Farmer's Golf

When the wedding guests were preparing for the week-long Amsterdam excursion, we'd get email updates from the couple reminding us of things to bring that we might forget - like our passports, ticket, umbrellas, and mud-worthy shoes!

I read that email and did a quick mental scan of the hoards of shoes that I own - black, brown, colored, high heels, low heels, boots, ahh the really cute knee highs, but nothing seemed to scream - mud-worthy! So I took the cheapest and most worn pair of shoes I owned, hoping it would do.

There were surprise events in store for us each day that were only disclosed to us the day of - I may have had a tad too much to drink the night before and tried my hardest to get the secret out from them as to where we were going the next day, but in vain!

Getting to the point, we were taken to a cow farm where we were going to play Farmer's Golf. We went by tractor way, way into the fields with four colored balls, golf-like sticks and a clip board to keep score. During the drive, our farmer/driver would point out to the little flags hoisted at various distances - this was where the holes were.

(Oh by the way, I was so glad to learn that the farm had boots we could borrow)

We divided ourselves into 4 teams and took turns hitting the ball until it went in the hole, or not. A tit-bit of detail that made this excursion a lot of fun on this cold, very windy day was the fact that each piece of land was surrounded by waterways - well, not really "water" ways - it was filled with brown liquid - cow pee and poo! Ughh - I know, I know! But you had to be there coz it was a blast! Every time someone hit the ball into the water, not only did they get penalty points but it was fun watching how they got the ball out from the 'liquid' with a net that was provided to us!

The farmer had also warned us that we could be stepping on 'anything' as we were walking through these fields - after all we were in cow territory!

After passing a couple of holes there was a picnic hamper waiting for us with cheese (Oh my god - the cheese I've eaten on this trip was amazing) cold cuts, alcohol filled raisins, nuts, crackers, soda, juice!

We had to get our shoes washed by the farmer with a water pipe and it was then inspected by his wife, and in case there were little 'spots'  left we had to  go back for another wash!

I know, it may sound gross, but you had to be there! We saw cows of all sizes and ages, 2 days, 1-2 weeks, a few months, 6 years. We even saw them being milked!

The farmer's wife told us how they organize these trips for schools kids to supplement their income on the farm - It was fun - losing some years of my life and literally becoming a kid amidst glorious nature in all its forms!

-- Farah Bala