What not many people know about me is that I am a 4-H intern at Old Sturbridge Village! There are three types of interns at OSV. There are college interns which stay throughout the whole summer at the Old Sturbridge hotel, and they help out with all aspects of the village. Junior interns make up the majority of the interns. Junior interns help in cooking, with summer camp, gardens (sometimes), dying wool, and games. The next branch of interns is the 4-H interns which there is not as many of. These interns are from the 4-H and FFA programs, meaning that they have experience working with animals and plants. These interns are the same ages as Junior Interns (14-18). 4-H interns are very important at OSV, and have more responsibilities than junior interns. 4-H interns work strictly in the gardens, and with the dairy. Being a 4-H intern is an amazing experience, and one of my favorite parts of summer.
In case you are wondering, yes I do have to wear a costume. I am out in 80 degree heat in a dress, long apron, petticoat, long socks, and then my underneath clothes (basically shorts just and a tank top). No, it is not that hot. All of the clothes are made of cotton so it is very breathable. I do have to wear my hair up in a bun, and covered with a bonnet. The only part of my costume that is bothersome is my sun bonnet. This is a bonnet to be worn outside (which I always am) and have a huge rim that covers my face, and a flap that covers my neck. Being a 4-H intern I do not get a delicate straw hat like the other interns which is good because I hear they are a pain. That is just part of my summer wardrobe which I will probably never post pictures of. Winter wardrobes have so much more pieces to them, but are so much nicer looking so expect pictures of those.
My schedule as a 4-H intern consists of working in the garden for the morning, early afternoon, taking the calves out for Meet the Calf twice a day, and the late afternoon milking the cows, and feeding bottle to the calves. My favorite part of the day is when I do Meet the Calf. Meet the Calf takes place in the morning and the afternoon every day. What I do is put a halter on the calf, walk it out of it's stall (or field), and take it outside so visitors can pet the calf. I have to talk about the calf all while making sure the calf doesn't get to overwhelmed by the crowd of people. I also help with milking in the afternoon. Yes, I actually milk a whole cow by myself, by hand. Half the time there is another 4-H intern to help, but I am often alone. On average there is 3 cows, 2 are milked twice a day, and 1 is milked once a day. The milkmaid will talk, and milk our best cow Betsy who is nearest to the watching area. That leaves us to milking Button the cow in the back, and who likes to kick. Milking is not so bad, but it is hard work. In the end it is all worth it because I get to make the bottles, and feed them to the calves. By that time of day the village is a half hour to closing time so there is little to none visitors. The only part I do not really like is cleaning the milking buckets after. The buckets are made of wood so to clean them you must rinse them under cold water, and use a knife along the rim to get all of the milk out. It is a really long process that I dread doing, but sometimes the milkmaid will scrub out the buckets leaving me for more time to play with the calves!
I am really missing summer, my internship, and my calves right now so I am going to start posting my favorite stories about working over at Old Sturbridge Village, and I promise they won't be as long as this one!
me in my winter wardrobe with my calves
pattern of one of my summer dresses
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