Springtime

The new kids have arrived for this season. I've gotten seven rows in the garden, and a new lease on life. This has been one of those weeks, how shall I put it. It was the best of times and the worst of times. Actually the "worst of times" weren't all so terrible, as in not life threatening or anything, just the need for endurance was nearly excruciating. The reality of reality actually set in. I'm living on a working small farm. I've started two businesses and more folks are getting on to this idea of living. And others are now talking of "a community type lifestyle." I was talking with my daughter about their plans to engage in living off the land and as we spoke, our spirits just rose. It's exhilarating to even think about! G-d has a plan for each of us and it's much simpler than we've been making it, so rather than fuss and sputter about what we want G-d to do for us, we ask G-d for HIS perspective. What a wealth of splendor unfolds and falls from the windows of heaven. We received not one, but two bucks from one of our meat goats, which sort of makes me think, we'll be needing more meat on the place, and that makes me think there'll be more folks here. Then of all things, G-d caused the most quantitative milker on the place, to bear my birthday gift. She had a beautiful buck, that I plan to make the new herd sire. Now, there's more to this story than just young livestock arriving on my birthday. To be honest, that happens fairly frequently, since my birthday is in the first week of March, but this time was different. I had sadly taken a young nanny to the auction just days before this young buck arrived. This nanny showed so much potential when I'd bought her last year, but she never kidded and I just felt the tug that it was time to let it go. I'd so wanted her to produce offspring of her coloring, a sort of mottled grey, just beautiful with dark stripes on her face, but alas, after a year she produced nothing and wasn't particularly friendly, either. I also reluctantly took both mature bucks to the auction. Now, my reluctance wasn't against the plan, but rather, I had gotten rather attached to these two guys, but since it was time to keep the young nannies they had sired, they had to go. Here is the way it has all unfolded, now, that I've done what I was supposed to do in preparation. The young buck that arrived on my birthday had the coloring of the nanny I sold, and to make matters even more rewarding, even if the young nanny had produced any offspring, it would have only been 3 at the very most. Now, this young buck on the other hand, can sire a dozen young kids next year. So not only will the herd carry the grey mottled genetics, he will pass along that quantitative milk gene, as well. G-d has blessed the preservation . . .

And thou shalt have goats' milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance for thy maidens. a Proverb of Holy Scripture

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