Your Flying Farmer – Zoo Cows

The beautiful farmhouse and the bright red barn are the first things people see when they come to stay in our luxury silo Airbnb or to get some fresh raw milk. “This is the cleanest, most perfect farm I’ve ever seen!” Those are the words I hear very often as people walk around the farm I call home. Sometimes I struggle to see the wonder of what looks like work to me, but I find myself saying the same words of awe when I visit a “farm homestead” away from my own. As I walk around perfectly groomed paths, I see perfect pastures, mangers mounded high with good smelling hay, overly clean and comfy cows, and a perfect parlor! Where am I? I’m in the dairy “farm” area of the Minnesota zoo.
I live my life immersed in the intimate workings of a dairy farm and yet I find myself inexorably drawn to the only part of the zoo that has the same smells of home.
Don’t get me wrong, I love to see the lions, I’m in awe of the gorillas, the komodo dragons amaze me, and I could gaze up at the awesome design of the giraffes for a good part of my time at the zoo. But the area of the zoo that makes a longing in my heart is the farmsite! Why do I like to be at the farm area of the zoo? Because they take my farm and perfect it!
The bright red barn and the beautiful farmhouse are the first things I see when I’m walking up the hill to see the zoo cows. There’s a pasture barnyard that has zookeepers standing there with a shovel and wheelbarrow, scooping up the rare cowpie deposited by the few cows that reside there. The farm is so free of manure that you might think they came up with a new breed that lacks the fertilizer gene! This is due to the ratio of staff and volunteers to the number of cows.
In contrast, the farm that I left at home has hundreds of animals in residence and instead of zookeepers… they get me. A caring farm kid now turned farmer whose life, limb, and livelihood depends on the health and wellbeing of those animals.
I care for my animals as much as the next zookeeper, but if I stood there with a shovel and wheelbarrow to scoop up every cowpie as it fell I would spend all my time in a losing battle with no time left for feeding, milking, or fixing.
After leaving the appearance of zoo perfection, I drive back to my farm wondering at the appearance of perfection and the dissatisfied feelings it can give me. No matter how good I have it, or how much I work to achieve that elusive feeling of satisfaction and contentment, we must come back and realize the impossible effort to appear perfect is not worth it. The let-down of seeing everyone else’s supposed “perfection” after the grand holidays can be especially real. Why can’t your life be like theirs, you might wonder? -When everyone is dressed up with a smile, what else would you expect?
Everyone’s family looks good on social media! We spend hours watching other people with their families perfectly pose in a way that seems perfectly spontaneous. While our own family swirls around us in a chaos storm worthy of Dorothy on her way to Oz!
What if instead of peering through the web at someone else’s posed perfection, peer into the eyes of your wife and work out the life set before you! Or, instead of watching the faked cuteness of someone else’s children, see your own little gifts and “train them up in the way they should go.” These micro decisions, done daily, will compound into a dream life that, although imperfect, is one that at this time is a life of which you can only dream.
As our efforts for perfection fail, I’m reminded again of the catechism question, “Q. What is your only hope in life and in death? A. That I am not my own, but belong – body and soul, in life and in death to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.” And what about perfection? Can it ever be achieved? Listen to this! “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Cor 5:21
Meet your farmer – Jonathan Gerdes. He and his wife run a farm-to-table raw milk dairy in Caledonia, Minn. If he isn’t in the barn, you can find him dating his wife, playing with his kids, leading youth group, or flying in the sky. Visit gerdesfreshfarm.com for more info.