Thank You x 2

Thank you to everyone who shared and supported my Kickstarter…. this is what I got!
A Little Red Reefer!

All thanks to YOU.

Barn doors instead of a roll up door!
She is perfect.

And she needs a name……….

Thank you, also, to Taylor, Sharon, Brian, Heligal Anne, Flying Coyote, Kate, Jane, Dennis, Jan, Rue, Jessica, Lindsey, Meghan, Mary, Ellen, Susan, Abi, Kelley, Sophie, Kathleen, Broken Wagon Farm, Rocko & Daisy, Bree, Pat, Julie, Marya, Maureen, Joyce, Pam, Nicole, Karie, Torre, Katie, Corinne, Sheri, Laima, Lissa, Linda, CeeBee, Sally, Liza, Susan, Leslie, Sara, Melissa, Sandy, Maggie, Bud, Joy, Jay, The Fourteen Anonymoi, Blithe, Moonyean, Keli, Karl, Marian, FOSS, John, Elizabeth, Theresa, Kevin, Rowan, and Jacquelyn for donating to my fundraiser to Help Fight Hunger.

We’re a third of the way to my goal (which I am matching to $10K)! I’m going to let it run till the beginning of November, then take a truckload of beef to The Food Bank of the Rockies in time for the holidays. You can join us and donate HERE – just $5 makes an impact.

Quickie Farmily news ~ Tinkerbell might be pregnant! Can you believe it? She looks so good, so strong and healthy, you’d never guess her tragic calfhood by looking at her. You’d never know Sid was an orphan, either. He is downright fat and he and Roxy are joined at the hip. I want to make them a draft team. I’ve been wanting to train an ox for years – since Frisco was born – and I always run out of time, so we’ll see if they ever pull a cart together…. but I do have them both halter trained. They are the cutest little pair. When Frisco died, I didn’t know if I’d ever fall in love with another calf like I did with him, and with Roxy and Sid, I have, times two.

Snippets: Mid-Summer Edition

How do you deal with authority?

subquestion a) if you don’t agree with it?

subquestion b) if it seems you have no choice? (ie, noncompliance results in personal harm)

______

Someone stole Kota’s tail. Can you even believe that? Stealing horse tails is an actual thing – for braided horsehair hat bands and headstalls. The thing that pisses me off is that I would have freely given a partial, considerate harvest of pieces of all my horses’ tails had the thief asked – but whoever did this stole all of Kota’s tail, which means Kota can’t swish away flies. And Kota used to be so friendly and fearless and whatever happened during the theft made him head shy. What is wrong with people?

______

I was in the center of a bovine love pile last night. I was lying against Fiona’s massive, warm shoulder and Roxy and Sid came over to smoosh on top of me. There’s no therapy like cow therapy.

______

Einstein, bringing it again and always:

“A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest – a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

______

Found in my files: Leila & Pixie, about an hour after Pixie’s birth, May 2016

Sid Has Two Mommies

Little Sid, kitchen calf, lap calf, my sweet little orphan, was a bottle baby the first month of his life, which made me “Mama.” He followed me anywhere and everywhere. If he was still hungry after draining the bottle I’d brought out to the pasture, he’d follow me back to the house, up the stairs of the deck (clip-clopping across the deck on his tiny hooves), in the front door and all the way to the kitchen, where he’d wait at my feet as I prepared another bottle. (It was such a bad habit, but so cute I couldn’t bring myself to break him of it.)

And then Daisy calved. Instead of milking into a bottle for Sid, I led Sid to Daisy’s udder, using the empty bottle as a lure and sticking one of her teats in his mouth. He caught on within two days, though Daisy was a less willing participant (as is normal – cows don’t like random calves stealing the milk that is meant for their baby). But Daisy has more than enough milk for all of us, and I knew she’d accept Sid eventually, as she has adopted orphans in the past. Exhibit A: Frisco and TR, way (WAY!) past the age of needing milk, but don’t they all look so content?

So, I helped Sid dine with Daisy a few times a day – while she was haltered after I’d milked her, while she was distracted as I brushed her, and, at times, using Maia’s super-effective blindfold technique. Meanwhile, Sid and Roxy became best pals – siblings, really. They are side by side every moment of the day. Sid learned to eat when Roxy ate, keeping Roxy closest to Daisy’s head, so when Daisy turned to look or sniff, she’d find Roxy and mellow out. And then one day I caught Daisy licking Sid, and answering his moos, which means she’s decided to be his mama, too.