Barns on Hillsides

We've lived here at High Meadow Farm for 19 years and how quickly that time has flown! It's been long enough now that when I look about our land, I see many memories and hear many stories. Children were raised here and now grandchildren come. Our children's friends that came now come with their own children, taking riding lessons on the same pony that my children rode. What a blessing to my soul!

Our farm is only 10 acres and is evenly split; 5 acres of flat land in front, and 5 acres that consist of a hill in back. Our home sits down on the 5 flat acres, along with paddocks, kennels, gardens and a tiny orchard. The horse barn and pasture sit on the hillside. Originally, about 100 years ago, the barn was a dairy barn. About 25-30 years ago, horse-owning residents did some remodeling to make the barn horse-friendly, and we've done more redmodeling over the years, too. It's a pretty cool barn all-in-all, but having barn and pasture on a hill is a continual battle against the effects of nature.

As has happened many times, we had a hum-dinger of a storm roll through a few days ago dumping a few inches of rain in a short period of time. The gravel lane rutted out - again - washes were evident in the barn and pasture - again. And again we have to go back to work to restore the damage. Not that we didn't work hard to prevent the damage in the first place! It seems we are constantly striving to maintain a barn and pasture on a hillside!Another big storm is predicted for this evening, so this morning I was busy doing all that I could to prevent further washouts. As I was lugging rock around, it occurred to me that it will be the land that wins in the end. It will be the forces of nature that win in the end. Despite all our work, we cannot make nature take another course.

It brought to mind the words of God to Job, who had questioned God's justice and goodness. In various places in the book of Job, God said, "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?" (38:4) "...who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb?" (38:8) "Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place?" (38:12) "Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?" (38:16) "Where is the way to the dwelling of light?" (38:19) Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail?" (38:22) "Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt?" (38:25)

Towards the end of the questioning, God asks Job, "Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it." (40:2) And Job answer Him later, "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted."

And we toil on, working hard to live within the forces of nature, but never able to fully tame her. So how is it that so many believe that what we do in our daily lives will kill the planet? Should we be good stewards of God's good earth? Yes! Christians should be the first to proclaim it, but do we really think that mankind can cause the glaciers to melt and the oceans to rise? We think far too highly of ourselves when we do, and we ignore example after example that we are not the ones in charge of natural forces. Too many earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, floods, tornadoes, blizzards, and on and on tell us that we are small indeed.

And yet God invites us to Himself. He establishes us and gives us a hand in the glory of creation. We see this in what the Psalmist has written:

"When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place,

what is man that you are mindful of him,

and the son of man that you care for him?

Yet you have made him a little lower

than the heavenly beings

and crowned him with glory and honor.

You have given him dominion

over the work of your hands;

you have put all things under his feet ...

O LORD, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!" (Ps.8:3-6, 9)

So we will keep working to make our own little garden a glory to God and a haven for man. But in the end the land will win, and all of it - including us - go back to Him who gave it.

Bird Observances - Three Stories

We began with twelve Guinea Fowl last summer and here in February are left with only two. I expected to lose a few to hawks and owls, but I think I've lost them mostly to their own lack of intelligence. A Guinea's head is quite small compared to it's body, hence it's brain is even smaller; about pea-sized would be my guess. Perhaps this is how the Pea-Fowl family earned it's name!

We have thick pine trees and shrubbery here for the Guineas to roost in, but they chose to roost atop an old basketball goal by the Little Barn, effectively transforming the flock into a Guinea-popsicle for any resident owls. Their number began to dwindle quickly. They moved their night roost to our roof. Same result. Finally we were down to four, they began to roost in a tree, and the attrition rate seemed to stabilize. That is until two of them, on two different occasions, decided for some odd reason to fly into the dog run where Labs were being boarded. Those Labs now think that High Meadow Kennels has greatly improved it's offering of doggie-fun! So then we were down to the two lone survivors.

We've put in a dog park, and yesterday a young, huge German Shepherd was romping in there. One of the Guineas decided to check it out and flew up on the gate to peer down at the dog who loved the idea of a toy coming his way! I knew if I ran over there to try and rescue the dumb bird he would fly right down into waiting jaws, so I began calling him with the dinner-time call - "chick, chick, chick". He turned to look towards me and began to clumsily turn himself around on the top of the gate. It was a precarious few moments, but he made his turn, hopped down and ran over for some feed. Whew! Dumb bird.

We've been luckier with chicken-attrition and have five out of six left. When we got them, the idea was to let them free-range all over our acreage and in the adjoining woods. But where did they choose to go? To the flower and veggie beds! You wouldn't believe how quickly a chicken can de-mulch entire flower beds. So we built a chicken yard to contain the girls - they can roam around and my beds stay mulched.

Then they discovered they could fly out since we hadn't built a roof, so I began clipping wings. Every time one escaped they got a nice little haircut. One of them, a redhead named Lucy, continued to fly out despite all configurations of wing-clipping, and I was getting really perplexed as to what to do about it. I'd clipped her wings so much that I'd was down to the quick and could see it hurt her. What to do???

Having a pilot for a husband pays off. As I considered the little knowledge about flying that I'd learned from him, I remembered that it takes more than two wings to fly - it takes a tail, too! So, off came her tail feathers and she hasn't flown out since! Now I occasionally call her Baldy as well as Lucy.

And finally, a story about one of the most beautiful bird behaviors I've ever seen. In fact, I'd never witnessed this before. It was a rare mild winter day that Saturday, and John and I were out working. I was going up the hill to the horse barn and heard the oddest noise. I knew it was some type of bird-calling, but could only guess that it was the Guineas down below. It was a calling, a chattering-type of sound that I'd never heard before.

Then I saw it. A flock of geese very high in flight, and they were heading east. Now I've heard countless flocks of geese honking as they flew over - it's loud and carries a good distance, but this was something totally different, something chattery. As I stood watching and listening I began to hear it again, somewhere else, very far and faint in the distance. At that same moment, the flock that I was watching heard it, too, and suddenly wheeled their flight north. Then again I saw it.

Another flock, so far up I could barely see it, was heading north and making that chattering call. As soon as the east-bound flock wheeled towards them, the north-bound flock found a thermal and began circling and circling. Not until the formerly east-bound flock joined them in the thermal did they continue flying north, both flocks together. It was amazing to watch and I was thankful to have seen the beauty found in migrating geese.

Ahh-ctober!

The month of October certainly had it's challenges for us this year, and I suppose we could say it was another opportunity for character-building; but it also had lots of blessings both large and small. As a child you may have been reminded to count your blessings instead of complaining, so that's exactly what I'm doing here, and this is only a fraction of the myriad of blessings that the Father sent our way. More accurately, these are the only ones I took photos of!

In early October the World Equestrian Games were taking place at the International Horse Park in Lexington, KY, and some of the vaulting teams were here in Franklin spending time acclimating and practicing for their competitions. At the conclusion of their practice time, and just before leaving for KY, the teams held a couple of rehearsals that were open to the public, so I and a few friends went to watch. Among teams representing other countries, the U.S. Team was also performing and we thought they, of course, were the best. As it turns out they won the Vaulting competition in KY, so they really were the best! It was incredible watching what these people (kids) do on horseback! Here's one photo of the U.S. Team at work - they were the only team we saw that involved 3 vaulters. For more amazing photos, go to the album on my Facebook page.

October was also a challenge for daughters, Kristin and Kelly, and for their sons because the men-of-the-house were out doing field-exercises for the entire month. The girls managed well and kept the rest of us supplied with photos of the little men-of-the-house. Here are Gilbert and Patrick in the doorway of their new German home.

Gilbert has found a berry bush in his new backyard and ended up with very purple hands!

What better way to use packing boxes?! Here we have Mr. Patrick-in-a-box.

Meanwhile, back in the States, Omari has learned a new trick - pulling up! (Look out, World!) Can't you just see the look of accomplishment on his face?

I love this photo! Little O, the Talking Lion, is putting every ounce of strength into making the climb!

October also brought frost and it was time to get the last of the herbs in. It's a time-consuming job to harvest, wash, separate, and dry, but I just love it. The aroma of fresh herbs in the house is wonderful. My little bread rack serves as a great place to hang herbs, and even with the space the rack offers, herbs end up hanging pretty much anywhere I can find to hang them that's not in the way.

A close up of Thyme, Sage and Marjoram.

October also brought some severe weather, and after one of the storms I found this tiny nest that had blown down. A Chickadee nest perhaps? It was made with grass, pine needles, haystring, and horsehair. Next to it is a little bunch of Winter Savory.

The beautiful sunflowers with the neon green centers had dried and left the most wonderful seed-heads. I wanted to bring them into the house (and did) but when we started coughing, I discovered that they had mold on them. Oh well. They are serving duty in the bird feeder now as really cool-looking bird food. Next to them are the Osage Oranges, or Horse Apples, that fall from the Osage trees in autumn. They make great indoor decor and give off a pleasant citrus-y smell.

And, finally, one of the best things about Autumn is the crisp nights and warm days. Here we have Max and Ladybug enjoying it to the fullest. Who says a dog's life is so hard?

The Well Ran Dry (And Our Cup Ran Over)

No, I'm not trying my hand at becoming a country music song-writer although the title of this posting might imply it. And goodness knows, we have song-writers everywhere you turn out here in our part of the country! There's no need for me to add to the bunch. One thing about country music, though, it talks pretty much about real life, and our own personal real-life could've been in a country song last week.

Next month will be the 2-year anniversary of Beau's birth and death, 18 months since John lost his job, all followed by just a whole string of profound events - lots of them disappointing. It's been a long haul lately. Then last week our well went dry.

No water, no income to speak of .... we felt like we'd been sucker-punched again. "God, don't you remember us down here? We're having a tough time - we need a break." So, we had ourselves a pity-party and figuratively cried in our beer. This is a country-music song, remember. Well, all this happened on a Friday night and the well-drilling guys who'd diagnosed the problem couldn't get back to us until Tuesday, so .... what to do? Horses drink a lot of water, we had our own dogs plus boarders, and of course, ourselves to consider. It just seemed overwhelming. Not to mention that we were told that most likely we were looking at a few thousand dollars of work. It might as well have been millions.

I put out an SOS for the horses's water and heard back from various folks, and as word leaked out amongst our friends, offers for places to stay started coming in. Art and Andrea said we could come get water from their farm, but before we could load up on Saturday morning to go get water, here they came with a flatbed trailer loaded with a 100-gal. trough and every plastic trunk they had filled with water! Our two empty 100-gallon troughs were both filled up! As we breathed a sigh of thankful relief, more offers of aid continued to come in - friends to stay with, farms to take the horses to if we needed - we were overwhelmed again, but this time with thankfulness.

So, during the course of spending the nights with friends, reassurances of care and concern came from every corner, joining us in prayer for the situation. We were seeing that God DID care, He DID see, HE DID know, and He cared for us, loved us, and provided for us through our friends. And not only did He provide for our needs, He put the cherry on top! A dear friend made it possible for me to have several pieces of clothing that I had admired. Someone anonymously had left a gift certificate for me to use at the hair-dresser. These were things that I surely didn't need, they weren't critical for our livelihood - and yet God in His unexplainable kindness said, "Here, I'd like you to have this today."

Oh, we have learned such a lesson through that dry well! Psalm 107:35 says, "He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water." In our need He showed us plenty. In our scarcity He showed us abundance. In our poverty He showed us wealth, and we were overwhelmed with His goodness. But, that wasn't all!

On Tuesday morning, the drilling guys showed up and went to work. Within an hour they were pulling up stakes and ready to go. "It wasn't dry after all," they told me. "Since it's been so dry, the water table's dropped and there wasn't enough water to force out some mud that had gotten in and sealed off the well. We just cleared it out and you're good."

No new well needed after all! Not even deeper drilling of our current well! What was going to be thousands of dollars had just dropped to a few hundred! God had answered our prayers abundantly. Our cup had runneth over all because of a dry well.

This is the drilling rig going to work.

Here's a rear view of it. Can you see that there's water underneath?!

It's hard to tell in the photo, but there's the slurry of mud that had sealed off the well. It looked like wet cement. See the running water at the top of the photo? Once that mud was gone, the water just flowed!

Here's the water coming up out of the well on it's own accord.

Again, it's hard to see, but that's a nice stream of water flowing down the right-hand side of the lane. Thanks be to God!

A Fowl Lesson, or What I Learned From Chickens

We board dogs. And cats. And this year, college students. Oh yes, and horses. The little endeavor has been successful, but this year handed us a challenge we hadn't met before - fleas. You'd think with all the animals around here that would have been a problem long ago, but it wasn't until this summer that we got hit by fleas - and that's not good for business.

Since I'm an organic, all-things-natural freak, I just refused to go the usual pesticide route and decided it was time to get some flea-and-tick-eating-machines - Guinea Fowl.

The Guineas are really good at their job, but not only that - they're very entertaining. Since I raised them from chicks, I am - apparently - Mama, and when I step outside they come running and flapping and squawking. It's hysterical. I told John I now have an official fan club.

One day, the Mockingbirds decided that they'd had enough of the new neighbors, and undertook a day-long battle against the Guineas. They played the part of attack aircraft and dive-bombers while the Guineas played the part of the tanks. The Guineas ended up with a lot of feathers out of place, but their steadfastness won the day and the Mockingbirds conceded defeat.

Here's a photo of "The Yard Patrol."Of course, now that we had one kind of fowl roaming around, there's no reason not to have chickens, right? I've always wanted chickens, so why not? So I went to the shopping source of anything-you-want (a.k.a. Craigslist) and found someone who builds Chicken Arks. Chicken Whats? Arks - you know, something that's carried around with pole-like handles. Not like Noah's. This particular ark is an English design and is really pretty clever. Google it and you'll probably find some plans. This design allows for free-ranging the birds on grass without the danger of predators. Every 2 - 4 days you move it to another spot - the chickens have eaten bugs, aerated the grass and fertilized it as well. AND you get eggs!I found my chickens on good ol' Craigslist, too. They were on a farm not far away, and the farmer and I had some good exercise chasing chickens for awhile. Older farmers around here are just wonderful. They're weather-beaten and gnarled and kind as anything. They love to tell stories about the land and their animals, and I love to listen. So, Mr. Mayhew told me all I needed to know about chickens, and I went home with 3 Red Stars and 3 Black Sex-links (which are a cross between a leghorn ("leggern") and something else he didn't remember.Here are a couple of Red Stars eyeing the iPhone.

These are young chickens - pullets - that have just begun to lay, and I was told it may take them a week to settle down after their truck ride home before they began laying again. But, apparently they liked their new digs and we had our first egg in just 2 days! It was as much fun as Easter egg hunting to find that egg!The Guineas ("The Guys") and the hens ("The Girls") make good neighbors for each other and it really is pleasant for us to watch the birds - kind of like watching cows, I guess - it's good for your blood pressure.

It's also good as a reminder of my relationship with the Lord. And how - you may ask - how could silly, simple birds teach me something about myself and my Creator? Easy. This morning I accidently missed the latch on one of the Chicken Ark doors and several minutes later out flew all the chickens! Chickens and Guineas were everywhere and I thought, dear Lord, what am I going to do? Well, I didn't have to think for long because as soon as they spotted me about 100 feet away, they all came running and squawking straight for me! Despite the fact that the chickens were suddenly in the great unknown, they spotted what they did know and came running. I'm quite sure that it had to do with the fact that I feed them, but nevertheless they came running. It ended up being no problem getting them back in the Ark - just throw some food in and voila! chickens are safely home. And it immediately make me think ...

When I am suddenly thrust outside my safe circumstances and everything becomes strange and frightening, do I look for the Father and run lickety-split straight to Him? Often not. Many times I fall prey to the predator of self-sufficiency, thinking that I can take care of everything all by myself. I'm strong and able, right? No, I'm more like a chicken just running around aimlessly and not seeing the big picture. I just THINK I can manage it all.

Jesus tells us to come to Him. His yoke is easy, his burden light. (Matthew 11: 28-29) He is peace and strength and rest and provision. It's not up to me anyway - it never was. I don't have to exhaust myself by trying to figure it all out - I have only to run to Him who loves me and cares for me.

"... who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began..." 2 Timothy 1: 9

So it is that God reveals Himself to us and speaks comfort to us through His Word and through His creation - even chickens.

Garden Gems

Don't you just love summer fruits? I do, especially berries; they're like little candy jewels from the garden. Mine are just baby berry plants yet, but they yielded a sweet handful. It'll be wonderful when they mature! The Blackberry, though the same age as the Raspberry, has just taken off and is loaded with green fruit. They do very well around here, and I'd better get some bird-netting over it!

Lately on the Farm

Beauty or beast? Or both? I found this fungus growing near a fence line nestled in a bed of Poison Ivy and Virginia Creeper. It measures about 8 inches across and was really quite beautiful. My good camera (with it's good lens) is out of commission right now, so I couldn't get a good close up of this pretty growth.

Another angle showing it's spiral-like structure.Cooper is taking his evening water cooler break and asks if you'd like to see our fancy new hose-holder.This is the redneck version of one of those fancy hose holders. It cost a lot less than the ones advertised in "Front Gate" and works just as well. This is Tennessee, you know. But .... as the song says, "A country boy can survive."Cooper poses with our entire back field watering system. The horses seem to appreciate it, but you won't find it in "Dressage Today" or any such respectable magazine. Probably not even on Craigslist.

Turning now from the watering system, let's go and see how the garden grows. I'm trying mulching this year, and have chosen two different kinds to see what I like best. (Gardening is one big experiment, you know.) The tomato bed is mulched with black, water-permeable fabric, and everything else with straw. When I put down the straw I thought that I will end up either patting myself on the back, or kicking my own backside. As it turns out, I'm doing both - kicking myself for the abundant crop of straw grass that began growing, and congratulating myself because it was incredibly easy getting that grass up and the straw is really keeping the weeds down. Of course, the fabric mat is really the cat's meow.... once you get those holes for the plants cut just right. The drawback to mats is that you can only use it with transplants and not seeds. Of course.

This is a view of the cucumbers (Don't you love the little bird's nest on the cage? I do.), tomato/pea/bean bed, and the pumpkin vines. I took these photos just over 24 hours ago. Since then we've had 2 big rains, and - I kid you not - those pumpkin vines have grown a full foot!!

Another view pulled back a bit from the previous one. Here you can also see the zucchini plants, carrots, peppers, and radishes. In the background on the fence line is the pole bean bed.Max taking the Veggie Garden Promenade.This year I've decided to grow some cooking tomatoes in hopes of putting up my own spaghetti sauce. Goodness knows I get enough oregano and basil, so I might as well throw in tomatoes and go for it. These Romas should do the trick.This is the Cherokee Purple tomato. It was developed and cultivated by the Cherokee Indians in this area, so I figure this one ought to be pretty hardy since it's in its own native environment. It's an heirloom naturally, and is supposed to be quite sweet. A huge storm this evening knocked it over,though, so I hope its root system is okay.Here we have cucumber blossoms and tendril. I just thought it was a pretty picture. There are baby cucumbers, but I couldn't get a good shot of them. The squash also have babies, and the bush and pole beans have begun to produce. I only got two good dinners out of the peas, which was terribly disappointing. Peas love cool weather and we had very, very little spring this year. We literally went from cooold winter to hot, sticky summer - very unusual for us.Banana peppers! This is my first try at growing them. I got the tomatoes, peppers, and some herbs at The Tasteful Garden and have been so pleased. Everything else - beans, spinach, lettuce, cukes, squash, pumpkin, peas - came from seed and have done just fine; but starting tomatoes and peppers from seed indoors is just not working for me. I don't have the right lighting system, and it's just easier buying these vigorous, organically-grown transplants.I think that by Saturday, those peppers will be in a salad, and by Monday we'll be having squash! Gardening is a heck of a lot of work, but the rewards are delicious

Ginger in the Leaves, or Camo Kitty

Early evening yesterday was cloudy and wet, just perfect for causing the fall colors to stand out vividly against the grey. As I roamed about the farm, Ginger the barn cat followed me around for a while and became a camera subject herself. It was fun to see how her tiger-striped tabby coloration made for very good fall-leaf camouflage. (To get a better representation of the colors, click on the image to enlarge it.)