I think we are a few weeks behind you - the ground is just unthawing here. “bovine overlords” - no truer term. 😆
I’m in Iowa visiting my elderly father. Here there are giant feedlots of mud, without a stitch of pasture. The cattle (all angus) sit in these poor lots and never, NEVER eat a blade of grass. They eat corn and corn silage. It’s depressing for me, but I can’t imagine what it must be like for the cows. Their bodies never getting to do what they were built for.
I recently added meat rabbits to our little farm, and I bring them a big blue bucket of greens from my wild yard everyday, now that winter is passed and all the plants have sprung up. My bunnies eagerly hop to the cage door, practically jumping for joy at the sight of those greens. They get right to munching, with their cute little bunny lips a-wagglin'. I love to listen to them chew and see long strands of grass disappear between their teeth. It's satisfying and adorable. I have enjoyed them immensely.
Mama bunny has 9 strong little baby buns. I'm going to keep the best female to grow out for breeding, and butcher the rest. I am very excited to try them out and hopefully replace our chicken buying entirely with rabbit meat. For now, I enjoy the rabbits being rabbity. There are no shadows in my mind when I plan their harvest, only happy anticipation for them to fulfill their role as a rabbit. I fulfill mine as a human being. It is only kind to think of them properly, rather than imposing a false reality upon them to serve a delusion within me.
May you find miraculous pockets of time to pack in every spring treasure you find. 😁 Happy Saturday!
It is spring in Central Indiana. Birds are chirping, frogs are peeping, woodland wildflowers are blooming. I don't have cows, but buy raw milk from a local farmer and make my own yogurt. Which I enjoyed this morning with Ella's lemon curd. I hope you record your cows return to the grass and share it with us.
Beautiful and very visually alive descriptions of your homestead in the Spring!. It really made me smile hearing all that takes place with the cows and bulls - the beauty and majesty of cows crazy about getting to the munching on new grass to the thoughtful loving manner in which you harvest your animals. We are not homesteaders so winter time for us is cozy next to the wood fire, staying low. probably if we had farm chores out in the cold, I might have a different mindset. so I always like a delayed spring, wanting winter to hang around awhile longer...Spring is heavenly and with this post I am going to be less hesitant about breaking out into the garden and relish the new season. Our little bit of paradise is in a small town in central PA, a place that nurtures us and we nurture back- reciprocity at its fineness.
Good morning dear Tara, it was a pleasure to read your words of spring; the “bovine overlords” made me chuckle, and Bea’s excited antics at seeing the orange “thing” painted such an endearing image in my mind. I wish everyone could experience life on a well-run farm. It would go a long way to solving some of our problems today. One of my favourite books as a child was “Farmer Boy”, written by Laura Ingalls about her husband’s childhood. The descriptions of life on his farm are still enjoyable for me to read even now. I highly recommend it! Enjoy your Spring shenanigans ☺️
Tara, so good to hear again about your land and animals, especially beloved Bea. I can’t imagine I will ever live on land with animals like you, my husband does not want to be responsible for such things, but oh I do enjoy hearing you talk about it! Your words bring to mind a quote I have long loved- “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast endless sea.” Antione de Saint Exupery.
Thank you for the teaching that produces yearning.❤️
Oh how I missed reading your words Tara! Thank you for sharing such beautiful lessons! Spring is coming but I’m sure we still have some cold weather to deal with in Alberta before it’s ready to stay! I’m expecting my first baby in May and it truly is a wonderful time of year to birth! On the other hand there is so many things that need tending to on a farm…. I also feel as excited as Bea for the grass to come, I know my critters are too ❤️
It's always such fun watching an animal that KNOWS something good is coming! They get so ridiculously HAPPY.
Our snow is mostly gone, but the ground won't thaw for a while yet. We picked up one of our driveway markers yesterday, but the ground refused to let Tom poke it back in. But at least the water got into the well again a couple weeks ago; we fared relatively well considering we had an extra person here all winter. Water was short for the month of March, but we managed. Sponge baths are a thing!
Tara, you are indeed back. Writing about a lesson, sharing those lessons with us tucked inside the warm green folds of your life in the current moment. I am so happy to be reading you again. It’s an especially nice balm today as we awoke here to a wet, heavy snow covering the green that is bubbling up underneath. 🙏❤️
I think we are a few weeks behind you - the ground is just unthawing here. “bovine overlords” - no truer term. 😆
I’m in Iowa visiting my elderly father. Here there are giant feedlots of mud, without a stitch of pasture. The cattle (all angus) sit in these poor lots and never, NEVER eat a blade of grass. They eat corn and corn silage. It’s depressing for me, but I can’t imagine what it must be like for the cows. Their bodies never getting to do what they were built for.
I recently added meat rabbits to our little farm, and I bring them a big blue bucket of greens from my wild yard everyday, now that winter is passed and all the plants have sprung up. My bunnies eagerly hop to the cage door, practically jumping for joy at the sight of those greens. They get right to munching, with their cute little bunny lips a-wagglin'. I love to listen to them chew and see long strands of grass disappear between their teeth. It's satisfying and adorable. I have enjoyed them immensely.
Mama bunny has 9 strong little baby buns. I'm going to keep the best female to grow out for breeding, and butcher the rest. I am very excited to try them out and hopefully replace our chicken buying entirely with rabbit meat. For now, I enjoy the rabbits being rabbity. There are no shadows in my mind when I plan their harvest, only happy anticipation for them to fulfill their role as a rabbit. I fulfill mine as a human being. It is only kind to think of them properly, rather than imposing a false reality upon them to serve a delusion within me.
May you find miraculous pockets of time to pack in every spring treasure you find. 😁 Happy Saturday!
It is spring in Central Indiana. Birds are chirping, frogs are peeping, woodland wildflowers are blooming. I don't have cows, but buy raw milk from a local farmer and make my own yogurt. Which I enjoyed this morning with Ella's lemon curd. I hope you record your cows return to the grass and share it with us.
Beautiful and very visually alive descriptions of your homestead in the Spring!. It really made me smile hearing all that takes place with the cows and bulls - the beauty and majesty of cows crazy about getting to the munching on new grass to the thoughtful loving manner in which you harvest your animals. We are not homesteaders so winter time for us is cozy next to the wood fire, staying low. probably if we had farm chores out in the cold, I might have a different mindset. so I always like a delayed spring, wanting winter to hang around awhile longer...Spring is heavenly and with this post I am going to be less hesitant about breaking out into the garden and relish the new season. Our little bit of paradise is in a small town in central PA, a place that nurtures us and we nurture back- reciprocity at its fineness.
Good morning dear Tara, it was a pleasure to read your words of spring; the “bovine overlords” made me chuckle, and Bea’s excited antics at seeing the orange “thing” painted such an endearing image in my mind. I wish everyone could experience life on a well-run farm. It would go a long way to solving some of our problems today. One of my favourite books as a child was “Farmer Boy”, written by Laura Ingalls about her husband’s childhood. The descriptions of life on his farm are still enjoyable for me to read even now. I highly recommend it! Enjoy your Spring shenanigans ☺️
Tara, so good to hear again about your land and animals, especially beloved Bea. I can’t imagine I will ever live on land with animals like you, my husband does not want to be responsible for such things, but oh I do enjoy hearing you talk about it! Your words bring to mind a quote I have long loved- “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast endless sea.” Antione de Saint Exupery.
Thank you for the teaching that produces yearning.❤️
Oh how I missed reading your words Tara! Thank you for sharing such beautiful lessons! Spring is coming but I’m sure we still have some cold weather to deal with in Alberta before it’s ready to stay! I’m expecting my first baby in May and it truly is a wonderful time of year to birth! On the other hand there is so many things that need tending to on a farm…. I also feel as excited as Bea for the grass to come, I know my critters are too ❤️
It's always such fun watching an animal that KNOWS something good is coming! They get so ridiculously HAPPY.
Our snow is mostly gone, but the ground won't thaw for a while yet. We picked up one of our driveway markers yesterday, but the ground refused to let Tom poke it back in. But at least the water got into the well again a couple weeks ago; we fared relatively well considering we had an extra person here all winter. Water was short for the month of March, but we managed. Sponge baths are a thing!
Tara, you are indeed back. Writing about a lesson, sharing those lessons with us tucked inside the warm green folds of your life in the current moment. I am so happy to be reading you again. It’s an especially nice balm today as we awoke here to a wet, heavy snow covering the green that is bubbling up underneath. 🙏❤️
Lovely!