This is why I milk a cow. Ricotta cheese, Butter, Parmesan cheese, Farmers cheese. Icecream, Cream, milk for my morning coffee straight from the milking – perfectly homogenised, Yoghurt, Sour cream, Cream sauces. Um, what else?
Actually I am not going to talk about the milk. I was going to talk about all the things I make from the milk, all the animals that drink the milk but then yesterday evening as it began to rain I was using the wind to help me put a tarpaulin onto the chickens run, flicking it open with the wind behind me so it glued itself to the side of the structure allowing me to anchor the flapping side first. And I thought about how we use the wind within the day. Like a boat tacking across a harbour, we feel the wind, note its direction and place ourselves to harness it. Directing it somehow. Or maybe directing ourselves to work alongside the wind, together. 
I use the wind when I broadcast grass seed. Putting it at my back, stepping in time with its strength, my hand scooping and releasing in one flowing movement, the wind carrying and spreading the seed across my path in the field. One of my favourite tasks. 
I use the wind to blow dry my hair into perfect bed hair ringlets.
I open a door just so using the wind to dry the milking parlour floor. 
I study the wind so I can decide what doors can stand open all night and which animals need the shelters. Where to put the plants that come out in the day to harden off. What windows can open. Where to hang the laundry. 
The wind blows out here with a roar reminiscent of Wellington, NZ. 25 knots is a quiet day. It howls and screams across the prairies with no care for the houses made of sticks that stand in its way. It will blow for another month at least. It always does. So we must use the wind. Not fight it. Use it. Blow with it for a while. 
Except on mornings like this morning, when the wind is confidently blowing the dark rain past the doors and I know that my buckets and I will struggle against it with my head bowed and body hunched in, forcing my self through the arrogant wind going about the business of my morning. No gambolling in the sun today or for a few days actually. I hope you all have a chance to find loveliness in the day. The rain is welcome though but I would not mind if it warmed up a bit.
Ok, out into the grizzling hissing dawn I go.
Your friend on the farmy
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
41 responses to “Use the wind”
The National Wildlife Federation has a live 24/7 cam trained on a bald eagle nest in Decorah, Iowa where there are three eaglets plus parents. I love to turn up the volume to HEAR the wind and SEE the wind rocking their nest (which weighs 3000 pounds !) The wind at their height is ferocious, blowing back their head feathers.
Celi, today’s pictures are absolutely spectacular, every single one of them. THANK YOU THANK YOU!
three thousand pounds! That is one sturdy nest! wow c
Don’t like the cold north spring winds. I love the warm summer winds. Your Tima is going to be everybody’s darling at the farmy, not to mention the Fellowship. I bet Sheila is trying to figure out a way for her to get Tima in with her. Our landlord used to have pigs and they always dug out under their fence and immediately ran over to my flower beds. A determined pig can go wherever she wants to.
Glorious pics. I’m amazed by how much green grass there is, it seems so soon after the snow and chill. Back in the city, returned from a week out in the hills and space my eyes crave the green still. Wondrous windy words and ways.
As ever, a wonderful reminder of the care and use of everything around us, C.
I am crazy abut Tima… is there another pig on the planet as adorable as Tima… impossible,,,, lovely wind post Celi… we ‘re into autumn winds, and the first fire of winter last night after an impossibly hot April… hope your spring comes soon XXX
Tima seems to be the ‘kissiest’ piggie I have ever seen . . . . and those bobbies are so happy out on the grass 🙂 ! Wind: do keep it – not my favourite weather phenomenon 🙂 ! We are just going into our quiet and foggy season: this morning just stood at the window for such a long while with the most foolish grin on my face . . . gentle and beautiful . . .
Such provocative posts, between the poles of “awful” and “awesome” and ruminating over how we use wind. I’ll rest my head upon my pillow in a bit, thinking it all out. Hope that chicken assembly line went well, but, how could it not with so many competent, well-meaning hands. Your posts are the best, Celi.
Good to see your stores of cheese are being rebuilt. I know you missed having cheese around like you did when Daisy was last being milked. It’s another sign that life is returning to normal on the farmy. Tima is such a wee thing. Seeing her with Marcel gives perspective. She’ll be a different pig by Summer’s end.
Hope you had a good night, Celi, and have a great morning.
What a commonsense farm girl you are! Isn’t it funny how we just seem to “know” how to manage in the wind and use it – appreciating it instead of cursing it? Lovely post, Celi. Your photographs are so interesting and sweet. Makes me want to snuggle up with Tima… aw, and just soak in the love.
Marcel seems almost grown all of a sudden! Love the way everyone is putting their heads together and visiting!
What a lovely post this is, about using the wind. I used to do a lot of sailing, and this taught me to watch the wind very closely also. The calves are not bothered by the fierce gusts. Nice to see them frolicking away.
Tima seems to have a lot of friends. The young ones really bring life to the farmy.