About cows and learning

Written on 06/24/2019
Yesterday evening we signed over espresso, grappa, and panna cotta, discussing why we are actually doing this farmer's mission and why we like it so much! 1. We are both curious and interested in learning and trying new things, getting to know new people. 2. We simply wanted to be in the mountains. 3. We wanted to do physical work. 4. We think the idea of supporting mountain farmers is great and wanted to help here!
Espresso and grappa are not the usual way to end the day here. It was Sunday and it was my birthday, so we had the day off! We went hiking, swimming, ate delicious food, and I think we were able to enjoy the day especially because we had worked the week before. In a long time. Also a realization of the sabbatical year! Free time is better enjoyed when you work in between! It's that simple.
We have already learned a lot here and I have to say, it's fun. To learn. To understand how something works, to try it out myself, and then to be able to do it. Fast experience of competence, high sense of self-efficacy - that's what the social educator knows. Doing things again that you have no idea about. Not as a leader, but as a total beginner in a system. Getting responsibility for tasks, having responsibility for living beings. And at this point I have to mention that I'm actually not a fan of animals! Well, I was a vegetarian for 17 years of my life. But pets, petting animals, being interested in animal welfare... Not really my thing. Dogs have bitten me, guinea pigs have peed on me, cats have scared me at night when they jumped on my bed, the rabbits on my uncle's farm ran away from me. I always kept a wide berth around cows and sheep on the alpine meadows. And now, 17 cows with which you walk up the alp on narrow paths, with which you clean out the dung... I know all the cows by name, know which one runs with which one, drive them, scold them, praise them. So I do see certain parallels to my actual work. Whether you are on the way to the climbing hall with a group of young adults or with cows in the mountains... The difference is not that big!
What I have experienced: Just like in the burger restaurant, you can learn well when the 'teacher' explains calmly and lets you do it. When you are trusted with things. When mistakes don't become a drama. I hope I guide my people at work in a similar way.
By the way, Helmut is also a big fan of cows. If you're looking for him, he's either in the cold cellar or in the stable! He interestedly reports on the social structure of the animals after every descent: Gloria, one of the older and slower cows, has been walking together with her daughter for a while now, slowly. The daughter always waits until the mother is ready and nudges her to continue. Even though Gundi could go faster. Patiently, he also went along with the crippled harp from the beginning or refrained from driving Gundi, who always needed space in front of her and then mastered the steep sections at full speed! He also quickly gained the task of feeding in Manuel's absence, a great sign of trust! This was one of the tasks he did not want to leave to volunteers. Because who gets what when - that's probably a science in itself! So now, a future perspective of gathering cows instead of running a café!?