? But, as my nephew Jared says, there is a reason for everything.

Hot Air Balloon Festival, Bealeton Virginia

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The weather cooperated today for ten balloons to fly over us at the Flying Circus in Bealeton, Virginia. The balloons were fantastic, and the small planes in orange, red, yellow and blue added to the burst of colors in the air.

Farm in the Fog

A Foggy Morning

Beautiful Barn