I don't know if I'll have enough time to write this and post it this morning, but I'll give it a whirl. I did go to the Pow Wow with my grandson and had a great time, even though besides him being awed by the dancers and their attire, he was most interested in the ice cream and snow cones the food booths had to offer. This kid has a serious sugar addiction. In fact, I think most of his ADHD problem is diet, but my voice will never be heard, unless the constant barrage of nutrition information I keep blabbing on about to him one day sinks in. The dancers were absolutely awesome, from the youngest to the oldest, and as always I loved the drumming. We did go peak at the area where the Stick Games were going on, but I'll have to come back by myself with a little cash and a lot of time to get involved there. Maybe next year, and I can't believe it took me this many years to get to go again.
My grandson was really surprised when he later talked to his dad and found out that he, too, has some Cherokee in him from his grandfather on his dad's side. Funny, because they both have red hair and blue eyes. And today I'm heading for a drumming circle this afternoon, and will suggest a special round to the Grandfather's to assist with creating rain in the areas plagued by fire, and calming of the tumultuous storms that are threatening so many. I know fear actually feeds and energizes disasters. And I do know that our intentions, creative visualizations, and physical actions taken, do make a difference, and I know there are many who understand this and are doing the same, each in their own unique way. This is especially true when what is occurring is not just occurring by chance, but through specifically directed intentions and technologies being used to harm and create chaos and fear.
We did move little Mr. Raven over with the two older bucks. Even just a month ago they weren't quite so into the mating season, but now they are full into a single minded need to procreate. Sandy mentioned something about goats being ranchy at times. She doesn't know how true that statement is. Poor Raven, he was getting chased around and crying like a baby. They aren't bothering him as bad now, but he's still crying like a baby. Geez Louise! It was kind of funny really, because first he jumped up on the feeder and got out, so we moved the feeder and now I have to jump over the fence to put the hay in. We also had to pull the shelter away from the fence. He's a wily one, Raven is.
In our efforts to give poor Raven a way to get away from the older boys we put his igloo on top of the shelter with this other wooden crate as sort of a step to get up there. Bob Dean, the bigger of the two older boys, had been kind of stiffed up from all the bashing him and Jupiter had been doing to each other the last few weeks, so I didn't think he could get up there. And for a few days that seemed to be the case. Until one morning I went out there and saw him standing on top of the shelter next to Raven. At one point, when we first put Raven over there, I felt so bad for him that I thought about doing something different and let him out. But then when I saw him over by one of the girls pens snorting and carrying on just like the big boys, I knew I couldn't put him back in with any of them. He is kind of a momma's boy, and he thinks I'm his mom. He only does the crying like a baby (it really sounds pitiful) when he sees or hears me. Gee, aren't I lucky. If you didn't know better you would think he was being tortured.
The up side of moving him is that I was able to separate the girls so that I can accommodate the new girl, Ballerina, that will be arriving in the next few weeks, and I now have Jinjer and her daughter with the two one years olds that are pregnant so she isn't getting pushed around by the two older does. Just picked up a couple of dog houses for a good price off Craigslist too, to replace the ones they have trashed the last couple years. Goats rarely do what you actually expect or hope they will do, but I'm trying very hard to make sure no one is left out in the cold this winter.
I had to leave off for a bit so I could go help my husband put the two sides up on the barn. Making progress, though patience is definitely still a virtue. Although we got the tractor running, my husband still wants to paint it first before we put it up for sale. I have noticed his practice of taking this extra time and effort has served him well over the years. And it's not just as easy as taking the spray can and going for it. So I defer to things getting done when they are supposed to, not always according to the schedules we set for ourselves. It's good to have goals, but it's also good to adapt to the reality that things don't always go according to the best laid plans.
Which can even be a good thing at times, surprisingly enough. I went to the drumming circle I mentioned earlier and it was interesting how we discussed the ability to affect what happens. Perhaps it's just a coincidence that Irma has not continued to wreak the devastation that was feared. We discussed how important it is to visualize with intent a different outcome, and the equal importance to move into a grounded, balanced, empowered state. This requires clearing any fear or anxiety we harbor within ourselves, whether directly effected by these seemingly random acts of nature or not. Everything is connected to everything else, in some form or fashion. Just like an ill wind, negative emotions (and the thoughts that accompany them) can get carried away and develop an energy pathway of their own. We must each of us become responsible for what we are energetically putting out there if we wish to influence things to move in a more beneficial direction. My two cents worth, anyway.
I did thoroughly enjoy the energetic rounds of drumming, and I have noticed that after having drummed quite a few times with the same basic group of people that we are coming more and more into synch with one another. Interesting that people have been coming together in this way all over the world, really, far back into antiquity. One might ask what this has to do with farming, but in a round about way, it does. Life immersed in nature has a more natural flow, and reminds me of the steady beat of the drum, and how it tunes you to the heart beat of the earth herself. She is not unaware of those who genuinely love her, and that love will not be in vain.
Farm Life
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Spiritwind
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Re: Farm Life
I see your love shining out from my furry friends faces, when I look into their eyes. I see you in the flower’s smile, the rainbow, and the wind in the trees....
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Spiritwind
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Re: Farm Life
I'm having one of those evenings where my mind is wandering all over the place. I ran across this little jewel on my Facebook feed, where I was quite ecstatic that someone else had taken the initiative to show in a very physical way that we can easily see with our own eyes, and even replicate said experiment for ourselves, that our thoughts and focused intentions do indeed have a powerful impact on how the energy of love and gratitude versus the energy of dishonor and disrespect effect life forms. If this can happen with an apple, then what can it do to a human? Anyone who has looked at the work of Masaru Emoto knows that our thoughts, our words, and our intentions, effect whether creation responds with beauty and love, or with chaos, disharmony, and imbalance.
(I will share the "little jewel" from FB once I get permission, but it was a picture of two halves of an apple each placed in identical separate containers, with one being talked to in a loving, grateful, appreciative manner and the other being talked to in an angry, hateful, and complaining manner. The one half that was talked to lovingly looked maybe a day old, while the other half was rotting and disgusting looking with green mold all over it. This was after six weeks. I found it quite fascinating that probably anyone can do this and get similar results - OK, I got permission!)
From Lara Potgeiter's FB feed August 2
https://www.facebook.com/laradaniellepo ... nref=story" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"Meet happy apple (left) and sad apple (right). These are two halves of the same apple. On 20 May, I put each in an identical container. For the next six weeks, happy apple sang, laughed, danced and meditated with me. I spoke lovingly to it and thanked it for all its appley splendour. During the same period, I spoke a lot of smack to sad apple. I called it a useless, stinking piece of fruit, accused it of messing with my blood sugar levels, and generally gave it a hard time. I also let it listen to Metallica and watch the news. I let the experiment run for as long as I could before sad apple started to become a health hazard. What you see here are the results. Your words, emotions and intentions are probably (far) more powerful than you realise. Everything is energy. Just saying."
I heard something recently, too, about hope. I believe it was Cara St. Louise, said something about hope, and how the realization dawns for some of us, that we will continue our course of looking for truth and living and creating a reality that affirms life, no matter what is happening in the world around us, and no matter how crazy it gets. I know for myself, my thoughts are on the future, regardless of the fact that I have now lived long enough to experience weather wars, the radiation of the earths oceans to a level that really does appear hopeless in many respects, let alone the drive to make us all sick by various nefarious means. Even what used to be health food is often far from it these days, with food like products becoming the norm, rather than the garden to table I experienced as a kid growing up in the country.
So all that poop/hay we have over by the boys area we can spread out this winter, cover with some composted horse poop, and have the soil a bit more able to hold moisture and provide nutrients. Then it will be ready for the apple and peach trees I want to get next year. Plus we'll have to put some fencing around them to keep the deer from killing them before they get to produce. I already planted the walnut tree and have a couple backups in case it doesn't make it through the winter. And as soon as I get the vegetable rennet on Monday I will be making my first batch of mozzarella goat cheese. If it ends up being as good as I think it might be, I'll be trying to save up for a used milk machine so I can start providing for all our dairy needs in the future.
The other thing I'm anxious to make is Rick Simpson's CBD oil. The way things are going, we all better get proficient at maintaining our health, and not counting on the system to help us. I also plan to grow much larger amounts of my favorite herbs and start making all my own herbal oils and salves. When I went to a local herb growers farm this year and got to participate in making a salve from a variety of her homegrown herbs, I absolutely fell in love with the sample she let each of us take home. I'm sold on it! My husband tried it on a recurring rash that has driven him to the brink of insanity over the years, and even the so called medical experts can't diagnose or cure, and it has provided relief from the burning and itching. It really does feel as though reality is splitting into different outcomes, with different pathways developing depending on your beliefs and actions. For our actions either affirm or deny the various reality constructs we each live in, thereby validating or not ours and others expectations. Hell, if I had listened and truly taken to heart what parental figures were thinking and saying about my future prospects in the adult world when I was growing up, the outcome would not have been a good one.
They literally talked about me being mentally retarded, while I was in the back seat of the car, as if I wasn't there and couldn't hear them. And it wasn't just them. My second grade teacher put me out in the hall and told the rest of the class I had some kind of developmental problem, as in mentally retarded. Something about me challenged many people who were part of my early social scenery. Oh well. Funny thing is, I still to this day trigger strong responses from people on occasion. I'm not even sure what it is I do and say they find they must lash out about. Not sure why this just came up for me, but I think it has something to do with how crazy I think the outer world has become. Like, how did defiantly living life according to ones own principles become so dangerous?
But see, that's it. It has ALWAYS been dangerous to speak your mind, unless you are one of the deeply programmed and mind controlled minions of the bad ass war god that lurks in the ever growing shadows here. One that preys and feeds on all things we as the true humans of earth have, or at least had, in abundance. Our innocence and our capacity to expand our heart energy to literally create universes of unimaginable complexity and richness. So, our children suffer, nature suffers, all other life forms suffer greatly, as our current model of mind domination includes treating all life forms as expendable and only available for this elite group's uses and pleasures. I can clearly see the puppet masters behind the curtain now, and how they manipulated the masses into almost wholesale compliance. For some reason, my bloodline seems to carry a potential for something that is hard to name. All three of my children tried desperately to fit in, but were/are different like me. They just couldn't do public school well. Not because they are unintelligent either. They just have a sense of the world that is inherently different than most.
And I have always wondered what that is that sets certain people apart, even when they themselves, especially when growing up, wanted nothing more than to fit in. But I see others even far more outspoken and actively speaking their truth growing and expanding all around me. Some how, despite all the odds, we are starting to create a magnetic field, that by linking up energetically radiates out and creates a counter flow of creation. I say catch that wave!
(I will share the "little jewel" from FB once I get permission, but it was a picture of two halves of an apple each placed in identical separate containers, with one being talked to in a loving, grateful, appreciative manner and the other being talked to in an angry, hateful, and complaining manner. The one half that was talked to lovingly looked maybe a day old, while the other half was rotting and disgusting looking with green mold all over it. This was after six weeks. I found it quite fascinating that probably anyone can do this and get similar results - OK, I got permission!)
From Lara Potgeiter's FB feed August 2
https://www.facebook.com/laradaniellepo ... nref=story" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"Meet happy apple (left) and sad apple (right). These are two halves of the same apple. On 20 May, I put each in an identical container. For the next six weeks, happy apple sang, laughed, danced and meditated with me. I spoke lovingly to it and thanked it for all its appley splendour. During the same period, I spoke a lot of smack to sad apple. I called it a useless, stinking piece of fruit, accused it of messing with my blood sugar levels, and generally gave it a hard time. I also let it listen to Metallica and watch the news. I let the experiment run for as long as I could before sad apple started to become a health hazard. What you see here are the results. Your words, emotions and intentions are probably (far) more powerful than you realise. Everything is energy. Just saying."
I heard something recently, too, about hope. I believe it was Cara St. Louise, said something about hope, and how the realization dawns for some of us, that we will continue our course of looking for truth and living and creating a reality that affirms life, no matter what is happening in the world around us, and no matter how crazy it gets. I know for myself, my thoughts are on the future, regardless of the fact that I have now lived long enough to experience weather wars, the radiation of the earths oceans to a level that really does appear hopeless in many respects, let alone the drive to make us all sick by various nefarious means. Even what used to be health food is often far from it these days, with food like products becoming the norm, rather than the garden to table I experienced as a kid growing up in the country.
So all that poop/hay we have over by the boys area we can spread out this winter, cover with some composted horse poop, and have the soil a bit more able to hold moisture and provide nutrients. Then it will be ready for the apple and peach trees I want to get next year. Plus we'll have to put some fencing around them to keep the deer from killing them before they get to produce. I already planted the walnut tree and have a couple backups in case it doesn't make it through the winter. And as soon as I get the vegetable rennet on Monday I will be making my first batch of mozzarella goat cheese. If it ends up being as good as I think it might be, I'll be trying to save up for a used milk machine so I can start providing for all our dairy needs in the future.
The other thing I'm anxious to make is Rick Simpson's CBD oil. The way things are going, we all better get proficient at maintaining our health, and not counting on the system to help us. I also plan to grow much larger amounts of my favorite herbs and start making all my own herbal oils and salves. When I went to a local herb growers farm this year and got to participate in making a salve from a variety of her homegrown herbs, I absolutely fell in love with the sample she let each of us take home. I'm sold on it! My husband tried it on a recurring rash that has driven him to the brink of insanity over the years, and even the so called medical experts can't diagnose or cure, and it has provided relief from the burning and itching. It really does feel as though reality is splitting into different outcomes, with different pathways developing depending on your beliefs and actions. For our actions either affirm or deny the various reality constructs we each live in, thereby validating or not ours and others expectations. Hell, if I had listened and truly taken to heart what parental figures were thinking and saying about my future prospects in the adult world when I was growing up, the outcome would not have been a good one.
They literally talked about me being mentally retarded, while I was in the back seat of the car, as if I wasn't there and couldn't hear them. And it wasn't just them. My second grade teacher put me out in the hall and told the rest of the class I had some kind of developmental problem, as in mentally retarded. Something about me challenged many people who were part of my early social scenery. Oh well. Funny thing is, I still to this day trigger strong responses from people on occasion. I'm not even sure what it is I do and say they find they must lash out about. Not sure why this just came up for me, but I think it has something to do with how crazy I think the outer world has become. Like, how did defiantly living life according to ones own principles become so dangerous?
But see, that's it. It has ALWAYS been dangerous to speak your mind, unless you are one of the deeply programmed and mind controlled minions of the bad ass war god that lurks in the ever growing shadows here. One that preys and feeds on all things we as the true humans of earth have, or at least had, in abundance. Our innocence and our capacity to expand our heart energy to literally create universes of unimaginable complexity and richness. So, our children suffer, nature suffers, all other life forms suffer greatly, as our current model of mind domination includes treating all life forms as expendable and only available for this elite group's uses and pleasures. I can clearly see the puppet masters behind the curtain now, and how they manipulated the masses into almost wholesale compliance. For some reason, my bloodline seems to carry a potential for something that is hard to name. All three of my children tried desperately to fit in, but were/are different like me. They just couldn't do public school well. Not because they are unintelligent either. They just have a sense of the world that is inherently different than most.
And I have always wondered what that is that sets certain people apart, even when they themselves, especially when growing up, wanted nothing more than to fit in. But I see others even far more outspoken and actively speaking their truth growing and expanding all around me. Some how, despite all the odds, we are starting to create a magnetic field, that by linking up energetically radiates out and creates a counter flow of creation. I say catch that wave!
I see your love shining out from my furry friends faces, when I look into their eyes. I see you in the flower’s smile, the rainbow, and the wind in the trees....
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Spiritwind
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Re: Farm Life
Wow. What a switcheroo the weather did! I went straight from a bathing suit to snow pants, and I am not exaggerating or kidding. Was waiting for a good rain before we went out to start getting firewood in, because we didn't want to start a fire from using the chainsaw, and now we already need that wood stove hooked up. We refuse to go in the financial toilet again this winter, so we've been toughing it out so far, with just turning the heat on for a short while in the morning. Kind of makes me not want to get out of bed.
The up side is that I just sold our buck, Jupiter, yesterday and now I can get a ton of hay. The guy I have been buying from sold out and all I could get was some first cutting Timothy grass hay. The horse doesn't mind it, but the goats are not happy at all. Plus, they won't eat it all and most of it ends up on the ground for me to clean up later. And I can tell you that after several months of not being able to clean it up due to snow on the ground for over 3 months straight it is not a fun job at all. I'm really sad he ran out because he always loaded it onto the truck for me, and most places don't do that for you. I can't really muscle around 100 pound bales. We've almost got the tractor ready to sell too (ran out of paint or it would be done) and then I can even get two tons in, which should last about 4 months. Plus, the people we sold the three little orphans to have a big trailer and we might be able to work it out so they get some hay too, and we can go get it all at once and have some help loading and unloading. Fingers crossed on that one.
We had quite a time fixing the boys area up yesterday too. We needed to move where the gate was to make it more accessible and decided to move the feeder back over by the fence so I didn't have to go in the pen to feed them every time. And Raven proceeded to jump right out again. So we put a piece of fencing behind the feeder and watched him manage to get out again. Then we even added some more to make it taller, and he got out again! By then my husband wanted to go do something else. I don't blame him. We ended up screwing a 2x4 onto the bottom of the feeder on both sides so he couldn't tip it over and moved it into the middle of their pen. Raven looked like he wasn't going to quit trying and we didn't want him to break a leg or something, so I'll just have to put up with going in there everyday to put their hay in the feeder until he gets too big and heavy to jump up there anymore. What a brat!
Speaking of brats, our new kitten has made herself right at home. We named her Zoe, and I call her Zoe Zoom Zoom. When it gets cold I have cat warmers to help. Nicky curls up on one side, and for some reason Zoe wants to sleep on my head. Not by my head, but on my head. Which is really kind of funny because I don't have a large head so when she falls deeply asleep she tends to slide off. I can see the lap wars shaping up already too. I adore her, and even Nicky has grudgingly accepted her. I wish we could bottle up all that energy though. And the spray bottle with water has come in very handy already as she loves playing in my plants and the dirt in the pots. She's a climber, too. Just have to teach her that our legs are not scratching posts.
Would write more but should get out there and feed everyone, even though it does not look very inviting out there. At least all this rain should help put out some of those fires that have literally been burning for months now. My husband has been saying for some time now that he thinks this winter is going to be another tough one to get through, and he could be right. I guess we'll just do what we can and get ready to hunker down. Should have plenty of time to write though, here in the near future. Would still rather be here than anywhere else. I've always loved the forest and tall trees, and we do have lots of those. Feeling very thankful today. We may not have much money, but then money really can't buy so many things that are essential to true happiness. Sometimes it is the small things in life that do matter most.
The up side is that I just sold our buck, Jupiter, yesterday and now I can get a ton of hay. The guy I have been buying from sold out and all I could get was some first cutting Timothy grass hay. The horse doesn't mind it, but the goats are not happy at all. Plus, they won't eat it all and most of it ends up on the ground for me to clean up later. And I can tell you that after several months of not being able to clean it up due to snow on the ground for over 3 months straight it is not a fun job at all. I'm really sad he ran out because he always loaded it onto the truck for me, and most places don't do that for you. I can't really muscle around 100 pound bales. We've almost got the tractor ready to sell too (ran out of paint or it would be done) and then I can even get two tons in, which should last about 4 months. Plus, the people we sold the three little orphans to have a big trailer and we might be able to work it out so they get some hay too, and we can go get it all at once and have some help loading and unloading. Fingers crossed on that one.
We had quite a time fixing the boys area up yesterday too. We needed to move where the gate was to make it more accessible and decided to move the feeder back over by the fence so I didn't have to go in the pen to feed them every time. And Raven proceeded to jump right out again. So we put a piece of fencing behind the feeder and watched him manage to get out again. Then we even added some more to make it taller, and he got out again! By then my husband wanted to go do something else. I don't blame him. We ended up screwing a 2x4 onto the bottom of the feeder on both sides so he couldn't tip it over and moved it into the middle of their pen. Raven looked like he wasn't going to quit trying and we didn't want him to break a leg or something, so I'll just have to put up with going in there everyday to put their hay in the feeder until he gets too big and heavy to jump up there anymore. What a brat!
Speaking of brats, our new kitten has made herself right at home. We named her Zoe, and I call her Zoe Zoom Zoom. When it gets cold I have cat warmers to help. Nicky curls up on one side, and for some reason Zoe wants to sleep on my head. Not by my head, but on my head. Which is really kind of funny because I don't have a large head so when she falls deeply asleep she tends to slide off. I can see the lap wars shaping up already too. I adore her, and even Nicky has grudgingly accepted her. I wish we could bottle up all that energy though. And the spray bottle with water has come in very handy already as she loves playing in my plants and the dirt in the pots. She's a climber, too. Just have to teach her that our legs are not scratching posts.
Would write more but should get out there and feed everyone, even though it does not look very inviting out there. At least all this rain should help put out some of those fires that have literally been burning for months now. My husband has been saying for some time now that he thinks this winter is going to be another tough one to get through, and he could be right. I guess we'll just do what we can and get ready to hunker down. Should have plenty of time to write though, here in the near future. Would still rather be here than anywhere else. I've always loved the forest and tall trees, and we do have lots of those. Feeling very thankful today. We may not have much money, but then money really can't buy so many things that are essential to true happiness. Sometimes it is the small things in life that do matter most.
I see your love shining out from my furry friends faces, when I look into their eyes. I see you in the flower’s smile, the rainbow, and the wind in the trees....
Re: Farm Life
Just want to bump your thread with " I am enjoying hearing about your life as you share it."
The weather has been weird. I cannot believe that the Equinox is this week on Friday. It seems awfully many people are in extreme conditions and having difficulties in managing the basics. I do hope it is not too harsh a winter for you and all your family.
Thanks again, Maggie
The weather has been weird. I cannot believe that the Equinox is this week on Friday. It seems awfully many people are in extreme conditions and having difficulties in managing the basics. I do hope it is not too harsh a winter for you and all your family.
Thanks again, Maggie
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Sandy Clark
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Re: Farm Life
"Raven looked like he wasn't going to quit trying and we didn't want him to break a leg or something, so I'll just have to put up with going in there everyday to put their hay in the feeder until he gets too big and heavy to jump up there anymore. What a brat!"
Rebels(think outside the box and thus make others do the same) are my favorite even if they are lots of trouble. Gotta love Raven LOL he just wants to be free!! Been away and hosting family so good to be back and connecting with your grounding stories.....would be wonderful to be listening while sitting around the camp fire on these cool evenings.....my furnace is on too!!
Rebels(think outside the box and thus make others do the same) are my favorite even if they are lots of trouble. Gotta love Raven LOL he just wants to be free!! Been away and hosting family so good to be back and connecting with your grounding stories.....would be wonderful to be listening while sitting around the camp fire on these cool evenings.....my furnace is on too!!
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Spiritwind
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Re: Farm Life
A lot has transpired since I last posted here. Hard to know where to begin. I guess I'll start with good news first. We sold our 1947 Harry Ferguson tractor. We actually got a response to our ad within four hours and they came and drove it all the way home, about 30 miles. Unfortunately the money from this was already spent in our heads, but it will help us finish so many little jobs that will make life more comfortable. We're getting one more solar panel (for a total of six), and two more deep cell batteries (for a total of eight). We ordered parts to hook up the wood stove, and we're finally able to purchase the 52 gallon pressure tank for the well. We'd like to get a bigger one, but we can add another one later on.
Ain't she pretty?
My husband and a friend of ours worked on the barn and well house some more this last weekend. Now we just need to finish the rafters and put the roof on the barn, as well as extending the well house out another 4 feet. That way we can put our gas/propane cook stove in there and use it to keep the water from freezing this winter. And we're about half way done with the extension to cover the generators too. Snow and rain are generally not kind to these kinds of appliances, and it will be nice not having to do snow removal on them almost every dang day again.
While they were working outside, our friend's partner helped me make my first two batches of simple mozzarella goat cheese. She actually did most of the work, which was nice for me, as you have to knead out the whey from the curds. It turned out pretty good, although my husband commented that it was a bit rubbery in texture. It does stretch though and definitely tasted like cheese. You have to use this recipe up pretty fast since it's not acid ripened, or you can freeze it. But this has been a goal now for several years, so it's nice to finally have had the opportunity to go for it. Next up is to try my hand at making cheddar, but that will probably not happen until next year.
Two more things happened this last week. One, I finally went and picked up our new goat, Ballerina. She was a bottle baby and is over the top sweet and friendly. I separated Firefly's two doelings and put them in with Ballerina, since they are close to the same size and age. Mom was already cutting back on their nursing so the timing was right, but they were still not happy about it. She is the one in the foreground with what they call elf ears, and Bella is one of the doelings from Firefly. So this puts me at 12 goats through the winter, which is about right where I like to keep it. Just ordered some hobbles, too, so I can make sure that all of the girls can be milked without getting a foot in the pail. If I actually get good at making cheese I will invest in a milk machine and have a use for that much milk. Right now, a quart a day is more than enough for us, and my hands can't handle any more without swelling up on me.
So, I've mentioned we got a new kitty, and we have indeed fell totally in love with her. She had been sneezing a lot but no runny nose or eyes, and her activity level was "zoom zoom Zoey". She was quite the piglet when it comes to eating too. So when she didn't want to eat or play one morning we knew it wasn't just a passing irritation, but something more serious. We took her to the veterinarian and found she had a temperature and an upper respiratory infection. The vet prescribed an antibiotic and we took her home and started administering it according to the directions. We didn't get the full amount in her the first couple days. She seemed a bit better, then the third day I managed to get the full dose in her both times. That evening dose immediately resulted her having a majorly stuffed up nose, runny eyes, and labored breathing.
My first thought was a reaction to the antibiotic. And it was a Saturday night, so no vets open on Sunday. Since we lost our other kitty, Simba, last winter, we were both somewhat prone to panic. In fact, neither one of us hardly slept a wink that night, and she didn't move all night either, which was not normal for her. So the next morning I made a command decision to try something else. I took some colloidal silver, vitamin C, and mixed it with a bit of water. Then I gave her a eye dropper full every couple hours. By late afternoon she started to eat on her own again (I had been forcing a little wet food mixed with water in her mouth - I guess when they can't smell they don't want to eat). I am happy to say she is on the road to recovery today. She is even starting to be her obnoxious self again, attacking our hands and purring loudly. And I am so relieved. Someday I'll tell the full story of Simba's amazing tale of recovery when he was a kitten. Animals can teach us so much about humility, trust, and unconditional love.
I also got to go to a harvest potluck at some folks I met this summer. They grow herbs and make products from them which they sell commercially. Some great networking opportunities came up. It is gratifying to see the organic grassroots community building that can occur when likeminded people come together like this. It was great to see such a varied group, with all ages and many back to the land talents coming together. And to see people wanting to share with one another so openly was wonderful to behold. I found it to be quite inspiring, especially since I don't get out much. I did feel the sense of heightened awareness from the times we are living in quite palpably. I think there are more aware people out there than I realized, which does make me feel more optimistic about our future.
Although I decided I wasn't continuing in this course we have chosen for ourselves for any other reason than because it just feels like home to me. Like, I'm doing something I really enjoy, and I feel I have just a bit more control over numerous areas of my life as a result. I don't feel as trapped. Because even just food shopping can be an anxiety producing experience if you actually read the labels and realize what most of those packaged so called foods really are. It's hard sometimes not to see these corporate entities, which by the way are owned by real people who have no conscience whatsoever and whose sole purpose is to increase profits, as downright evil because they completely lost sight of something I could not bear this life without. It seems they are almost like another species than the rest of us who couldn't find it within ourselves to be so callous and non-empathetic. I don't hate them, for they are not worth the energy expended to do so, but I definitely don't like them, and wouldn't be able to be in the same room with any of them for very long. But then, I have relatives who are probably very similar in their nature and life perspective. And none of them really want to be in a room with me either for very long.
One of the things I have found I actually do struggle with, since our change in lifestyle, is learning to motivate myself to complete certain tasks while working alone. I have worked with others for almost my whole life, and when my husband is home on his days off we usually work on projects the whole time. I do work by myself a lot, but not like I would like to. In other words, I do encounter inner resistance and find stupid reasons to get out of doing certain jobs. I hate paperwork, and tend to shuffle it around for a long time before organizing, discarding, and filing what I need to keep in a place where I can find it again. I can even start manifesting strange physical symptoms, which I now recognize as my subconscious resistance, even resentment sometimes, at the mound of crap I receive in the mail on a weekly basis, and the extreme and redundant paperwork required for most every thing. Funny, because I spent a number of years as a mobile home park manager, which required a great deal of paperwork. That's when my phobia really blossomed, LOL. One of my "things to work on", I guess. I find it makes a big difference when you change your often unconscious internal dialogue. Yes, I do talk to myself, mostly not out loud though.
I don't rely on hoping anymore though. And that seems to be an important change. I have no idea what the future holds. I'm sure it will be interesting, and I'm sure it will be educational, regardless of anything else. I guess I am getting more willing to just let it unfold and see what happens. Spiraling into the center of the wheel of creation...and we are the dreamers and the weavers both.
Ain't she pretty?
My husband and a friend of ours worked on the barn and well house some more this last weekend. Now we just need to finish the rafters and put the roof on the barn, as well as extending the well house out another 4 feet. That way we can put our gas/propane cook stove in there and use it to keep the water from freezing this winter. And we're about half way done with the extension to cover the generators too. Snow and rain are generally not kind to these kinds of appliances, and it will be nice not having to do snow removal on them almost every dang day again.
While they were working outside, our friend's partner helped me make my first two batches of simple mozzarella goat cheese. She actually did most of the work, which was nice for me, as you have to knead out the whey from the curds. It turned out pretty good, although my husband commented that it was a bit rubbery in texture. It does stretch though and definitely tasted like cheese. You have to use this recipe up pretty fast since it's not acid ripened, or you can freeze it. But this has been a goal now for several years, so it's nice to finally have had the opportunity to go for it. Next up is to try my hand at making cheddar, but that will probably not happen until next year.
Two more things happened this last week. One, I finally went and picked up our new goat, Ballerina. She was a bottle baby and is over the top sweet and friendly. I separated Firefly's two doelings and put them in with Ballerina, since they are close to the same size and age. Mom was already cutting back on their nursing so the timing was right, but they were still not happy about it. She is the one in the foreground with what they call elf ears, and Bella is one of the doelings from Firefly. So this puts me at 12 goats through the winter, which is about right where I like to keep it. Just ordered some hobbles, too, so I can make sure that all of the girls can be milked without getting a foot in the pail. If I actually get good at making cheese I will invest in a milk machine and have a use for that much milk. Right now, a quart a day is more than enough for us, and my hands can't handle any more without swelling up on me.
So, I've mentioned we got a new kitty, and we have indeed fell totally in love with her. She had been sneezing a lot but no runny nose or eyes, and her activity level was "zoom zoom Zoey". She was quite the piglet when it comes to eating too. So when she didn't want to eat or play one morning we knew it wasn't just a passing irritation, but something more serious. We took her to the veterinarian and found she had a temperature and an upper respiratory infection. The vet prescribed an antibiotic and we took her home and started administering it according to the directions. We didn't get the full amount in her the first couple days. She seemed a bit better, then the third day I managed to get the full dose in her both times. That evening dose immediately resulted her having a majorly stuffed up nose, runny eyes, and labored breathing.
My first thought was a reaction to the antibiotic. And it was a Saturday night, so no vets open on Sunday. Since we lost our other kitty, Simba, last winter, we were both somewhat prone to panic. In fact, neither one of us hardly slept a wink that night, and she didn't move all night either, which was not normal for her. So the next morning I made a command decision to try something else. I took some colloidal silver, vitamin C, and mixed it with a bit of water. Then I gave her a eye dropper full every couple hours. By late afternoon she started to eat on her own again (I had been forcing a little wet food mixed with water in her mouth - I guess when they can't smell they don't want to eat). I am happy to say she is on the road to recovery today. She is even starting to be her obnoxious self again, attacking our hands and purring loudly. And I am so relieved. Someday I'll tell the full story of Simba's amazing tale of recovery when he was a kitten. Animals can teach us so much about humility, trust, and unconditional love.
I also got to go to a harvest potluck at some folks I met this summer. They grow herbs and make products from them which they sell commercially. Some great networking opportunities came up. It is gratifying to see the organic grassroots community building that can occur when likeminded people come together like this. It was great to see such a varied group, with all ages and many back to the land talents coming together. And to see people wanting to share with one another so openly was wonderful to behold. I found it to be quite inspiring, especially since I don't get out much. I did feel the sense of heightened awareness from the times we are living in quite palpably. I think there are more aware people out there than I realized, which does make me feel more optimistic about our future.
Although I decided I wasn't continuing in this course we have chosen for ourselves for any other reason than because it just feels like home to me. Like, I'm doing something I really enjoy, and I feel I have just a bit more control over numerous areas of my life as a result. I don't feel as trapped. Because even just food shopping can be an anxiety producing experience if you actually read the labels and realize what most of those packaged so called foods really are. It's hard sometimes not to see these corporate entities, which by the way are owned by real people who have no conscience whatsoever and whose sole purpose is to increase profits, as downright evil because they completely lost sight of something I could not bear this life without. It seems they are almost like another species than the rest of us who couldn't find it within ourselves to be so callous and non-empathetic. I don't hate them, for they are not worth the energy expended to do so, but I definitely don't like them, and wouldn't be able to be in the same room with any of them for very long. But then, I have relatives who are probably very similar in their nature and life perspective. And none of them really want to be in a room with me either for very long.
One of the things I have found I actually do struggle with, since our change in lifestyle, is learning to motivate myself to complete certain tasks while working alone. I have worked with others for almost my whole life, and when my husband is home on his days off we usually work on projects the whole time. I do work by myself a lot, but not like I would like to. In other words, I do encounter inner resistance and find stupid reasons to get out of doing certain jobs. I hate paperwork, and tend to shuffle it around for a long time before organizing, discarding, and filing what I need to keep in a place where I can find it again. I can even start manifesting strange physical symptoms, which I now recognize as my subconscious resistance, even resentment sometimes, at the mound of crap I receive in the mail on a weekly basis, and the extreme and redundant paperwork required for most every thing. Funny, because I spent a number of years as a mobile home park manager, which required a great deal of paperwork. That's when my phobia really blossomed, LOL. One of my "things to work on", I guess. I find it makes a big difference when you change your often unconscious internal dialogue. Yes, I do talk to myself, mostly not out loud though.
I don't rely on hoping anymore though. And that seems to be an important change. I have no idea what the future holds. I'm sure it will be interesting, and I'm sure it will be educational, regardless of anything else. I guess I am getting more willing to just let it unfold and see what happens. Spiraling into the center of the wheel of creation...and we are the dreamers and the weavers both.
I see your love shining out from my furry friends faces, when I look into their eyes. I see you in the flower’s smile, the rainbow, and the wind in the trees....
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LostNFound
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Re: Farm Life
Beautiful, just absolutely beautiful. Such a fine time of living there Spiritwind. I would have kept that tractor, but that is just me. I know you all probably needed the monies for more important things as you have said. The goats are such lovers and can be so irritating but then again one takes it all in and it always is worth it. Nothing compares. The kitty, well she will be such a love. Cool way to get her better with the colloidal Silver. I remember actually seeing the curing of a cat that had distemper one time back when I was a wee one of 23. I lived with a good friend and his mom for a while. She had this huge cat that got sick one day and she found out that it had distemper. No way to afford a doctor or anything but usually when a cat gets that it don't last to long. Just a short thing here, We all used to make these power drinks in the morning and boy did they make your energy take off in the afternoon. So here is what we mixed. Whole Cow milk with the cream still in it. Pour into a blender. Add a few tablespoons of brewers yeast, blend for a few turns to make the yeast mix. dump in a good tablespoon of molasses and mix well. Can add more of those ingredients if want. put one or even two raw eggs in and mix. Add bananas or other fruits as desired and we even added Malted powder when we had it. So that is one heck of a drink. Such a niacin rush in the afternoon. Well Ann, the mother, mixed that stuff up and gave it to the cat. Wow, That cat took to that stuff like you would not believe and after about a week or so he was doing better and not sneezing as is one of the symptoms of distemper. After another week the cat showed no signs of the sickness and it would not drink regular cream or milk after that but it sure did like that drink. Well enough,
The goats look so cute and it is good to hear that you all will have more solar and heat and all the other amenities that make life a little easier. So are the fires slowing down and is it better to breath these days. I know folks that live in Republic and my good buddy goes over there often to see his grandchildren. Got to be beautiful up there. Burn the papers in the wood stove and shit can the corporations. They are all fictions anyway.
Enjoy
Steven
The goats look so cute and it is good to hear that you all will have more solar and heat and all the other amenities that make life a little easier. So are the fires slowing down and is it better to breath these days. I know folks that live in Republic and my good buddy goes over there often to see his grandchildren. Got to be beautiful up there. Burn the papers in the wood stove and shit can the corporations. They are all fictions anyway.
Enjoy
Steven
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Sandy Clark
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Re: Farm Life
Well your little Ballerina is a cutie and the tractor is a beauty............some pride in presenting that rebuilt piece of art!! WOW congrats' to Hubby for sure and not surprising it sold the same day advertised.
God Bless kittens and coloidal silver...that is what is helping keep by little Chloe's (long haired toy chihuahua) teeth in her mouth these days
I sure can relate to the inner resistance to certain chores Spiritwind.......I have to mow my yard at least one more time and finish up some painting of fence and steps before the snow flies for good and yet my inner talk keeps winning when it comes to presenting excuses for not getting out there. Being alone leaves lots of room for procrastination as I really have no one to be accountable to except myself............it can be a bummer at times.
God Bless kittens and coloidal silver...that is what is helping keep by little Chloe's (long haired toy chihuahua) teeth in her mouth these days
I sure can relate to the inner resistance to certain chores Spiritwind.......I have to mow my yard at least one more time and finish up some painting of fence and steps before the snow flies for good and yet my inner talk keeps winning when it comes to presenting excuses for not getting out there. Being alone leaves lots of room for procrastination as I really have no one to be accountable to except myself............it can be a bummer at times.
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Spiritwind
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Re: Farm Life
Thank you Steven, I love your story about the cat liking the power drink when sick! And as far as the fires go I'm not hearing any updates about whether they are all out or under control, but the skies have cleared up and I managed to take a fairly decent picture of the view from here. Sandy asked about Mt. Spokane. It's in the picture in the lower middle with the little tuft of clouds over it. I've gotten better pictures but I would have had to climb up higher to get it. At least you can see it now.
And yes, I too have a soft spot for all rebels and independent thinkers. In fact, almost everyone I want to hang out with is an "out of the box" thinker. And at least the goat antics keep it always interesting around here. As far as the tractor goes, I am at least glad it went to a good home, LOL. The guy and his wife that bought it are tickled, and it just isn't as easy to get parts for stuff like this anymore. It used to be. So as sad as it was to see it go, especially once we fixed it all up, we're both thankful that we will be able to make life a bit easier this winter. It also helps that we now have some friends who have a tractor we can borrow if we need it.
I used to have a 1949 International pickup many years ago, that had an old flathead 6 in it. I had started restoring it, had the engine rebuilt (cheap back then) and then fell on hard times and had to sell it. I still miss that old truck. First gear really was granny gear, and you could even shift it by adjusting the RPMs without using the clutch if you had to (which I did have to). Had so many things happen driving it, from the brakes going out, the driveline falling out in the middle of the road, even the steering suddenly go out once. Funny how we can become so nostalgic over things. I was so naive back then, but in some ways felt more free. It does change you, in some fundamental ways, when some of those major filters come off, and a much clearer picture emerges. I intuited many things back then, but I just didn't know a lot of what I know now. Even so, I am quite happy to keep moving into the future even if it doesn't look the same as it used to. I may spend a lot of time alone, but yet never feel totally alone. And the company I keep these days, for the most part, are part of a most interesting tapestry that cannot be fully seen yet, but from what I can see, the beauty and creativity of the design is shaping up to be awesome.
And yes, even now I am procrastinating. It's a beautiful fall day, and I should be out cleaning pens and putting poop/hay on the garden for next year, and what am I doing? I think I'll make a pumpkin pie, and maybe quiche too, instead.
And yes, I too have a soft spot for all rebels and independent thinkers. In fact, almost everyone I want to hang out with is an "out of the box" thinker. And at least the goat antics keep it always interesting around here. As far as the tractor goes, I am at least glad it went to a good home, LOL. The guy and his wife that bought it are tickled, and it just isn't as easy to get parts for stuff like this anymore. It used to be. So as sad as it was to see it go, especially once we fixed it all up, we're both thankful that we will be able to make life a bit easier this winter. It also helps that we now have some friends who have a tractor we can borrow if we need it.
I used to have a 1949 International pickup many years ago, that had an old flathead 6 in it. I had started restoring it, had the engine rebuilt (cheap back then) and then fell on hard times and had to sell it. I still miss that old truck. First gear really was granny gear, and you could even shift it by adjusting the RPMs without using the clutch if you had to (which I did have to). Had so many things happen driving it, from the brakes going out, the driveline falling out in the middle of the road, even the steering suddenly go out once. Funny how we can become so nostalgic over things. I was so naive back then, but in some ways felt more free. It does change you, in some fundamental ways, when some of those major filters come off, and a much clearer picture emerges. I intuited many things back then, but I just didn't know a lot of what I know now. Even so, I am quite happy to keep moving into the future even if it doesn't look the same as it used to. I may spend a lot of time alone, but yet never feel totally alone. And the company I keep these days, for the most part, are part of a most interesting tapestry that cannot be fully seen yet, but from what I can see, the beauty and creativity of the design is shaping up to be awesome.
And yes, even now I am procrastinating. It's a beautiful fall day, and I should be out cleaning pens and putting poop/hay on the garden for next year, and what am I doing? I think I'll make a pumpkin pie, and maybe quiche too, instead.
I see your love shining out from my furry friends faces, when I look into their eyes. I see you in the flower’s smile, the rainbow, and the wind in the trees....
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Sandy Clark
- Posts: 271
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Re: Farm Life
I see it in amongst the beautiful trees!! Looks like you are situated in a little piece of Heaven.....2 thumbs up Spiritwind