There is green outside! Okay, so I know that it isn't technically spring yet. In fact we are looking at getting a bit of snow (I am really hoping the weather people are wrong about this) by the end of the week. But, there is green outside. The stems of the rose bushes are turning green, the strawberry plants are starting to turn green,little clover like plants are starting to spring up and there is a faint tint of green in the yard if you look closely.
The humidity is also back. For the past two days there has been a humid south breeze. Oh it was lovely! My parched sinuses were in heaven. It really has been a beautiful couple of days.
I even found some sort of dead flying insect in the goats' water bucket yesterday! Okay I know, getting excited about the return of bugs seems strange, but I am just so ready for spring.
We bought tons of seeds last week and in a couple of more weeks we will be tilling and planting the cold weather plants. I can't wait! We have so many garden plans this year, including reworking an old plot and creating a whole new one. Gearing up for garden season is almost as exciting as gearing up for kidding season which begins next week with Tally.
The dragging days of winter are almost over. Soon they will be replaced with a frenzy of activity. Green things will be growing, gardens will be getting put in,baby goats will be bouncing around and baby chickens will be cheeping. I love spring.
Oat Bucket Farm Website
Living on the far side of normal on less than an acre in a tiny town.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Through a Child's eyes
Having children allows me to see things through the eyes of a child. It is a wonderful thing that ensures I never fail to see the magic in the world. Whether its magnificent shapes in the clouds, the intricate colors on a bug, or in tonight's case, the simple wonder of a shower.
This evening my youngest, who is three, discovered the novelty of a shower. Baths are fun, lots of splashing and carrying on, but tonight, there was a new element. Tonight the shower was on. And oh the simple joy of water falling from somewhere up near the ceiling. I let him plug up the tub and he gleefully sloshed back and forth the length of the tub, in and out of that wonderful glittering fall of water. The pure happiness that such a thing inspired was magical and I thoroughly enjoyed being yet again allowed to see the world through the eyes of a child, where it was so much more than a simple shower and a couple of inches or so of water.
After he was clean and had played and played and laughed and tried to catch drops in his mouth, he climbed out. I wrapped a towel around him and we stood in the moist warmth of the bathroom together to watch the grand finale of bath/shower time...the draining of the water from the tub. My son never ceases to be amazed that the drain can drink so much water. He stood there, leaned slightly of the edge of the tub, damp toes curled into the plush rug next to the tub and watched as it gurgled and slurped and with a final gulp, the drain yet again drank every drop of water in the tub. To which my son happily squealed, "He dank it all!"
The world would be better place if adults could find such magic and happiness in such simple things.
Oat Bucket Farm Website
This evening my youngest, who is three, discovered the novelty of a shower. Baths are fun, lots of splashing and carrying on, but tonight, there was a new element. Tonight the shower was on. And oh the simple joy of water falling from somewhere up near the ceiling. I let him plug up the tub and he gleefully sloshed back and forth the length of the tub, in and out of that wonderful glittering fall of water. The pure happiness that such a thing inspired was magical and I thoroughly enjoyed being yet again allowed to see the world through the eyes of a child, where it was so much more than a simple shower and a couple of inches or so of water.
After he was clean and had played and played and laughed and tried to catch drops in his mouth, he climbed out. I wrapped a towel around him and we stood in the moist warmth of the bathroom together to watch the grand finale of bath/shower time...the draining of the water from the tub. My son never ceases to be amazed that the drain can drink so much water. He stood there, leaned slightly of the edge of the tub, damp toes curled into the plush rug next to the tub and watched as it gurgled and slurped and with a final gulp, the drain yet again drank every drop of water in the tub. To which my son happily squealed, "He dank it all!"
The world would be better place if adults could find such magic and happiness in such simple things.
Oat Bucket Farm Website
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Women...Who Stare At Goats
Kidding begins here in three weeks (give or take a few days). As the time draws closer we find ourselves staring at the goats.
Out doing chores this morning and while the goats were eating we stared at the does' bellies. Watching.Waiting. And then we saw it. A bump here, a roll there. More bumps and rolls as the baby goats paddled around inside their mommas bellies. We could see larger rolls and then the smaller bumps of knees and little hooves. Squeeeeee! So cute.
But of course, the bellies aren't all we stare at. We are checking hoo-haas for any signs of discharge, we are looking at growing udders and feeling them to see how they are progressing. Our neighbors probably think we are crazy. But this is a farming community with lots of cows getting ready to calve, so maybe they don't.
And while we watch, we worry. In fact we experience a great deal of anxiety. What if there are several babies and they are all tangled? What if there is only one really big baby that will be hard to get out? What if ... ?
This is why Women Who Stare At Goats have no finger nails and thinning hair. We chew our nails down to a nub and we pull our hair out in a combination of anxiety and frustration when our does stand around as their due date approaches (and sometimes passes) and they happily chew their cud while we wake at every little sound on the baby monitor-the other half of which is in the barn- and make multiple treks to the barn throughout the night to check on them. Which inevitably ensures that they will kid in the afternoon while we are already out there, completely rendering the late night trips from our warm bed to the cold barn totally useless.
Despite all of this, we will go through this again next spring, and the one after that, and the one after that. And each year we will once again join the ranks of Women...Who Stare At Goats.
Oat Bucket Farm Website
Out doing chores this morning and while the goats were eating we stared at the does' bellies. Watching.Waiting. And then we saw it. A bump here, a roll there. More bumps and rolls as the baby goats paddled around inside their mommas bellies. We could see larger rolls and then the smaller bumps of knees and little hooves. Squeeeeee! So cute.
But of course, the bellies aren't all we stare at. We are checking hoo-haas for any signs of discharge, we are looking at growing udders and feeling them to see how they are progressing. Our neighbors probably think we are crazy. But this is a farming community with lots of cows getting ready to calve, so maybe they don't.
And while we watch, we worry. In fact we experience a great deal of anxiety. What if there are several babies and they are all tangled? What if there is only one really big baby that will be hard to get out? What if ... ?
This is why Women Who Stare At Goats have no finger nails and thinning hair. We chew our nails down to a nub and we pull our hair out in a combination of anxiety and frustration when our does stand around as their due date approaches (and sometimes passes) and they happily chew their cud while we wake at every little sound on the baby monitor-the other half of which is in the barn- and make multiple treks to the barn throughout the night to check on them. Which inevitably ensures that they will kid in the afternoon while we are already out there, completely rendering the late night trips from our warm bed to the cold barn totally useless.
Despite all of this, we will go through this again next spring, and the one after that, and the one after that. And each year we will once again join the ranks of Women...Who Stare At Goats.
Oat Bucket Farm Website
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