Running errands in a rural town doesn’t quite take on the same meaning as it does in a more populated area.  It requires careful calculations, plenty of provisions, and lots and lots of flexibility.  This mornings activities consisted of a trip to see someone about some pet related goods, a swift (oh so swift) visit to an “antique” store, and finally an unscheduled but ever so worthy stop at Georgia Buffalo.  Yes, it is a buffalo farm.  In my neck of the woods no less.

I have seen these beasts meandering the pastures for some time but never had the gusto to stop and take a look.  

Until today.

The man with the plan, Troy, gave us the grand tour in the buffalo mobile.  There was enough bumps and lumps knocking us around on the six-foot tall vehicle to keep all three of us sitting quite still, I assure you.  He took us on a jaunt through the forest ducking limbs and feeling the fresh air then a breath taking stop right amongst the buffalo where you were close enough to hear them snort.  I swear that is 2000 pounds of hot breath you don’t want anywhere near you.  These mammoths don’t mess around.

Troy answered my endless string of questions with not so much a blink of an eye.  Did you know a buffalo carries her babies for nine months too?  But instead of  a tidy little 8 pounder at the end of it all, she tucks herself away into the woods, scarcely seen, to birth a whopping 50 pound calf.  The mama’s will go to any length to protect their young from the jaws of the roaming coyote but often times their efforts are in vain.  The 30 miles per hour thundering gait doesn’t compare with a coyotes ability to hunt.  So, Troy keeps a lone donkey around to remedy this.  Hee’s and haw’s them away I suppose?  Well, none the less it does the trick.  A buffalo requires an acre to graze on.  If they are left in a solitary location, with no other buffalo to frolic with they will in fact die of lonesomeness.  A buffalo grows dreadlocks before he sheds.  Babies are born with fur the color  of gold.

You see?  I could have asked more, and I am sure I did, but the chocolates ran out, and the boys got restless pacing the store front.  Oh yes, the store front, I am happy to announce that there are freezers chock full of not only award winning buffalo meat in every cut imaginable, but also Savannah River Farms succulent bacon and free range chickens.  There are bones for broth, bones for dogs, teeth for necklaces, hides for rugs, skulls to marvel at, no part of the animal gets left behind.  He even discussed this years buffalo’s who are unable to have their hides tanned due to the season not being optimal for their coats, being sheered and wait for it….. SPUN.  Oh, why do I need another reason to have a wheel?

And…this little mama, followed us far and wide.  She even ventured into the pastures trotting beneath giant buffalo feet!  Needless to say they nudged her off, but her bravery was uncanny.

Or perhaps it wasn’t.  Bravery can be proven in many ways.  Troy started a buffalo farm.  A place for people to come and experience an animal that is all but forgotten.  One that not so long ago roamed this area as thick as the mosquitoes that now occupy it.  (Ok, maybe not quite that thick).  My Miles climbed the rungs of the buggy with bravery, and now prides himself in the fact that he is more than ready to be a firefighter having mastered this new skill.  Rowan … well, Rowan sat in my lap the whole time, but one day he will be brave I am sure.  And me? I will continue to run errands with two impossibly energetic boys in tote.   Now that is brave.

Also!  If you are local, you must must must go their first family fun day.  It is unprecedented in the area quite honestly.  There will be local crafts, honey demonstrations, a bouncy house (yipeeee!), buffalo buggy rides, authentic native american tales, and of course buffalo meat!  It is March 30th from 9-2 and you can find directions here.  More information can be found on their facebook page: Georgia Buffalo.  Like them on facebook!  Come comment here and tell me you did and  I will enter your name in a drawing for a buffalo tooth necklace.  Believe me.  You will be the hit of any party with that classy number!

and the winner is….. Jessie831!!!!  Congrats!!!!