A Devil Named 'Defeat'

"The devil named defeat is hot on my trail and trying to get me...I'm still outrunning him, but the gap is narrowing...."

Life, on the farm, is very beautiful and full of an amazing bountifulness. But, it is also filled with daily life and death. Life and death decisions, the death of beloved animals and pets, injuries, and accidents. Sometimes, the 'in your face' life and death of watching the seasons, the harvests, the battles of bird and cat, baby mouse and hawk, bug and squash become commonplace. Other days, such as today, my heart is wrung out and hung out to dry with the pain of it all. Never be fooled, farming is living with your heart right out on the line. Your heart right out in the thunderstorm, in the lightning, in the icy pelting rain, in the finger numbing cold. There is no hiding from the absolute truth of God's seasons and no ducking the realities that come with it, try as we may.

Today was an especially painful day here on the farm. Not the first, and certainly not the last.

That old devil named defeat...he can keep chasing, but I'm still in the lead....

New Things

"At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, and then they begin to hope it can be done, then they see it can be done-then it is done and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries ago."

~Francis Hodgson Burnett

A Newly Found Autumn Treasure (and it was right there all the time!)

(photo courtesy of Emmalee Rose Photography)

One thing I've noticed this year is that September is more beautiful than I ever remember. But then, so are a lot of things. I don't ever remember it being so golden and glorious, so heavy with fruit and possibility. I used to push September aside to try and quickly get to regal October. Oh, but look what I have missed out on all these years!

This has been a month of lists upon lists and work beyond measure. I have undertaken new tasks that I never thought I could accommodate, and yet life makes room for what it needs to.

Evenings are full of fairy tale books and the Redwall series (a book about mice who live in Abbeys). So, now we have a pet mouse (a wild field mouse who is living well beyond his/her? means in a critter cage complete with cozy wool nest and all the grain she/he can store away) (:

My wish is that this September is more beautiful than your last.

Seperating the Boys...From the Girls

Today was a crazy day. Okay, okay...everyday around here is a crazy day. But, this one was just a little crazier.

Cleaning the sales room and the old attic above the sales room left me covered in dust, dirt and cobwebs. Add to that the dirt from cleaning an unused horse stall...unused for the last, oh 25 years or so...and then throw in a mix of about 30 various customers from all walks of life AND the moving of the boys from the girls. Sheep, that is. (:

Today I finally found the time to clean out another stall in the old horse barn and I moved the girl sheep away from the boy sheep. (Just for the record, I'm not giving any birds and bees lessons here.) I moved everyone to their respective stalls as I do not wish to have January lambs that run the risk of not surviving the harsh night temperatures, or January lambs that live out their early days in our kitchen next to the wood cookstove.

The boys were all excited when I moved the girls. They thought it was play time. The girls thought it was fun too. "Oh look", they all said, "We're getting attention and maybe there is corn over there." It wasn't until everyone sniffed around their freshly hay strewn stalls that their little sheep eyes dilated when they realized that they were not together in their 'herd'.

Sheep have a very strong herding instinct. They will stay together in the most ridiculous, and sometimes deathly, of situations. Silly as they may be, they are very lovable creatures (and warm I might add, as the temperature dipped quite low today).

I felt quite the Shepherdess when I had to hand tie a rope around a horned female Dorset and urge her towards her new home place.

(And don't think I've forgotten for one minute that I promised the Sheepherder's Bread Recipe on this blog. I haven't. In fact, the starter is sitting on the counter right this very moment, waiting to be made into a fresh loaf. I will then post the recipe and instructions so, you too, can try your hand at separating boy sheep, oh, I mean...so you too can try your hand at baking Sheepherder's Bread. (:

Goodnight. I'm off to count sheep....

Kindness and Consideration

Being considerate of others will take your children further in life than any college degree.

~Marian Wright Edelman