Sometimes, on busy days in busy weeks, when there’s too much to do and too much bad news, it’s soothing to just pull off the road and take a moment to look at the sky. Focus first on the large, cottony clouds as they drift across the blue background, reshaping themselves into new forms.    Follow
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After spending five months together in the womb, the twins are accustomed to togetherness. They stand together, move in tandem, and are rarely more than a foot or two apart when they’re out in the big, wide world. They’re a bit more independent in the comfortable safety of the barn.  Out in grazing pen in
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The wild strawberries are in full bloom in the pastures and forest fringes.  I’m finding them in places I haven’t noticed them before.  The patches I watch each year seem larger, and I’m hopeful that this year I’ll be able to gather enough wild strawberries for a batch of jam.  Of course, I hope that
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Yesterday might have been my last morel hunt of the season — or more precisely, the last productive one.  I found some, though all but two were so far past their prime that I left them out in the woods.  In my youth, when my vision was sharper, and I was agile enough to bend
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The mamas here at the farm have been busily adding to the livestock numbers.   Nona, a very shy ewe, presented us with twin lambs.  She’s a first-time mother, but managed the birth and cleanup duties quite well.  The trouble came later as her udder filled with milk. At the end of the first day, she had much more milk
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In case you haven’t heard, today is Earth Day 2010.  The first organized Earth Day celebration was forty years ago on April 22, 1970.  I was in elementary school then, and really don’t remember hearing about it.  The politics of conservation weren’t much on my mind back then.  I was more concerned about kittens, spelling tests,
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The three goslings escaped through the gap under the barn stall door.  That shouldn’t have been a surprise.  They are, essentially, toddlers.  I’ve yet to meet a toddler that doesn’t delight in slipping free of the grownups, giggling and racing away as fast as their little legs will carry them.  Why should goslings be any different? The frantic honking of
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I’m back from a rare weekend spent away from family and the farm, and with one more full night of sleep, I might be recovered.  Each April, I journey north for a weekend writer’s retreat, and it is one of the highlights of my spring.  As much as I love my life here on the farm, sometimes I crave the
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Everywhere I turn, there’s a nesting bird.  One of my favorite ducks chose a corner of the duck pen. She gathered hay from the sheep pen next door, added some downy soft feathers, and piled it all high near the spot where the other ducks lay their daily eggs.  I suppose she appreciates having company
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Early spring vegetables are one of my favorite things about the season.  A panful of cooked greens with some bacon is all I need for a meal some days. Whenever I can, I gather new onions, some carrots, and whatever greens are ready in the garden or greenhouse.  Here I have spinach and collards from indoors
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