June 2nd, 2013 - Rosenhill Farm, Sweden

A beautiful Sunday at the Rosenhill Farm. 

So my morning routine goes like this. I wake up at 8am, we have breakfast at 8:30, which usually consists of Muesli + Yogurt + Knakebrod + Kaviar (a swedish shrimp/fish paste) + Lingonberry Jam (the best thing ever), and Soft Boiled Eggs. How have I never had these before? They're absolutely delicious!

After breakfast, I go with Laura, a Finnish lady, and her 3 year old son to go feed the Pigs, Chicken, and Rabbit. This is my favorite part of the day. We take the buckets filled with all the leftover food from the day before, wheel it down to the pigs, and soon as they see us coming, they come running towards us. They are very cute, just about 4 months old, and they are always hanging out with each other. They eat only the grass available in their field and the vegetables that we give them. We make sure they never eat any meat. The chicken also have their own little field, with a ROOSTER, very important, as the eggs they produce actually have the ability to produce offspring. Chicken are omnivores so they are allowed to eat meat, they don't seem to be a big fan of dairy products though. They also have a little hut within their field where they can lay their eggs. Every morning we can go in and collect some fresh eggs, making sure we always leave at least 2 eggs behind so they know where to lay their eggs in the future. We also feed the rabbit, though I feel a bit sorry for it because it is all alone.

Before coming to this farm, terms like "organic" and "free range" were just words to me, but now they make sense. This is what traveling is about, being able to link up the words that we speak with actual life experiences, after all, words are just metaphors/symbols for reality. But back to the subject of food; when I see these pigs and chickens, I'm actually happy for them, they have space to roam and good food to eat. All the eggs, pork, vegetables that we eat here are locally grown and it feels so good to know that what we are eating are not filled with pesticides. I can't even imagine how terrible the quality of our food is in America. Stuck in cages, never allowed to move around, forced to eat only corn and soy, injected with dozens of hormones, this isn't the type of food we should be feeding people.

Another thing I like about feeding the animals in the morning is actually the conversations I get to have with Laura. She is a single mother with her first child. So we talk about how some people don't want children because they feel it may be limiting to their own lives, but in many ways, having children can also be the best thing to do because raising a child is the most selfless act. We talk about how fast children learn, and the different phases they go through. The ability for children to learn languages still blows my mind. This kid speaks finnish but has been picking up Swedish and he even learned ENGLISH today. Haha. His first words? "LET'S GO!". After feeding the pigs, we always go and wash the buckets. He learned this phrase because he likes holding the water hose spraying them down. Whenever I need extra water, I say, "Let's Go!" Haha. I think he might even know what the words, “Thank you” means now, because he knows to stop when I say it. Sometimes he holds my hand when we walk, and sometimes he just wants me to watch him play. It's quite a peculiar feeling. It feels nice because all of the sudden it feels like family, like I'm his older brother.

Note: The kid might be mistaking the word "Let's Go" for my name, haha, or maybe that's just the phrase he uses to get my attention.

Lesson: She said the most important thing about raising a child is educating yourself, because the person you are is the person your child will become.

by Jason Lam