A New Day

Today is....February 27, 2012. I've written about 500 essays in my head, none here, none in a note book, none in any medium. Why or why not? If I had the answer to that question, I'd be so far ahead of the game...ick, another cliche. Anyway - it's almost planting season and there is a lot to do this year. We are leasing land to a local CSA operator and looking forward to the connection. This is a prep year which means we will be doing plenty of backbreaking land work - bush hogging - or is it brush hogging? Whichever one it is, there is a lot of land that needs clearing so JR can get a ground cover planted and then be ready to produce the produce next year. He also plans on having some animals for grazing which is fine by us. We plan to add to the menagerie as well in the near future. Aside from the cow, horses, and chickens we hope to have a couple of sheep and maybe even 2 donkeys join the farm crew. And then the very special addition of Zeus - a young Freisian who is currently being trained to both pull a carriage and take a saddle. He is very big and handsome and we plan on offering carriage rides as part of the farm endeavor. Everything is moving along but a steady inflow of capital would be helpful. I've tried to bring some money in through some part time work and as part of a networking market effort but not sure it's the way to go. What I have discovered is that I want to be here on the farm, making the improvements, tending to the animals and being present and focused on the task at hand. Having too many things to deal with tends to make me unproductive. We did discuss a short term plan for me to find some way to produce income but the amount of time and work it will take to do that seems counterproductive.

The duck returned last week. I am not sure what happened to its partner but it showed up again after having left the farm last fall. Sometime in spring, Mr & Mrs Duck arrived - quite loudly announcing their presence. At first we enjoyed having them join us all but they proved to be quite rude. They took great delight in chasing the chickens around - acting as feathered terrorists to the residents of Rooster Haven. It's not the first time I've seen animals treat each other so shabbily. The horses chase the cow away from the hay, one chicken will face off with another, the pigs - when they were here had no reservations about snacking on the feathered neighbors who made their way into the pig pen. Yes, I'm saying what you think I am saying. We lost a couple of chickens to the swine who had no problem dining on the misguided birds. Chicken wings, legs, breast - the whole kit and caboodle - or should I say the WHOLE BIRD. All that was left after these unexpected feasts were some feathers and a rather beat looking carcass. And you can be sure that the 3 little pigs felt no regret or sorrow for their actions. They are pigs - that's what they do. I was upset mainly because I love my birds and didn't want to lose them prematurely. Of course the resident red tale hawk also needs to be watched out for as he too - or could be she - hangs around waiting to snatch it's snack from the ground. Talk about a take out meal.
I say all this to make the point that as much as we try to ascribe human traits to our furry, feathered or finned friends - they just won't cooperate. There are in fact animals who do share some of the traits we recognize and name as human but overall, they run on instinct. Do my dogs know when I'm sad? Absolutely. Or perhaps I should say they are aware of a change in my demeanor or presentation. But that awareness didn't keep my beloved Caleb from biting me when I didn't get out of the way of a dog fight he was engaged in with our other dog, Tobias. His intent wasn't to hurt or injure me but that is what happened. I did not get out of the way and as a result needed stitches for a what was a very deep bite. Thank God the officers, police and animal control came but handled the situation with restraint and caution. Neither dog had to be shot but in the end, Tobias succumbed to his injuries. Had he just left Caleb alone, he would still be here, making us laugh. And the point I hope that people can take from this is that while we have been given the responsibility to care for our animals, to see that they don't suffer and to enhance the world that we all live in, we cannot say that they are just like us...or that we should live like them. Unlike the world of animals, we do have a choice as to how we will live out this responsibility...and some of us may in fact decide that there is no reasonable case to be made for eating them. I can go along with that. But to say that they can teach us how to live peacefully and without harm is ignoring the fact that they are controlled by a brain that does not have the advanced capabilities for reasoning that we do. Again, I'm not saying that this doesn't occur at some level, with SOME animals, but not enough to justify saying that animals are somehow better than people. Certainly, as people we fall short of maintaining our responsilbity to the whole of creation by the choices we make. But after living on the farm and seeing on a daily basis how animals do live, I believe that there are better arguments to be made for how humans should live, other than that of saying that animals never hurt anything intentionally. Oh, and as far as the duck is concerned, the rest of the animals seem to have become a bit more assertive in their response to the duck. S/He isn't getting away any longer with just chasing the birds around. Jerzee - our NJ cat - has become protective of "his" birds and he will run the duck off when he can. The rest of us also keep an eye out for the duck and as long as he remains courteous and keeps to himself if he can't hang out nicely with the rest of the gang.