Wow...

It has been almost a year since I've blogged, and I nearly just started a whole new blog, as so much has changed. So much. And I've grown, too. In a good way. *smile*

First, I have a new, precious, baby boy to announce.....my little Smokey Blue. I see the universe in his smile, and I couldn't imagine my life without him now, without any of my 5 children.
I am exactly where I am supposed to be in my life, I have that perfect warmth surrounding me.

Second, there has been a shift of life on the farm. Our dear cow died suddenly, we're quite sure it was a neurological disorder she had from the beginning. Next, Truffle's darling little Winnie was hit by a car near our road one rainy night early last spring. It was a perfectly clean kill, not a speck of blood anywhere, the life was simply knocked out of her, and Truffle still misses her. He has taken up friendship with the barn cat, Jeans.

Being pregnant, I decided that riding horses just was not in my near future, so I sold the big mares, searching high and low for the *perfect* homes for each of them, and I am very happy with their placement.

We still have our little black mare, Licorice, and have added a new pony, Finnbar, to keep her company. They stay nose to nose all day.

My latest adventure has been rekindling a *new* friendship with an awesome friend of mine (Cvalda)that I have actually known for 5 years (online), however, we recently reconnected and now we are inseparable (even though a distance of, oh..say...500 miles is between us)*wink*. She has also been a big influence (in the very best way) to nudge me into the world of children sponsorship through Children International www.children.org . Cvalda has 9 adopted children of her own, and sponsors 12 children through CI. She sent me a link to a little boy a few weeks ago, and I was head over heels in love! I sponsored him immediately! His name is Marlon, he is 4 years old, and is from Ecuador. I love, love LOVE this boy!! I have involved my other children into getting to "know" Marlon, and we are, as a family, learning to sacrifice and give to help others thrive. This Christmas will be extra special, as we are giving up a few things to be able to provide more for Marlon and his family. I am soooo excited!

I am still a prairie-skirt wearing barefoot hippie, that has not changed, nor will it ever, if I have a say about it (and my, do I have say *wink*). Infact, I have not worn jeans in over a year. They would feel foreign to me now. Of course, well, sandals or my granny boots are an option when I don't want to step in duck or goat poo. Heh heh.

So, here I am, a new place in my life, and very content. I will try my hardest to keep up with blogging a bit more....because..... I feel new adventures are on the horizon!

My fears realized...

All of my Unity buddies said they were skipping service this morning to go to the Psychic Fair instead...soooo....I ditched service too, and instead of the Fair, I decided to go for a meditative horseback ride on Shunami to the little town cemetery for some photo ops, and then maybe catch the Fair later.

The ride was peaceful, but Shunami seemed a little "on edge".

Then, I saw over the southwestern horizon, a big black storm was brewing up and coming our direction fast, with lightning in the lead and clearing out a path! Now, I have a deep seated lightning phobia, and being caught on the backroads on horseback in a lightning storm is one of my worst fears....and there it was, my worst fear...headed straight for us!! *enter dramatic music*

We were a mile from home, and I wanted to panic, but I had to get a hold of myself, because Shunami would pick up on it. Shunami stepped up into gait (she's a Missouri Foxtrotter) as the lightning crashed in the background. We made it home literally in the nick of time, and I no more pulled the saddle off of Shunami's back and turned her loose in the pasture when the storm WAS HERE! EEK!

I am wondering if our Creator was shaking his finger at me for ditching church this morning, hehehe!





Shunami waits patiently for me to take some photo's..


A darling little autumn cherub sits sweetly in the cemetery.

I won't be skipping church next Sunday *wink* ;)

Autumn blessings,
Rach

A peek of the church grounds...

These are photo's taken by my friend, Drayton Riley, of the grounds of Unity church that we are a part of. He can really capture the spirit of autumn! I love Unity, such a wonderful, open minded, and spiritual place! Ahhh...



A meditative walk among trees..

Kissing a child on the top of their head...

...where the soft spot would be, and where the crown chakra lies, transfers wisdom and strength from you to them, and from them to you.





Rach

A little oddity to share....

Today, while grooming a dog and falling into one of my usual meditations, I started thinking about my old employer Doc Henry today, whom I haven't seen or heard from in 2 years (I groomed at his vet clinic for 9 years), and wondered if he had ever retired, and thought "wouldn't it be cool to gather up all of his old employee's to throw him a retirement party".

Well, tonight the phone rings...it's from one of his employee's...inviting me to Doc Henry's retirement party next Thursday.

;)

Chicken Football:

Throw a single piece of stale bread to 25 chickens and watch them try to tackle each other for it. They'll run like this for several..several minutes.



Yeah, I don't get out much.

*giggle*

Autumn Leaves...

"Come, little leaves," said the wind one day-
"Come o'er the meadows with me, and play;"
Put on your dresses of red and gold:
Summer is gone, and the days grow cold"

Soon as the leaves heard the wind's loud call,
Down they came fluttering, one and all:
Over the brown fields they danced and flew,
Singing the soft little songs they knew:

"Cricket, good-by; we've been friends so long!
Little brook, sing us your farewell song-
Say you are sorry to see us go:
Ah, you will miss us, right well we know.

"Dear little lambs, in your fleecy fold,
Mother will keep you from harm and cold:
Fondly we've watched you in vale and glade;
Say, will you dream of our loving shade?"

Dancing and whirling, the little leaves went,
Winter had called them and they were content,
Soon fast asleep in their earthly beds,
The snow laid a coverlet over their heads.

~George Cooper~ circa 1800's

A cold and drear day..

..A fire crackles in the background. Darin and Wee-babe Sam are upstairs napping. Dear Isabelle is a-giggle in her prairie dress and apron while big sister Elyssa paints her toenails a delightful, shimmering shade of "fairytale blue". Dusty is snuggled up contently in my lap; together we softly browse through a Holiday gift catalog, dreaming of Christmas magic all too early. What a lovely autumn afternoon!

Blessings,
Rach

My Izzy...

Isabelle is being considered for the gifted education program. They are currently testing her and they said she actually qualifies, but they can only take in a certain number, so she still may not make it in. Either way, I am very, VERY proud! :)



Izzy loves learning, and she has a very warm, gentle and kind spirit that radiates from her.



She came home from school yesterday and took a deep sigh and said in an exasperated yet tender voice "Mom, every time I go out to recess, the little kindergarteners and first graders always follow me around everywhere. They just...follow me."

Little does she understand yet the magic she holds within...



My shining little Izzy.

Winifred Jones, Five pounds of Fearsome

Winnie...part beagle, part dauchsund. ALL Mighty.

Topping out at a beefy five pounds, she is not to be under-estimated. She is a sight AND scent hound. She can and has taken on a 25 pound raccoon, an 80 pound stray dog, several large black snakes, and she can track a mole for 10 feet and then unearth it with a flip of her snout, launching the mole in mid-air and catching it, then shake the dickens out of it until it is "deaded". She has a bay on her that would make any mountain hillbilly or European woodsman proud and send a prized purebred beagle under the table with its tail tucked, yet it grates up my spine to a spot right between my shoulder blades and I realize I'd rather be in a room full of nails-on-chalkboard. She is a snappy, stealthy, tireless and fierce hunter. And in an instant, with a single hand pat against my leg, she will positively melt into butter and slide her body towards me begging for a touch.

But..there are days when I want to take her for a nice drive to a cemetery, and come back..minus one.

Like yesterday for instance. I had Winnie and Truffle both on heightened security since there has been a duck egg thief on the loose. Something has been stealing the eggs, carrying them to higher places (found one ontop of the hay in the barn) and eating them, leaving behind only remnants of shell.

I don't take kindly to thieves on my farm.

It looked like the doin's of a masked bandit, but honestly, it baffled me as I couldn't imagine when or how a raccoon could slip past our four farm dogs to even step foot on this property. Zero and Polar, the two very large livestock dogs, patrol the henhouse and goat pen. When they start into their warning bark...the ducks, chickens, and goats know to be on alert. Truffle and Winnie are in charge of covering ground along the fenceline and all corners of the property. They will sit on high places and watch.

An intruder would have to be incredibly sneaky and ballsy to slide past such tight security, but something was obviously getting by.

Then.....in broad daylight....I caught the thief! I was walking in from the garden and saw Winnie doing a plucky, happy little trot towards the house...with a duck egg in her mouth!

"WINNIE!!!" I hollered, gathering up the hem of my skirt and taking off like lightning. "DROP IT"!!!

She startled and turned to face me, first shock then guilt, then panic...she saw me running at her full force and she lit out towards the porch! I was going to wring her little neck!! "DROP IT!!!"

She made a split second decision to drop the egg and save herself by darting underneath the porch through a hole in the trellis.

I caught up to the egg (Winnie was LONG gone) and let my skirt fall back down as I bent over to pick up the egg. It was in perfect unharmed condition other than dog drool..not even a hairline crack (duck egg shells are very thick, luckily for her).

So, Winnie is my duck egg thief, and I very much wanted to load her up for a long drive to a cemetery somewhere. Oooh that dog.

And then..there are days like today, when I realize what an asset to the farm Winnie is:

Something bad was hiding in the bean field this morning. The beans have not been harvested yet, so it is a perfect "blind" for any predators wanting to stalk my chickens. And something was out there.

Whatever it was attempted an attack on a hen and all four dogs sounded off. I came flying out of the house. Winnie and Truffle, screaming, charged out in the same direction towards the field. The rooster let out a squawk of "imminent danger" and the chickens and ducks scurried out from the garden, the farm fields, the pasture, the woods, and back to the safety of the henhouse under Zero's protective nose. The goats bunched up together in a tight bundle and layed low.

I don't know if whatever it was actually nabbed my hen succesfully, I didn't have time to stop and make a head count..but the dogs were on it, and Winnie was in a fury of attack mode. She became a ferocious wonder, hackles raised, baying and screaming, teeth bared and snappy. Truffle had her back, and I ran full speed to release Polar from her tether, then as she took out I shouted and hollered across the fields to the stalker "GET OUTTA HERE!!!!! HAAAAHH!!!! GET OUT!!!"

It was a crazy 3 minutes of shouting, hunting, baying, barking, confusion, which direction did it go? But among all, Winnie was intense in leading the hunt. Like my intolerance to an egg thief, she doesn't take well to anything stealing our hens or ducks, she just can't tolerate it. She takes it very personally.

Even an hour later, things are not quite settled down. The chickens are still a bit uneasy, using extreme caution to venture even a few feet from Zero and the henhouse. Winnie and Truffle are back at their command posts as is Polar, and they are keeping watch. I did take a head count and it 'seemed" all heads were accounted for, even my four banty hens.

So, as irritating as little five pound Winnie can be on some days, she has a job here, and she is worth every ounce of her kibble.

Truffle on the other hand...well...he'll be a whole 'nother blog someday. Oy.

Lots of clucking going on..

Dusty, softly gazing out the window at the autumn rain, suddenly exclaims in his 5 year old voice, "Heeyy!! The rooster jumped ontop of one of the chickens!! They're fighting!!"

;)

Reflection....

...of all of the growing things above, beside, and below me, and to bid them a fond farewell as the prairie and hills begin to nod off into an early autumn slumber.

Reflection...of all that is great and wonderous in this mystical universe. Of all of the things gifted to me in this life. Of all of the beautiful souls that I have been blessed to cross paths with, and those who have taken my hand and guided me with their wisdom, then sent me onward to study that wisdom within my own heart, thus allowing me to salt and pepper it into my own magic.

...Daydreaming of all of the beautiful mysteries and wonderment of this life yet to drift in my direction, and of all things destined to be accomplished by me, even if it only matters in the eyes of my darling wee babes...and that is worth every ounce of my being.



(reflecting in the garden...and no I am not peeing, although I have done so on many occasion...just sayin')



"I fairly sizzle with zeal and enthusiasm and spring forth with a mighty faith to do the things that ought to be done by me." Charles Fillmore

"I'll take the best offer..."

..the ad read about the Jersey milk cow being advertised. The ad said she was only about 2 years old, but may have a sight problem as she tends to "run into things".

Oh that's not a problem....I thought as I was reading it. I'm a bleeding heart for things not quite perfect. Really, it seems most anything must be slightly awry before the Universe sends it my way.

What got me was the ad was local, not the usual 25 to 50 mile distances that I have been seeing for these dairy cows.

I saw the ad come up online, but it was late into the evening, and even though there was a phone number listed, I didn't want to call someone that late. So.. I sent the e-mail and went to bed.

This morning there was a reply in my inbox from the seller with directions and two phone numbers! Her name was in her e-mail address...and for some reason, her name seemed so familiar to me. I was trying to place her name in my brain to see if she was perhaps a client of mine somewhere in years past. I couldn't quite place it.

Aside from the feelings of familiarity, I was a little hesitant on how to react to this e-mail, because deep down...I KNEW I really didn't have the extra money to spare on a dairy cow, especially with Christmas coming up..Halloween costumes to get...Thanksgiving groceries to buy...etc etc. As bad as I have been wanting one, the timing couldn't have been worse, and I felt myself regretting wasting this lady's time.

On the other hand...she DID say "best offer" in her ad, so I thought hhmmm... perhaps I could just go and look (which would temporarily satisfy my urge to be near a dairy cow and talk homesteading with someone)...then I could tell her to let me know what offers she gets in and then I could tell her "thank you but it's out of my price range". Yup, it was all planned out!

After a confirmation call with the lady, I was on my way down the road to see this cow. The entire way I was thinking to myself "Rachael, I know you....you are going love this cow and then you are going to come home and start thinking of ALL the things you can sell to buy this animal...yup...you're thinking it now....'What can I put on Ebay?'"

And ya know what? I wasn't lying! I WAS thinking of all the things I could scrape together to sell for some money. Ugh..I know myself too well, and I hadn't even set eyes on this cow yet (Isabelle has some baby clothes I could auction, and those candle molds I don't like, and maybe those back issues of Countryside magazines I have acquired over the years)..

10 minutes later I am pulling off the rural highway and going down a pot-holed driveway. I was met by the worlds friendliest but most obnoxious barker of a Bassett Hound that let the entire farm know...THERE WAS SOMEONE HERE.

I got out and the hound escorted me, barking the entire way, to the front door of the little white ranch style house. I knocked and moments later an older farm gal answered the door and stepped out. She had such a pleasant and humble aire about her, but I didn't KNOW her like I thought perhaps I did. No, I had never seen her before in my life...yet she still felt familar to me. Some sort of connection was happening and the hairs on my arm lifted slightly.

We greeted, and she led me down to the pasture where the heifer was at, while the obnoxious Bassett chased a tormented tuxedo mama cat under the branches of a cedar tree. "Your hound has ADHD." I joked and to which the lady heartily agreed.

We reached the pasture.

"Little cow!" she called out, and out of the tallgrass and weeds, all by her sweet lonesome, came the littlest Jersey girl up to the call of her name.



By first glance I could tell she was not quite 100% Jersey, but plenty enough to be called so and worthy of a family milk cow! She was just a darling thing, and the lady was right..she did sort of act like she couldn't see all that well. There was nothing superficial on either of the eyes, although one eye looked slightly sunk in compared to the other. Whatever it was...it did not affect her having an amazingly friendly personality, nor did I believe it would it affect her milk in the future.

"I bought her at an auction a year ago",the lady explained, "and she was like that then and has just always been that way."

The lady and I discussed not just the cow, but our families and her grandchildren, and "kids these days", and growing things, and cheese making, and canning, and herbs...and after awhile I was so consumed in conversation that I had nearly forgotten about the little cow!

My heart sank a bit..knowing I couldn't afford her anyway, and I felt rather guilty taking up so much of this wonderful lady's time. It was time to "get to it" and get back to the business at hand.

"Well," I stammered. "Have you gotten other e-mails on her?"

She dropped her arms and shoulders "I can't even tell you how many!" She laughed with an exasperation.

This was bittersweet news, since she did say she would take the best offer, and I didn't have much to offer anyway. Infact, I didn't offer anything. "Why don't you just let me know who gives you their best offer and I'll see after that if I can afford her.."

She stood in silence for a moment, looking at her dear little cow whom she had raised from a calf. She scratched her chin a bit, much like an Irish farmer would scratch his whsikers while contemplating a counter offer on the sale of a plow horse.

"You know...", she said. "I'd just be happy if you traded me in milk next year."

Huh??!! I couldn't process the words that came out of her mouth! Was I hearing this correctly?? No, not possible. Huh??!!

"I LOVE raw cows milk, nothin' better," she says. "You give me raw milk here and again from her...and you can have her."

It took several minutes for this to fully sink in, but when it did...I couldn't choke back the tears, they just fell on their own. I hugged her, and was speechless, but I was able to mutter a very grateful and teary "Yes!!"

After leaving the pasture, we continued to visit and walk her property. She showed me the blackberry bushes that were growing like crazy. "I'll get you started with some if you want them." she offered pleasantly.

We then went to her herb garden by her back deck and she ever so gently bent down and snipped off a lovely sprig of lavendar and handed it to me. "I love lavendar in so many things," she added as I sniffed the fresh sprig. The smell was so intoxicating that it recorded the entire memory of the day into the scent of lavendar.

It was then that I started to sense the likeness and presence of Tasha Tudor, and the hairs on my arms raised slightly, just as it had when I had first met her. She looked nothing like Tasha, and not ready for her crone days either. She was a younger grandmother.

By the end of the visit, she had invited me to make cheese with her in the spring, and I offered to provide the goat milk!

I cried all the way home, and have since returned while the lady was at work (she gave me permission) to take photo's of our new precious little cow (who we'll be bringing home Monday)...and to leave a jar of fresh raw honey on the lady's doorstep.

Our new baby! A name is forming in the Universe....you will have to wait a bit...




A great dairy cow build..




Love our girl..

A wild and windy day...

...put the horses in a frisky mood! They galloped and bucked, and the only picture I could get was when they came to the water trough to get a drink, and only then could I get Luna and Hannah Sue in the frame. Luna seems to be telling Hannah "I drink first, young'un!"



Afterwards they went trotting back through the woods to the top field for more frolick and fun!

It is so refreshing to see dear Luna able to run again. She overcame such a frightful injury, and I still thank my lucky stars for all who sent healing energy and prayers to her! She is a happy horse once again!

"When I was your age....

....we didn't watch tv or play video games. We played outside, in the woods, read things called 'books', and used our imaginations. Can you show me your imagination?" -Dusty, my son in 55 years, speaking to his grandchildren.