Work, Work, Work...and rain...

This week has been full of lovely weather...cool and in the low 60's F each and every day, rain, overcast, drizzly... Did I mention we've had lots of lovely rain? Cool, refreshing, gentle, rain that is glorious in its comfort and healing.

"The richness of the rain made me feel safe and protected; I have always considered the rain to be healing -- a blanket -- the comfort of a friend. Without at least some rain in any given day, or at least a cloud or two on the horizon, I feel overwhelmed by the information of sunlight and yearn for the vital, muffling gift of falling water." 

~ Douglas Copeland, Life After God ~ 

Roger Miller said, "Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet." Ain't it the truth!

Do you walk in the rain? Long strolls, sans umbrella, perhaps wearing a hat because it keeps your glasses from being streaked but smelling the rain as it washes the earth of dust, looking for the rainbow because, as Dolly Parton said, "If you want the rainbow, you've got to put up with a little rain."

One more poem before I talk about my calves.

"At night I dream that you and I are two plants

that grew together, roots entwined,

and that you know the earth and the rain like my mouth,

since we are made of earth and rain."

~ Pablo Neruda, Regalo De Un Poeta/Gift of a Poet ~

I am healing but, but... but.

I'm putting in 12 to 14 hour days; beginning at dawn with devotions...how I need those!... then heading to the pastures to chop thistle and, in the heat of the day, paperwork dealing with the estate and other matters. All that to say, once my day has "ended", I'm too exhausted to get on the computer; thus, no visiting around Blogland nor updating my own. Ah, winter...time to do only what's absolutely necessary and then back to the warmth of the farm house!

Today, it rained this afternoon, after we worked the calves in the morning. For the first time since Dave and I established Thistle Cove Farm, I'm raising calves. Eight black Angus and two red Angus with the eight, eventually, going to market and the two being raised for folks who want clean meat. 

The calves have been on pasture since 13 March and have put on about two pounds a day. That's pretty amazing for grass fed calves! I'm going to finish the two red Angus on pasture and grain and will sell them by the quarter, keeping one quarter for my own freezer and, hopefully, having a couple of rugs to sell. This is a new venture for me but as I've learned more and more about food, iow meat, production I can't say I'm excited about buying my meat at any grocery store. Food, Inc. is the movie that changed the way a lot of people look at food production and while I've never seen it, I have been in a few poultry houses and seen, first hand, those conditions. Fast Food Nation is another movie that's bound to scare the socks off you and, possibly, change the way you eat.

I was raised on clean food...Daddy has had a garden since the mid 1960's, he would cure his own hams, Mom and I would spend days canning and freezing in the summer so we'd have food in the winter. It took me a long time to figure out what all the fuss was about... folks talking about buying local, etc. Heck, for us "local" was walking outside and pulling corn off the stalk, taking the salt shaker to the garden, rubbing the dirt off the tomato and eating it warm and slightly...okay, very salty...while juice dripped off my chin. When I found out everyone didn't eat like that, I was amazed! 

If you're interested in buying a quarter and are within driving distance...I'll drive three hundred miles to deliver...let me know. I'm taking orders now and already have one calf, tentatively, sold. Apparently, clean food is important to a lot of people. Is it to you?

Blessings ~ rain ~ poetry ~ calves ~ clean food ~ work ~