Sunday, February 5, 2012

Ian Shaver, Farmer, Musician and Traveler

By Megan Collins, ENG 336. 001



Ian Shaver was born in Frostburg Maryland and now attends Frostburg State University as a junior with the hopes of one day being in Africa and Europe. He majors in English Literature and minors in Art History. He also hopes to “continue to travel three months out of the year and also to extend the farm to include cabins, greenhouses, and in the works to have a catering company become a complete focus instead of a here and there thing.

He is a twenty-five and is currently living on a farm with two other friends after moving out of his parent’s house at seventeen. One of his friends, Josh, is the actual owner of the farm that more or less focusses more on agriculture than livestock. They have a dachshund, named Stacey, and five roosters that are not being used for anything. Originally the aim was to get laying hens, but his friends went to get them before Ian showed up and there was a bit of a mix-up. Ian and his friends are thinking about getting a few more animals like “horses, goats, and pigs.” Agriculturally the farm really only makes anything during the spring and the summer when they can grow the crops. Some things he enjoys about it are learning the different processes of working on the farm and the detachment from technology which keeps him more productive.  

            Ian has traveled to a few different countries such as Canada, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, panama, and Honduras. Out of the countries he visited Ian preferred Canada because it was a “different reason to travel, recreational, I was in a band hanging out with six of my friends. It seemed more like a business trip,” because he was traveling in a band called Cotton Jones. Ian is currently on break from his travels and playing the drums while the band continues to move around because they switch off who plays.  His travels were fun, but were not always safe and at times took Ian and his friends out of control of the situation. One example is when Ian said “I got stuck in a tornado.” He had arrived in Dallas when his car broke down and they had to call a tow truck to come pick them up. Once the tow truck arrived they were told they all had to head to a pilot, a “giant gas station with mechanics and showers,” because of the tornadoes in the area. Luckily no one got hurt. Another incident that happened was in Burlington where he was “casually mugged.” It is a bit interesting to hear the words mugged and casual put together in the same sentence. Their car had broken down when they showed up and they had to be pointed to the nearest gas station. The man pretends to be helpful and gets them to the gas station and suddenly starts asking about if they had money and if they could buy him a pack of smokes. When they said they did not have the money he became more persistent. By the time they got back they had somehow given their money to the man and later realized they were mugged by a man without a weapon. 

 For more information on the band, Cotton Jones, see the link. 

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