Farm Life

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Spiritwind
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Re: Farm Life

Post by Spiritwind »

I haven’t been inclined to write much here lately. The summer has kind of been on slow, for several reasons. One, the smoke is so thick that it’s not even a good idea to do a lot of outdoor physical work right now, so I haven’t even been taking the goats out. They tend to get pretty excited and run a lot, so I keep looking for the day I can actually see farther than the nearest trees. It starts to clear up, then more smoke rolls in.

The other thing is having our smaller generator stolen a few months ago has really put the crimp on things. The money we’ve spent on gasoline to run the bigger generator would have been enough to buy several of them. And, since it was so hot for awhile we had to run it a lot to keep everything watered up. We’ve figured out how to cut back on that, and won’t be caught with our pants down next summer, but a lot of the plans we had for this summer will probably not come to pass. Kind of a big disappointment, and hard not to still be angry about getting robbed. I kept trying to get by on our previous budget for gas, and no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t make it work. Which meant we couldn’t even save up the money to buy a new one. Had a class I was supposed to teach, which would have helped, but, alas, that possibility seems to have vanished into thin air too. Big sigh.

A few things to appreciate, despite the rather unabating challenges we continue to face in regards to that quest for more evil greenbacks, is goat babies coming in about a week or so, and the corn that we are beginning to harvest and eat from our own garden (super yummy I must say!). And I’ve never grown such big beautiful buttercup squashes. I’ll take pictures of them soon. Since it’s starting to cool down a bit, as long as I keep them well watered we should also get a bumper crop of raspberries. Of course, the kittens are delightful to have around too. They are doing very well acclimating to their environment and I pretty much don’t have to worry about them any more. They’re entertaining as all heck.

I wouldn’t mind a good rain, which we haven’t had in a couple months. There isn’t quite as much dust this year, since I’ve been watering up even the weeds, and the ground has settled more from being disturbed last year. Still pretty dusty though. Everything outside the areas that we water is bone dry. Can’t even safely use a chainsaw right now. All kinds of activity in the heavily watered areas though. I’ve even let a few things just flower and go to seed that the bees seem to love. There are more this year than last, and I take that as a good sign. Quite a few frogs too. And Zoey caught and killed a garter snake a little over a week ago. Which reminds me of a disgusting surprise I found in the barn the other day. I took a peak at the water bucket in the barn and found two dead mice in it, to my surprise. I wanted to leave it for my husband to deal with, but my conscience got the best of me so I went ahead and tossed them out and sterilized the bucket. Pretty gross, though. I’m going to try and muck out the barn today to get it ready for birthing time. That should be good and dusty.

I did go to this months Herbal Guild meeting and learned a whole bunch of stuff about the various varieties of sage and it’s medicinal qualities. I’m going to work on a post for the Plant Spirit Medicine thread next. I have long appreciated herbs, but am always surprised at how much I don’t know, and how many applications they really have. The woman who was sharing information told about going to an event where it was pretty primitive and you couldn’t just wash your hands like you normally would, and everyone you meet wants to shake your hand. She said there was a huge problem with dysentery, and that she avoided it by keeping a leaf of sage in her cheek at all times. I thought that was pretty cool.

I know, it’s pretty boring this time. I’m actually have trouble just staying awake sometimes, as it seems the constant combination of fine dust and smoke in the air has affected my brain and respiratory system. It’s like I’m not quite all there. Hopefully I’ll be able to shake this off soon, and feel a little more energized. We certainly have a lot of work ahead of us, and it would be nice to not feel like I’m dragging myself around.

Two other things on my mind I think I will post about in “This Week in Review” if I have time, and that is about the big win against Monsanto, and the big news about all the pedophile priests in Pennsylvania. The rats are coming out of the wood work lately, it seems. I hope the trend continues, as it’s about time a little truth prevailed.
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

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Sometimes I am reminded about how writing, for me anyway, takes a bit of discipline. It’s easy and flows readily on some days, and others I just have to make a determination to put words together, nowadays on a computer screen rather than paper. Today is one of the latter. The animals still need to be fed, except the horse. Don’t want her getting antsy and deciding to break out again (she did twice last week, but I’ll write more about that later). And I’m hungry, but that can wait too. And, the big news is IT’S RAINING! It sprinkled some yesterday, and smelled so good, and now it’s rained enough that it actually got everything wet. No puddles yet, but I was doing some serious visualization of it raining and big puddles forming this last week, and I know I wasn’t the only one. Yippie!

We even had to start a fire in the wood stove last night and this morning, which is unusual for August, even late August. So glad to have it though! As anyone following along here knows, we got our generator stolen a few months ago, and it has affected us more than we thought it would. Four months in a row I had saved money to get the horse's hooves trimmed. I’m kind of lucky that the guy who did it last trimmed them a bit short and hers don’t grow that fast. But still, the fact remains that for four months the money ended up going into the big generator’s gas tank just to keep us going. So, when we woke up to Freckles being out this last Thursday, tearing up the only bale of hay I had and getting into the heavy bag of grain I had been unable to put away, I didn’t take it well.

I always wonder if I should be so honest, because a lot of people only want to hear good news, or unending optimism. I still have unending optimism, but I did have a day of feeling greatly at odds with myself, tremendous guilt over the horse, and generally at odds with the world. In short, I had a meltdown, and had thoughts flowing through my brain that were not welcome, and an emotional roller coaster ride that nowadays is very rare. Now, maybe there are some near perfect folks out there, that never have days like this, but I don’t know any, and some only hide it very well. And I usually don’t reach out past my husband and my neighbor.

But my general direction is towards truth, no matter how unpopular or inconvenient. So I did choose to reach out, and share my real state of being this time, with someone I trusted. Trust and truth, they kind of go hand in hand. And I admit, I am a work in progress, in a very topsy turvy world. I can love myself, and forgive myself, though, for being perfectly imperfect. By strengthening these muscles of truth, self love, and forgiveness, while at the same time not being afraid to take a good look at myself, has been priceless, and that’s why I talk about it. For those are often the issues laying just under the surface, in any upset. And if you can’t do it for yourself, it’s unlikely you will do it well for others.

So the horse ended up being a catalyst for several different things. One, is we bit the bullet and bought a generator of a different make from somewhere else, rather than sticking to the one that was remaining elusively out of reach. It’s on it’s way here, and though it was a bit of a stretch for us, I feel so much better knowing that we took action to improve our situation. Patience is a virtue, but sometimes action is the answer, and deciding not to wait anymore for the solution to just come to you. I am also taking some time to think deeply about our future, what with the weather becoming more erratic, ginormous fires that won’t go out everywhere all summer long, and hay getting harder to get. Haven’t made any hard fast decisions yet, but it’s all being considered.

And, on Tuesday I did go to the Talking Circle again. My hearing is a real problem, and especially in the building where this gathering takes place. The ceiling is very high, and there is a loud fan that blows continuously in the background. Even with hearing aids I could not hear the people across the room from me, and that was even with letting everyone know of my hearing problem. I thought, maybe next time I’ll just move around the room and make everyone move, like musical chairs, so I can sit next to who ever is speaking. Just kidding, but it is frustrating. What I did hear was outstanding though, and with each speaker you could feel the energy in the room getting stronger. There is just something about speaking from the heart that is so powerful. And once again, I don’t even remember what I said, really. I know I got quite passionate.

Interestingly, an announcement was made about a commemoration event taking place on September 9th, the 160 year anniversary of a horse massacre that took place, where 700-1000 horses belonging to surrounding tribes were rounded up and slaughtered. This was done to completely demoralize and cripple the tribes autonomy, which it did very effectively. They are going to erect a peace pole commemorated to this event, with a saying inscribed in 4 languages, on the sight where this occurred. I wasn’t going to go because, well, I hate to leave home really, and was wanting to conserve on gas. It’s in the late afternoon on my husband’s day off. On the second day of Freckles getting out I kept coming back to this event, and felt into more deeply, and made a decision to attend. Interestingly enough, Freckles did not get out the next day or since, even though the electric fence was off, and my neighbor and my husband both said they would go with me. So, I guess we need to be there.

Not wanting to write a book here, but one other important event took place, and that is Danae had two beautiful doelings early Friday morning, the second morning Freckles got out, and they were two days early than the earliest date expected! It was an exciting day. I noticed that one of them kept kind of standing apart, which is unusual, with her back kind of hunched and looking cold. It has dramatically cooled down, but normally if they are full term it shouldn’t have been too cold for them, but decided to put little coats on them anyway. I spent a lot of time with her, over the next two days, making sure she was nursing well, and just generally paying more attention to her. They are both doing fine now, being active little goaties, as they should be.

And I did go to the local monthly drumming event that is not too far from where I live yesterday. All of these circles that continue to meet in this way, as I said yesterday when my turn to speak came around, are restoring the hoop, are creating potential new life and radiating energy that supports life, and a strong life affirming sense of community. Maybe that name I chose all those years ago, when I participated in becoming an ordained minister with the SHE’S organization (Spiritual Healers and Earth Stewards) wasn’t so lame after all. I remember my surprise when they said we had to choose a name for our ministry. I was just wanting a little out for working with Reiki under the umbrella of spiritual healing, and had not given any thought to a name, or indeed even wanting to start my own ministry. So I asked Spirit at the time, what name should I choose, and I got very clearly “Creating the Circle of Light and Love”. I questioned it, thinking “really, is that the best you can do”, LOL. Yes, sometimes I am a doubting Thomas.

One last thing is just a mention about how ecstatic I am to be eating out of our own garden. To me, a beautiful lush green garden, with lots of various bees and insects flying around pollinating everything, is magical. It’s one of life’s greatest gifts there is, in my mind.

Image
Two of the almost dozen buttercups squash. These both came out of the corn patch and are considerably bigger than the ones I grew elsewhere. The bigger one is at least 20 pounds. I was delighted and shocked!
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

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I saw one of the funniest things I have ever seen the goats do the other day. I watched Arrow lay down, as if to scratch herself in some place hard to reach, and instead saw her start licking and nursing off her own teat! I’ve heard of them doing this before, but never seen it happen. For some reason I found it immensely amusing.

And though it seems like we are having an early fall, I hear we’re slated for warmer than usual temperatures, so may be a while yet to put the garden to bed for the winter. We got about 60 ears of corn. Not bad for a tiny little patch. The buttercup squash are still going strong. And I truly wish I could clone myself.

I would love nothing more than to grow most of our food, but not sure if there is enough of me to go around. It’s tiring, though, to have to constantly worry about whether the food I am buying at the store is GMO, full of glysophate, and a large range of other toxic ingredients. I still can’t believe it has come to this, having been raised on a farm with old fashioned home grown untainted healthy produce as a kid.

And the ever growing fear of fire. We got a questionnaire in the mail the other day, wanting to know what actions we would take in case of a fire. I might have mentioned this before, but in light of the current plan to depopulate rural areas and drive everyone into the city, it’s no small matter, really. If there were big fires bearing down on our location, in our rather remote area, not sure we could do more than get all the animals out to safety, and if we’re lucky pull our RV out so we still have a roof over our head. We still have the sailboat, but couldn’t fit many goats on board, let alone the horse.

In fact, I think my husband plans to build a mast raising system and put it up for sale next year so we can afford to make the improvements we want to make, and get ourselves a bit better situated. Makes me kind of sad, though, as I really loved sailing. But the time for that seems to have passed us by in life, and I only see a lot of work ahead for us. I’m not complaining, though. I just wish people would wake up and start to see what unfortunately too few of us see, yet. I’m not holding my breath for that to happen, though.

In fact, it does make me kind of sad, for I know if we were to rise up en masse things could change for the better, quite quickly. But, they’ve done a pretty good job with their brainwashing everyone into just keeping their head down, as if they can’t see what is so plain, at least for me, to see. If wishes were horse then beggars would ride...

Anyway, not much to say today. Gearing up to get wood in, pens cleaned, and as much hay in as possible. There is a lot going on outside of farm life, a coming together of sorts, with various circles of good people, so there is hope. Yes, I am a doubting Thomas sometimes, as I have stated before. I know the big SHE has a plan, just like those anti-life forces do, and I know I need to keep the faith. But I can’t honestly say it’s easy all the time. My eyes well up with tears, in fact, when I allow myself to feel into all the unnecessary destruction of our forests, water sheds, and wildlife areas that has been going on, non-stop, for these past many years. It does make my heart hurt a bit. But, can’t stay in that place. No, I must pull myself together, snap out of it, and renew my faith in that which cannot be fully seen yet. No time to be getting weak in the knees, for sure.

And that is our task, for some of us. To know what we know, but just keep going anyway. With love for all 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

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It’s been hard to write here, lately, as much that is not about farm life has been on the front seat of my life. As I mentioned in another thread, I attended the horse massacre commemoration event recently, and then right after that had to appear as a witness in Superior Court in the next county over for two days in a row. For anyone following this thread, you will remember that almost a year ago, in October, my husband and I accompanied a good friend to her rural property up near the Canadian border, and were both mildly assaulted by one of the individuals with whom she was going through legal motions to remove from her property. She is actually still trying to get them off of there, with the primary individual having done everything imaginable to delay, obfuscate, and confound an already cumbersome and ineffective legal system.

This individual went through five separate attorneys over the past year, and even went so far as to have a sudden health problem and just left the court. I was also quite surprised that there really was film in that camera and that this person actually turned it over to the prosecution, as evidence, that actually was quite damning, for him. Anyway, the court trial went ahead without him, and we were quite delighted that after two days of a long drive, that should have been one, the jury came back with a guilty verdict. Of course, it will probably be appealed, but at least it can’t hurt our friends case who is still trying to have them removed. It was my first time being on a witness stand, and definitely had the flavor of being on the hot seat, but I’m happy we followed through. This is how bullies get such an inflated view of themselves, for so many won’t stand up to them.

Anyway, onto farm life. We currently have 16 goats, 3 bucks, 10 does, and 3 kids. It’s almost time to start breeding, and I plan to breed 6 of the does this fall. Danae, the one that just kidded three weeks ago, has not shown any signs of infection, so I’m guessing that the change in feed, from GMO to non-GMO has indeed been a good move. I did not want to breed again until I was able to make the switch. And, when I went to have the two little doelings de-horned last week I found out that a place that sold grain and went out of business last year has reopened and is now an outlet for another feed store that sells non-GMO grain. It’s only 15 miles away! A lot better than having to make an hour and a half drive each way in the winter to get grain!

It’s going to be tough next spring, as I will have to make some hard decisions about who to sell, and who to keep. It’s easier for me to sell the babies, because I haven’t formed as much of an attachment to them. But this year, with Danae’s two girls, I don’t want to sell either one of them. They are friendly, very nice looking, and so I’m just going to ride with it awhile. And even though I should sell Arrow and her daughter, I need to really work on her kid, to friendly her up. At present she is a little stinker. Arrow has come a long way though. While not what I would call friendly, she at least will eat out of my hand and I can sort of pet her. Her daughter is another story altogether. But she’s young, so it will just take a little work. It’s much harder to sell them when they are wild, understandably so. But I’ve gotten so much milk out of Arrow’s mother all summer that it’s been worth it. And, I made money off their other kids.

Part of my problem with selling them now, is I not only don’t want to sell them to be eaten, I don’t want to sell them to people who vaccinate and plan to buy commercial feed from their local feed store. It feels kind of like a death sentence. And pretty much all of the goat keepers I know who have more just just a couple animals have made a point of buying non-GMO grain. So more people have figured this out than I would have thought.

And now I’m working on trying to find affordable (key word there!) non-GMO dry dog food. My jaw hangs open when I look at the prices, and the sheer variety of different brands is overwhelming. If I had a freezer and more solar power I could probably get raw meat to give them, which is closer to what they used to eat back in the day. Two Great Pyrenees go through quite a bit of dog food, and even more when the temperatures start to drop, which they have. So paying $50 on up for 30 - 40 pounds of dog food is not even a possibility right now. Plus I give them some canned food. But I’ve just started looking into this and may at least be able to compromise and do a mixture, which would be an improvement. That’s how they’ve made it for us, though. It’s all about the money. I spent a few days being kind of mad about it too, since it’s affected my health, the goats health, and the dogs health. It doesn’t do any good to stay there, though.

If you ever watched the Kill Bill movies then you know who Uma Thurman is. I was curious about her, so looked her up on google and found out her full name was Uma Karuna Thurman. I thought that was kind of funny, and, as I’m always looking for original names for the goats I decided to name Danae’s two little doelings Uma and Karuna. Both names have kind of cool meanings, and they are just as cute as any two little goats can be. I catch them all the time playing with the kittens. I never seem to have a camera handy though. Too bad. Pretty funny to watch them try to play together, because goats like to head butt and the kittens are like, no! But they seem to like hanging out together.

We’ve thought a lot about ways to improve our situation, although it’s not that bad now. We do have a lot to do this fall since we were stalled this summer for four months, but some things will have to put off until next year. We’ve come to terms, though, and are ecstatic about how much less gas we are using. Huge difference! I keep putting it out to the universe that I’d like to attract into our life someone with a fully self contained RV that wants to live such a strange alternative lifestyle, and exchange about 10 hours a week helping make improvements here in exchange for rent. I won’t take out an ad, though, since the danger of attracting the wrong person/people is exceptionally high. I don’t want any additional drama in my life, and there seems to be so few well adjusted people out there. But, it could happen. We did have a guy last year stay a few days that would have been perfect, but he likes to keep on the move according to the seasons. Winter up here is not exactly a walk in the park, and only for the very hardy in spirit.

Every day though I am thankful to be out here. I don’t do city well anymore. And even just being around a lot of people these days makes me feel exhausted. To keep my energy up I do much better spending a lot of time alone with all the wild things. I started taking the food grade diatomaceous earth I buy for the horse myself here in the last couple days. I bought a 10lb bag this time. It has all kinds of health benefits, some which might help me out quite a bit. I’ve noticed as I get older it seems more difficult to start new habits. But gotta do it. In fact, when we first started using the composting toilet we used to overfill the pee bucket all the time. It’s like we had to train our subconscious to remember, so it became a habit, and we finally did. It’s like it becomes a sixth sense, your subconscious mind. I think that’s why it’s important to look at what’s in there. It can become like an overstuffed closet that has stuff fall out when you open it, and it’s common to find that much of it should just be thrown out.

It does feel like time just flies by these days. Like summer this year. Where did it go?! I don’t really mind getting older. But my husband and I talk all the time about how in our mind we are still planning our activities at the same pace as we used to be able to go, and find we just can’t pull it off anymore. That is the number one hardest thing, for us, to accept about growing older. We are working on doing it more gracefully, but have a ways to go there. The trick is learning to work smarter, and not harder. Anyway, beautiful fall day out, and everyone is used to me getting out there earlier, so gotta get going. Surprised myself after all, writing as much as I have.

And, even though it’s not all exactly as I would wish all the time, it’s a good day to be alive. In divine love for all, I bid you adieu.
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

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It’s been a beautiful fall day, and a productive one at that. Picked up a half ton of hay and already unloaded it in the hay barn. And my neighbor came over and helped me finish mucking out the larger of the goat pens today. No small job, there. My husband spent all day yesterday working on the horse enclosure, fixing her fence so it’s secure and shouldn’t need any fixit jobs this winter. We can’t count on the hot wire always working, and in fact our fence charger isn’t working well enough to really even slow her down anymore, and once she tasted freedom she was wanting more.

The good news is the kick in the pants I received from having to scramble when she was out every morning there for almost a week got me out of my funk and I’ve started working with her again. My plans being dashed to take her and I to this trainer kind of took the wind out of my sails. I had offered to sell her to my sister in law, but now I’ve changed my mind. And she might even come over and help me get started working with her more on my own, so that made me happy. This girl is so smart, already trusts and loves me, and I just feel I need a little guidance. I have ridden before, but never on my own, and always with people more experienced than myself. And now it’s been a few years since she’s been ridden. I really want this to happen.

And for more reasons than I will go into here, that go all the way back to childhood and beyond. I know the confidence this will build in me, and overcoming some deeply subconscious fears, make this a form of therapy, of self healing, whose value surpasses just the obvious pleasures of riding. So I’m not ready to give up yet.

So nice to be out there on days like this, where it’s sunny but cool enough to work physically hard without seriously overheating. And watching the goat kids and kittens running through the pens, playing with each other and just hanging out with the older goats was an added bonus. In many ways this is the life I wished I’d been able to start many years ago, but couldn’t because of the backwards way our lives are generally structured from the get go. You would think, since eating is a requirement of being in the physical, that there would be more respect and encouragement from our governing body to adopt lifestyles that help provide for our daily needs in a way that fosters self reliance. But they would rather have us completely co-dependent on a system that has no moral obligation other than to improve profit margins, affecting every sector of our lives.

I see people degenerating and going down hill, even dying, because the system is so broken. A system where no matter how much they increase wages, businesses continue to increase costs at an even faster pace, and even the hopes and dreams that seemed doable a mere 40-50 years ago have become out of reach for many. Yup, that just sounds great. Work hard as hell making someone else rich for 40-50 years, and then what. The prognosis isn’t good for so many hard working people now, and telling them to work harder is a bunch of horse crap. Plus, if you are eating the all American diet these days, dutifully getting your flu shot, and taking every prescription your doctor so readily writes for you, your chances of having the health left to enjoy your golden years is minimal, at best.

Plus, there’s the housing crash around 2008 that was orchestrated on the middle and lower middle classes, where people whose dream it was to own their own home could not see that the bubble was soon to burst. They bought their homes at inflated prices to soon thereafter discover their home was worth less than half what they paid for it. It brought financial devastation that some may never recover from. And it was all planned, by unscrupulous greedy parasites, who profit off the demise of those who actually do work for a living, producing something tangible. I know I’m not the only one who sees that our quality of life as a nation, with the exception of the ridiculously wealthy, has not been improving.

But then, it’s still better than some countries. At least we have food banks. I have personally met many a kind hearted person who is volunteering their time and energy in a multitude of ways that shows humanity, and that which qualifies us as a true human, has not entirely disappeared. And there are indeed worse places to live, as far as basic human rights go. The way I see it, it really is greed, and a sense of entitlement by the few at the expense of the many, that is the problem. It’s got to go. And, deciding to invest in life, rather than death, would be a good start. One look at the budget for this country pretty much tells the story of our values, and it doesn’t look promising.

Let’s face it folks, have you ever known a truly greedy person just suddenly being willing to share? I haven’t. Not unless there’s something of even greater value in it for them. And with the good old boys club we have running the show I will not be holding my breath. Although I must say, no one can hold up a house of cards forever. Eventually, a big enough wind is going to come along, and it will come crashing down. When this will happen, I do not know. I’ve heard the cry wolf story way too many times now. We’re easier to herd if we’re afraid. I have a few more things to learn in the meantime, while we wait for the other shoe to drop. So for now I’ll just keep that inner dream alive, that inner fire burning, and see what happens. There’s no place like home.
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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Re: Farm Life

Post by Christine »

Love U beautiful Spiritwind ... ceaseless in O-UR unfolding.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgBJonNi3pA[/youtube]

"Chop that wood
Carry water
What's the sound of one hand clapping
Enlightenment, don't know what it is
Every second, every minute
It keeps changing to something different
Enlightenment, don't know what it is
Enlightenment, don't know what it is
It says it's non attachment
Non attachment. Non attachment
I'm in the here and now, and I'm meditating
And still I'm suffering but that's my problem
Enlightenment, don't know what it is
Wake up
Enlightenment says the world is nothing
Nothing but a dream, everything's an illusion
And nothing is real
Good or bad, baby
You can change it anyway you want
You can rearrange it
Enlightenment, don't know what it is
Chop that wood and carry water
What's the sound of one hand clapping
Enlightenment, don't you know what it is
All…"
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The journey, the challenge is to step into the
projection room and stop being lost in the script.
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Spiritwind
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Re: Farm Life

Post by Spiritwind »

I am quite proud of myself today. I stink kind of bad, but just had to bite the bullet today. I did the big switcheroo and moved everyone around for breeding. So I threw Firefly, the herd queen and super butthead of the bunch in with Bob Dean. Since she was in heat she was the easiest to move, and went right in when I opened the gate, much to Bob’s delight. Then I opened the gate between pens where the younger girls usually are, and managed to get Cry Baby and Jinjer in there, along with their daughters, Bambi and Miracle. I got the gate closed between the two again, leaving the two younger ones on one side, and the two older does on the other. Then I threw Lily in there too, as she didn’t take earlier this year.

The fun, and stinky part, was moving the boys. Crispy fought me all the way there, but once he saw the girls didn’t give me a hard time going in the pen. Raven was a lot easier, which surprised me since he’s a little bigger and they’re both strong from fighting each other all the time. Unfortunately, Cry Baby got out when I was putting him in. Then when I almost got her in, Jinjer ran out. But, I got them both back in there. Goats are such creatures of habit that they are all shook up now. But they’ll get over it. And I am relieved. I want kidding to happen towards the end of February and anytime through March, but not later than that.

One reason for that is once it warms up in springtime there’s a parasite explosion, and plus the kids will be old enough to start selling in May, which is perfect. If all goes well, which you never know ahead of time, their kids will pay for their hay next year. It did cause some financial strain having to wait it out this year, since I didn’t breed any last fall due to the issue over GMO glyphosate covered grain causing infections after birthing. It kind of makes me mad when I think about it, but need to just put it behind me and let it go. At least my conscience is clear.

And, I must be crazy, but I’m picking up three more goats this weekend. Not because I want or need more goats. I sold one of Firefly’s daughters to my son in laws grandmother, the same woman I got Coco and her daughter back from in January. Her husband is having his leg amputated from complications due to diabetes. She doesn’t want to bother with trying to sell them so I’m going to take the doe back, and her two daughters born in early February. They probably haven’t ever had their hooves trimmed, and I have no idea how friendly they are. But if the doe has an udder like Coco, I shouldn’t have too much trouble selling her, and at least one of her daughters. That could buy us a whole ton of hay, which would be nice about right now.

Week after next my husband is taking his week vacation. It will be interesting to see how much we can get done. Got some sealant for the roof on the RV. I offered to try and do it but he insists that it’s more complicated than I think, so I will wait and just help. We’re going to try and finish insulating and putting up sheetrock in the well house. And, last but not least, see how much wood we can get in. We love working together, so I’m looking forward to spending more time with him, even if we will be busy.

Wondering what kind of winter it will be. Maybe a new snow blower will just magically appear in our driveway. Yes, I’m being funny, but ya never know. Stranger things have happened.

And it’s been two years since the well was put in. So though I may have to chop that wood, at least I won’t be hauling water from the neighbors like we did that first winter. We won’t have the underground water lines put in this year, so still have to carry it a ways, but at least we still have some projects to look forward to next year, LOL.
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

Post by Spiritwind »

We’re sliding into another payday on a wing and a prayer. I wouldn’t say I’m actually getting used to this, but in a way it doesn’t ruffle my feathers nearly as much as it once did. I remind myself of all that I have to be grateful for, and even if there are things that have to wait, or some things left undone, there is no emergency. We have food, a heat source, a roof over our heads, and no serious health issues, which is far more than many have. They even have a whole fleet of motor homes lining the side roads by my favorite grocery store in the city, where people just move them around a bit to keep from getting towed, and live in them. Certainly better than a tent, especially with winter coming on. At least we have a piece of land to park on, and especially thankful it isn’t in the city!

We woke up to the fan blowing cold air from the propane heater, because it ran out in the middle of the night. We had another tank but it wasn’t hooked up yet, so I just threw some more blankets on for the last couple hours before the alarm went off to get up for the day. I could have started a fire, but didn’t until we got up a couple hours later. And words cannot convey how thankful I am for our little wood stove! We had it warmed up in here in no time.

And I’m dragging my feet to go out today. It’s cold outside and I’m nice and cozy warm with one of my furry lap warmers hanging out. My one finger typing skills come in handy at times like this.

So, we did go pick up the three goats on the weekend, and got quite a surprise. The mom looks much like her sister, Coco, and her one daughter is stunningly beautiful and looks like she inherited the lamancha teats and probably udder, so that’s promising. She isn’t tame, though, but still wasn’t as much trouble as little miss Arrow was to catch back in January. The other so called female is actually a hermaphrodite, a he/she! She has a beard and mane already, like her father, and totally acts like a buck. If you look closely, well not really that closely, you can clearly see that something isn’t right, so even though she doesn’t have the usual equipment on the outside, it’s there on the inside. She pees like a girl. But she’s obnoxious with it being breeding season and all. The outcome for her is not likely to be good, because you can’t really keep her with the bucks or the does. Maybe with some wethers. So, she/he has got to go.

When I looked last week there weren’t that many goats for sale, but evidently people are now offloading what they don’t want to feed through the winter. There’s a lot now, and many are going for cheap. Kind of makes me sad, especially since I saw another of Firefly’s kids I sold a couple years ago back up for sale. And, I may end up with the other two through the winter. But, the woman I got them from is probably loosing her husband to diabetes, and these girls are too nice to just give away without a care. She didn’t think her husband was even going to come home from the hospital and is contemplating spending the winter alone on her rural property.

Fortunately, with the improvements we made, I’m not overloaded and do have the room, if the right person doesn’t come along until next spring. It’s hard when you know their fate is kind of in your hands. I have a few I’ve already made a commitment to keeping all the way up until it’s their time to leave this world. They give so much, and I can’t quite wrap my mind around our throw away society. I realize I can’t keep them all. I would have sold a couple more last summer, but it helps to show that they can produce offspring, and people can see what their udders look like. I’ve bred up and now all my girls, with the exception of little Arrow with the extra teat, and Lily who didn’t take when I tried to breed her last spring so I don’t know yet, are what anyone who hand milks is looking for. I purposefully sold all the ones who had the tiny little pencil sized teats, because even with my small hands I found them difficult to milk.

The other big challenge that has just fallen in our lap, although I did see it coming, is the good gas mileage car my husband drives to work everyday, besides needing a tuneup and the clutch fixed, has a bad cv joint, and can’t be driven until it’s fixed. I don’t even know what to say there, except it’s part of life, and it’s just one of those things that has to be dealt with. So I may not be going many places for awhile. I’ll be hanging out here on the animal farm, which is at least where I want to be, if I have to be stuck somewhere.

My biggest goals these days is just to keep my sanity, my heart open, yet always trying to “see” things with an eye for truth. Not really that easy, especially with the increasing levels of censoring anything that doesn’t agree, or raises questions having to do with the party line. Truth is anything but simple these days, and almost nothing can be taken at face value. As we transition from the age of Pisces to the age of Aquarius, it seems they are pulling out the stops at sucking everyone into the deceptive minefield they are calling reality these days. It’s like they are trying to make this world into one big fake reality show, where people are mesmerized by all the special effects that are anything but what they seem. Clearly, the magicians have stepped up their game. I want to bury myself in the natural world as much as possible, as only there can I see truth without all the false overlays. There, I can maintain a sense of compassion for all life (not to mention a sense of humor). There, I can still feel love for my fellowman, even if I feel mostly disconnected from them. Like, I really am starting to feel like an alien species here. It’s nice to be around all my furry friends, though, for they don’t lie. You can tell exactly how they really feel just by looking in their eyes. And they respond so well to love. Once again, there’s no place like home...

Oh yeah, and we had our first frost of the season last night too!
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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Re: Farm Life

Post by Fred Steeves »

Spiritwind wrote: As we transition from the age of Pisces to the age of Aquarius, it seems they are pulling out the stops at sucking everyone into the deceptive minefield they are calling reality these days. It’s like they are trying to make this world into one big fake reality show, where people are mesmerized by all the special effects that are anything but what they seem. Clearly, the magicians have stepped up their game.
I've noticed this as well.
The unexamined life is not worth living.

Socrates
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Re: Farm Life

Post by LostNFound »

Yes, The Truman show is so clear and entertaining, is it not? The circus continues with the clowns in DC and blankets the countries of the world. Wars and rumors of wars spread every where and by gosh and by golly, we are hooked by the camera and the prizes we can strive to receive. The illusion is ramped up. Yes to divert our minds and eyes away from greedy little men and women who think they are in control. They shiver and shake with their own brand of fear as they spew it out at the masses to try and hold a control. These days are full of poisons yet there are bigger pockets of love spreading in the face of adversity.

Down on the farm you struggle with all the true ways of life even tho you have to step into the illusion to survive somewhat. We all are trapped or so it seems in this Truman show and it is painful as is planned. The more we try to escape the more painful it can become. We learn how to endure and look at the light at the end of the tunnel of darkness. Continue to move forward dear lady, the truth is all around you on the farm. It is all connected somehow. Have you ever had the clear vision of seeing two sides of this place, I see that you have. On one hand is the magicians with their illusions while on the other hand is you and your truth with love. What you have is real and not the false reality of these magicians. I'm just a rambling on.

Thank you Spiritwind for the real conversations.
Steven
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