TWO DAY LATER…..

This is one of those days that going barefoot really isn't practical.

Remember the misty woods from yesterday's blog?  Here it is today.

The snow is VERY wet so the sheep had their hay in the barn.

The the first snow for Cirrus and Sal.  Hard to see Cirrus except for his orange beak and feet.

Not the best day to sit under the hickory with a book.

A good day to work in the fiber studio, maybe, but not a good day to walk barefoot.

A Balmy Morning

Yesterday was amazing.  Almost all the ice has thawed.  Sal found a little to chomp on.

LOOK how polite the sheep are, letting the geese eat from the end of the hay feeder.

The misty morning woods were very inviting yesterday morning.

I keep thinking about my neighbor's barefoot path.  Chris and I walked it in late October and it was wonderful.  The barefoot path leads into the woods near the labyrinth at the Belfry.  Chris was going to leave her socks on but when I told her how amazing the path felt, she joined me in walking barefoot.  Parts are moss covered, some just clay, some carpeted with pine needles.  There are trees all along the way with laminated cards with scripture readings.  I think I must find an area, here on this property, to lay out a barefoot path.  

As I have said many times, I love to walk barefoot.  Unfortunately, there seems to be many times that going barefoot isn't practical.  That is why I have tried to make felt shoes.  I have 4 prototypes and I still  don't have what I am looking for.  When I was in Oklahoma, I bought some soft sole moccasins.  I love them.  It feels almost like walking barefoot. 

 The sheep and geese get to go barefoot all the time.  I wonder if they wish they had shoes sometimes.

The New Goose and Chicken Run

CIRRUS and Sal are so glad their puddle pond has melted.  It was frozen for several days.  

I love the ridges on their necks.    

Here are pictures of the new goose and chicken run.  It is really nice.  It looks a little over built in these pictures but it looks good in the whole scheme of things and I love being able to stand up in it.  Now the geese can swim at night when the water in the tub isn't frozen and skate if it is frozen.  I am not sure they like to skate though.

I just wish the geese wouldn't try to escape at night. They pace and dig and I am afraid they are going to let in what we have tried so hard to keep out.  

The geese love to get out in the morning and hang out all day with the sheep.  I wonder what they will do when we get chickens again.  It has been so cold that I think it might be better to wait until next spring to find out.

A New Winter

Winter has arrived early to Cabin Spring Farm.  I don't think it got above 30 degrees today and it is supposed to get down in the teens again tonight.

Sal was walking on thin ice on the puddle pond this morning and broke through.  She scrambled out in a hurry.  They now have their blue heated bucket for drinking water.  The sheep are loving the new hay and the geese like it too.  The geese like to line up at the hay feeder next to the sheep but the sheep go back and forth between the feeders and the geese have to keep an eye out so as not to get trampled.  A new thing to worry about.

I got back from Oklahoma last night.  There was a dusting of snow there.  I thought I was going to have a couple of nice days while the cold moved into Virginia, but it was unseasonably cold in OK,  and windy.  It was my annual sister's trip and Judy found us a nice cabin in Medicine Park OK, 3 miles from the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge.  This refuge was the beginning of bringing Bison back from almost extinction.

We sang "Home On The Range"multiple times, told Bison jokes, or at least one, and got to see one Longhorn cow, a bunch of Prairie Dogs, and a small herd of Bison.  The bison are really cool animals.  The preserve has a bison auction  every year and I would be tempted to invite one to live at Cabin Spring Farm BUT we don't exactly have a range.  I wonder what the sheep would think of a resident bison?

O.K. the joke--   There were these two cowboys riding the range and they came across some buffalo.  One said to the other, "Now that is one really ugly animal, I mean UGLY".  The other agreed profusely and they rode off.  One buffalo looked at the other and exclaimed, "now those are discouraging words".  Not sure if it is funny or not, I keep changing my mind.

Back to the farm, farm chores, and farm clothes covered with hay.  Pictures tomorrow.

Where Does HARM Lurk?

 I had one of those draining days.  When I got home and needed to be refilled, I called a friend and then I went down to talk to the animals and hang out.

 There were turkey vultures gliding overhead, when I took the above picture.  I love to watch Cirrus and Sal turn an eye to the sky.  I asked them if they could tell a hawk from a turkey vulture at so great a distance.  They didn't answer vocally but maybe that was a yes.  Now that the geese are big, hawks are not a problem, theoretically.  When we have chickens again or when Cirrus and Sal have a family, I  imagine they will know what to do.   But how do they distinguish between friend and foe?  A few days ago, two neighborhood dogs ran across the property.  I yelled at them but the geese were silent.  Did the geese decide that since the dogs did not come up to the fence and look at them, that they were not a threat and it was best to remain silent?

The meetings that drained me today were filled with negativity and history, relationships and communications, or lack of.  It was all about "you can't do …….  or ……….. will happen.  Where does harm lurk?

I am on the board of a very special organization and the chair of PR and publicity.  I am still at the stage where I have hope and enthusiasm and I am looking for a place to make a positive change.  I NEED a starting point but I had to repeat that many times before I got the support I needed from my committee.

I am often accused of being a GIF (a good ideas fairy).  O.K., I get that many people do not like over zealous new bees, but please just offer a place from where change can begin.

So, there are days like today and there are days like yesterday.  In the morning, yesterday, I worked with kids (always refreshing), and then I came home and emptied the geese's puddle/pond.  I went down to the creek and collected some smooth stone to put on the bottom and then filled it again.  John said it was clear when he went down to let the geese out this morning but when they got in it , they muddied it up.  Nothing like it was though.  I just need to collect some additional stones.

When there was green in the water I found myself asking, "where does harm lurk?" I  moved the geese's overnight pen to new grass and gave the sheep their Garlic Barrier ™ .  Now I can go away for a few days to get even more renewed, feeling that harm does not lurk nearby.