Farm Life

[Spiritwind]

Christine, you are welcome to come stoke the fire in our home anytime (chop some wood, too, in case you are missing it). You are a trooper, for sure, driving here in a snow storm over several passes and all to get here last year!



One thing we have discovered about operating this little stove, is it really makes a difference what kind of wood as to how long the fire burns. This is true in any wood stove, but even more so with this one. Pine, brush, and 2x4 remnants burn very fast, whereas, of course, red fir and tamarack burn much longer, even birch. I have to say that chopping wood of this size feels almost tailor made for me. I really can't do much normal size wood chopping anymore. I can, but I pay for it big time. This, though, is a short older woman's delight.

[Christine]

Christine, you are welcome to come stoke the fire in our home anytime (chop some wood, too, in case you are missing it). You are a trooper, for sure, driving here in a snow storm over several passes and all to get here last year!

Oh my gosh, I totally forgot that. Nineteen hours driving and hitting a bad ass snow storm coming over the last pass into Couer d' Alene, I had to track the tire trails in the snow of the car in front of me and then the slippery slide up to your place. I will be happy to chop wood ... ah to be able to be in more than one place at a time.

[LostNFound]

The sound of wood splitting wafted into the barn, The first white blanket had dusted the ground during the dark while they all slept in the fresh straw. Firefly was the first to jump up and head for the opening out into the yard. The rest followed quickly as they all knew that the Axe lady was chopping wood again and the sweet smells from the Birch always made them want to eat the shavings. Firefly was the first to slide in the white blanket up to the fence and stuck her nose through the hole. She sniffed the birch shavings as the axe lady deftly split the small kindling sticks from the short log on the stump. Within a few short minutes all of them had slid in the snow and piled up against the fence. The tall woman giggled and tossed some of the chips over the fence to them. They all mulled around while the wood was being split and chopped and then the woman gathered an arm full and headed back to place of warmth. They all sniffed around in the ever deepening snow looking for any stray wood chips and then all in tandem moved back to the comfort of there warmer place.

[Spiritwind]

Giggle, that's about right Steven. And Firefly is the queen bee, alright!

[Spiritwind]

Rain and snow, for days, is in the forecast. Groan. I guess whatever got done, got done, and whatever didn't is going to have to wait, like the sealer we were going to put on the roof of the fifth wheel this weekend. Funny, even though we got so much done in the last few weeks, it seems it's never enough. I have to work at reminding myself of how much better off we are this year, in so many ways, than last year at this time.

I admit, I am a sun lover, and even though I don't mind the rain I'm not fond of getting up in the dark and having it dark when I go out to feed in the evening. I'm going to have to psyche myself up and plan some strategies to keep my spirits up this winter. At least I feel very grateful as I look at the crackling fire, that incidentally is about to go out, and the fact that I won't have to sit around in snow pants all winter (makes me think of you, Sandy). I also felt quite gratified as I went out to start the generator this morning and peaked in at all the goaties, with their eyes shining in the dark as I aimed the flashlight at them sitting cozy in their barns. Instead of having to crawl in on my hands and knees this winter to add straw to their bedding, all I have to do is open the 3/4 doors my husband made me for two of the shelters. On another one I made an entrance extension with some metal roofing I had a piece of, and some pallets for the sides. Then I found a couple pieces of scrap OSB to put on the outside sides of the pallets. Anything to give them more space out of the elements. It's not what my husband would normally have built, but due to time constraints and probably wanting to humor me, he went along with it, LOL.

We found a sale on a 12x12 shelter logic structure and bought one for Freckles, the horse. It was such a great deal that it is on back order and we won't probably receive it for another week or so. Then we have to build the sides to support it. I am very excited and happy to see that she will have a shelter this winter. Of course, that is no guarantee she will use it, but I think she will. We built her a shelter a few years ago when we were still taking care of the elderly woman with Alzheimer's. That's when I saw her run through the two foot space we left open and planned to finish the next day. The horses our lady's daughter had were taunting Freckles from the other side of the goat enclosure, and she bolted through the tiny space (never in a million years would I have thought she would do that) that she couldn't actually fit through, and I saw her literally run with the barn still attached to her hind end for about ten feet before she squeezed through. I couldn't believe my eyes. Anyway, she wouldn't go in it after that. I can't really blame her.

The older man that comes to trim her hooves gave me some more great pointers for working with her. I don't know who he is, but he's definitely an amazing man, with a very special way with horses. It was very impressive to watch her with him. I asked about who I could take her to next year so mainly I can get some training, and he said "bring her to me". Maybe I will finally be able to heal some of those very deep seated fears and traumas that go far beyond this life in regard to horses. Her energy is so special I can't even find words to describe how just being around her feels. Horses don't lie. My husband's co-worker's daughter doesn't know it yet, but I plan to take her with me next year. Her dream since early child hood has been to have a horse. Who knows, maybe something is perking on the back burner that has yet to come fully into view.

Looks like I better hurry up and go get that snow blower we have been graciously gifted with. I don't care how old it is as long as it works. And, its finally light out enough I can see without a flashlight, so think I'll get out there and feed everyone. It appears it may not be raining as hard so it might be my cue to run. Glad Halloween is over. It used to be one of my favorite holidays, as I enjoyed the dressing up part. I know too much now to really appreciate it anymore. There is a seamy underside, and once you see it with enough clarity, it's hard to ignore. Besides, I can feel spirits every day of the year, so no big deal there either. The line between us and them is not nearly as solid as we have been led to believe.



Ah, I just got me some kitty love. That perked me up! The tree in the picture is not dying, it is merely shedding its needles, so it can grow new ones in the spring. I love tamarack trees! Fall Gold.

[Fred Steeves]

Having had dogs since a small child, I especially enjoy hearing about the efforts made in giving the best care, and the most comfortable accommodations as possible for your animals. It is said you can tell a lot about people by the way they treat their animals. I believe that to be by and large the case, but then some people just don't seem to know any better as well.

One thing (out of many!) we have learned living out here in the woods of Eastern Tennessee, is that in certain areas people tend (but not always of course) to not see that the 4 leggeds need the same basic care and attention as us 2 leggeds. They are seen more as possessions, like something you may drag home from a yard sale, stick it in some corner, and forget about it.

Like 4 years ago our first winter here, there was this poor dog out in the middle of a field closely chained to his dog house. Always chained, always always always. A lot of that here, keep dogs on permanent short chains so they can never even experience the sheer joy of running. But anyway, it about broke our hearts to see that even when the temperature goes down to zero, the dog stays out on that chain. That particular dog wasn't there come spring, a new one took it's place on that lonely chain, and it was the same the next winter for the new dog.

And then the horses; we never had any experience with horses, but summer before last our front neighbor with a 50 acre field wound up with a horse, an old mule, and a lil red pony. It was cool getting to know horse energy over this time, except that they had no shelter, and when all the green grass was eaten he wouldn't buy them hay to eat. For more than a year, and especially over the coarse of 2 winters, we kept those horses fed and watered. They basically became our defacto new pets; always close by, they would come when you called them, and they knew that getting home from work time was feeding time.

You know it wasn't easy keeping those big hungry mouths fed, but hell we can't just sit around and watch them starve! Maybe it was a mistake to ask this neighbor a few weeks ago while talking about how to clear some trees, how he planned on feeding them this winter, because he up and plopped them into an out of the way field he owns up the mountain behind us. I know he doesn't appreciate our concern, and I know what his plans are: Out of sight out of mind for us, and they have more fresh green grass up there, that is until they eat it all, and winter sets in again. This winter they will not only go hungry and without shelter, but they won't even have any human warmth and attention.

But we can't say anything more, not in these parts, you don't want to alienate all you neighbors. By the way we didn't know for sure the horses got moved up there, we hoped he had sold them, but we drove up to look and sure enough there they were. And the shit of it is that when I got out to talk to them, they looked at me like f**k you, this is all your fault because you're our care givers now. YOU let this happen". As you said SW, horses don't lie...

So anyway thanks for listening to my little rant, I seldom do that but when I do it feels good. And again, I love hearing how well your 4 leggeds are cared for

[Sandy Clark]

Dear Fred and Spiritwind,

It is heart breaking to hear your dog and horse stories Fred.......and I empathize with the guilt/angst you feel with their plight. Like you said...some people just do not get it as animals are like inanimate possessions when it comes to their awareness levels. I have not had much horse experience but do understand they have intuition far beyond our own it seems.

Spiritwind I wish I could go with you too when visiting the "horse whisperer neat guy" to learn, grow and understand more. When I was still in the working arena over 12 years ago, some friends of mine asked me to present a Wild Horse Taming Program to the Warden of the Maximum Security Penitentiary I was working with at the time. Their premiss was to connect voluntary violent inmates with the task of taming a wild horse. These fellows where old time horse men from the mountains in B.C. and they truly believed this therapy would also tame the inmate through having to get in touch with his own anger, trauma, etc to connect intimately with their assigned horse. They would supply the wild horses and equipment as well ass they knew that the Penitentiary had a farming complex to house the horses and supplies, etc. They didn't go for the proposal which was too bad as I think it would have meant the world to changing some of those inmates lives for the better and in the end make society a whole lot safer too.

As an addendum, I read on the net the other day that they have started a Horse Program for female inmates in Southern Saskatchewan (my Province) in a Federal Facility that house's aboriginal women only, for the most part. The main focus is rehabitation with traditional ways being delivered and practised more than not. Although these horses are not wild I believe they will give the women lots of learning and thus I was very happy to see that it has been implemented. Hopefully it will be a big success and then possible potentials may open for others...

I hope you will write about your times with the Horse when they happen as I would love to live vicariously through your experiences, as I do your Farm Life............awwwww..hard work no doubt but you never forget to count the blessings and that is the part that heals the most.....Thank you. Hugs for all including the furkids

P.S. I hear you about the snow...got our first bunch lat night so was out there early this morning with the shovel so that the guys putting on my siding didn't have to trek through it to get to the outside walls. Good Exercise and even if my lungs (didn't quit smoking cigs soon enough) don't like it I enjoyed the crisp fresh air.

[Spiritwind]

You know, Fred, your story about the horses is all too common. Having animals like this at all has been a big lesson in ethics for me, in so many ways. I didn't have a shelter for our horse the last three years, and with the exception of last year, the other two were fairly mild. I did feel weighted down though, because basically last winter was a financial disaster that we didn't foresee to the extent that we experienced. And so there was no way we could get a shelter up for her, and I even couldn't get her hooves trimmed for a full eight months. I could barely deal with the guilt and the feeling that I had bit off more than I could chew.

Then we have the people up the road from us who don't appear to suffer from the same almost overwhelming sense of responsibility. I ended up finding homes for three of their four Great Pyrenees puppies that showed up here where we live (we kept one ourselves), and they don't even know what happened to them. I remember going over there when the guy couldn't get home two winters ago, to feed and give their animals food and water a few times. They had chickens, ducks, sheep, goats, cats, dogs. They had a frozen duck laying out in the yard. I heard there was a dead goat they hadn't disposed of too. I don't even talk to them anymore, for almost two years now after that. I couldn't deal with it and don't even want to know how they are doing. Looks like most or all of the animals are gone now. The dogs were left completely alone for days on end. I guess there is a wide variance indeed between various value systems we each adhere to. I just hope I have enough sense to place my animals with someone else before I ever get to that point (and I know I will!).

The other really hard one I've had to deal with, and so have many others, is when your animal has health problems and gets older. Not everyone has money for a veterinarian when they need it. And keeping your dog on a short chain full time in all kinds of weather is another one. We had to change jobs years ago when I had a black lab/wolf mix and I did have to put her on a chain for a couple years. It wasn't that short, and she had the back porch to herself, plus I took her out for walks, but it wasn't the same and she hated it. I promised myself I would never allow that to happen again. It's really interesting how animals can teach us so much and help, at least some of us, to become better people. Unfortunately that doesn't happen for everyone. And you don't even want to get me started on what I think about factory farming practices of today. Appalling doesn't quite cover it. So many opportunities to re-arrange our lives so we can be more true to our values, instead of being herded along with the platitude of "it's just the way things are".

And I know most of us can't just do everything at once to change our lives to be how we envision it should be, especially as we become more awake. It often has to happen in baby steps. Like my daughter saying "no" to the gardasil/HPV vaccine. It wasn't easy for her, as they do kind of intimidate resistors into complying with various passive aggressive, and even more obvious, tactics. Anyway, anything at all we start to do in our lives differently is worthwhile, no matter how small, and work out from there.

We got our first snow of the season last night, at least two inches or more of heavy wet stuff. And, even though I am sore as heck, I am so glad I went out with our neighbor to cut wood yesterday. Out of shape I am! Feels really good to be in the woods though, and just smell the fresh earth, moss, and trees. We walked around the property looking for dead standing trees, and I was happy to discover that there really wasn't that many of them. We have a lot of downed stuff from really big wind storms two years ago, but otherwise they are doing pretty good. In fact, I saw a small white fir tree that looked completely dead, with dead branches, and brown at the top. Then I took a closer look and it's actually making a comeback. We left the water running a couple times where we forgot to turn the generator off that operates the well pump and the water ran right down to where this tree is. It's got some new green growth on it! And it's a good thing we have such a good well (it did not run out of water or even slow down, even though it was the middle of summer and we must have let it run for three or four hours straight).

I guess I better suit up in my winter gear and get out there. I have to admit, it's very beautiful, the first snow. And I was also thinking again about the magic of water, and how it forms such beautiful crystalline shapes in the form of snow flakes. Yes, I'm not going to complain, as without water and all that she does for us, there would be no life forms such as we have. I shake my head in wonder at the intricacy of design and amazing adaptability of life here. I say, bring it on.

By the way, Sandy, I absolutely will let you know what happens next year when I take Freckles and me, mostly me, for training!

I have a picture I was going to add, but it will have to wait. I'm not even sure I'll be able to post this right now due to the internet wanting to flake out on me. We'll see. I guess we're fortunate to have it at all. The solar isn't doing much charging at the moment either. And I can't say it enough, sooo happy for the wood stove!

[Spiritwind]

About eight inches later and still snowing. None of them even want to come out to eat today! Maybe I shouldn't have said "bring it on!". A little early in the year for this.

[Sandy Clark]

WOW...that is December snow for sure!!