An City Slicker-Turned Farmer

choi

Sandy Keenan, E-I-E-I ...Oh?  Tara Smith didn't know which end of a pig was up. But that did not stop her and her husband from buying a farm in California. New York Times, Aug 1, 2013.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/0 ... arm-e-i-e-i-oh.html

Quotation in the window of print: She has lost 30 pounds and gained muscle. 'And just look at these horrible man-hands.'

Quote:

(a) first two paragraphs:

"Tara Smith does not mind squealing on herself about the mistakes she has made since becoming a farmer at 47.

"Early on, she kept the runts of a litter of pigs, not realizing they could not survive beyond a few months, even with all her nurturing. And at day’s end, utterly spent, she would scramble around like a madwoman trying to catch the chickens to get them safely inside their hilltop shelters, a frantic dance that did not stop until a neighboring farmer patiently explained that they would go in on their own once the sun set.

"Tara Firma’s food is not supermarket-cheap, that’s for sure. A good-size fresh roasting chicken will set you back $28. 'And we still can’t keep them in stock [sold out immediately, that is],' Ms Smith said. Even so, the expense is the reason most often cited when memberships are canceled.


My comment:
(a) In the quotation, Tara Smith was referring to her hands.
(b) EIEIO
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EIEIO
(may be: The refrain to the children's song, "Old MacDonald Had a Farm")
(c)
(i) know which end is up: "(slang) to be alert and knowledgeable <Don't try to hustle me, sister. I know which end is up>"
Richard A Spears, Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions. 4th Edition. McGraw Hill, 2007.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/know+which+end+is+up
(ii) not know which end is up: "Inf[ormal]. not to be alert and knowledgeable. <Don't try to hustle me, sister. You think I don't know which end is up?> <Poor Jed doesn't even know which end is up>"
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs, 2002.
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/not+know+which+end+is+up

(d) runt (n; origin unknown):
"an animal unusually small of its kind; especially : the smallest of a litter of pigs"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/runt
(e) Sonoma County, California
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonoma_County,_California
(section 2 Etymology)
(f) Her farm is "Tara Firma Farms." That is a play on

terra firma (n; New Latin, literally, solid land): "dry land : solid ground"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/terra%20firma
(g) "The couple persuaded Kim Galatola, a friend who is a former Waldorf School principal, to help them with problem-solving and procurement. That might seem odd at first, given that she is a devoted vegan. But as she said, shrugging: 'The animals here only have one bad day. I don’t hold it against Tara.'  Asked what Ms Smith has given up for farming, she answered a little too quickly: 'Her sanity.'”
(i) The "she" who "shrugg[ed]" and "answered a little too quickly" is Ms Kim Galatola.
(ii) "The animals here only have one bad day."  The sentence refers to the last day of the farm animals, when they go to an abattoir.