The Power, Your Power
I am often amazed by the power of a small word or gesture. The tiniest pat and smallest gentle correction can literally make a world of difference to a persons future. A small word as you open the door, a smile as you close it. We are powerful. All of us. We must be careful with that power. Gentle with it. 
It is the same with animals. When working with animals we train ourselves to watch for the smallest sounds and movements. We are all-powerful. We must be very careful with our decisions. Lady Astor is locked up on the concrete – now that the ground is so wet and poggy, she just gets her udder so dirty, but this small change has resulted in way less milk than I would normally get on a diet of fresh pasture.
Presently I am watching Poppy to make sure she is on course for a healthy delivery. It is true that I don’t know as much as I should about farrowing pigs, only having had one sow before Poppy and that was Charlotte and she gave birth with no trouble at all – the trouble came later. So I am being careful, one overlooked error could result in a dead piglet, everything is very high value for her now.
I mentioned to the lady at the little feed store I frequent that I had had trouble with AI (Artificial Insemination) with Poppy being so expensive and yesterday a local farmer called and said she had a lovely young Hereford Boar for sale, she had heard that I might be interested in buying one. He is 5 months old with Good Hips! We have room across the way so I am thinking seriously about taking him. The price is right. Just a small comment and we may have saved ourselves a lot of money and gained more control over the breeding. Herefords are becoming a popular pig.
The turkeys are entering that messy toddler stage. Still very sweet and slow growing. They are dear wee things. I am changing nothing in their enclosure they are doing very well.
The sunflowers are growing at an extraordinary rate. They are already taller than me and beginning to form flowers. The sweetcorn that is planted in rows behind it is doing very well in some areas but being knocked badly by the excess water in other areas but are already tasseling. I am pretty excited about these crops. Most of this is feed for the animals. I am very grateful that these rows are draining well. Some farmers have had their crops underwater for weeks around here… it is a disaster. And still raining. The other day the creek water was just below the bridge – perilously high.
The tank chicken tractor has been moved back into the garden so a group of chickens can start their garden housekeeping. This is an excellent way of improving the fertility of a resting section of garden. The enclosure with its chooks is left on a piece of ground for a few weeks and they clear it and fertilise it wonderfully before being moved to another section.
Right – out to work for me! It has been raining again so coats and gumboots rule. The peachicks will be delivered to their new home today. Jake is coming with me as navigator. At least with the chicks I do not have to hitch up the trailer to my imaginary truck, they will be travelling in a cardboard box in the back of the cooking oil car! Or a boat.
Life is good – busy and good.
I hope you all have a lovely day.
Love your friend on the farm,
celi
33 Comments on “The Power, Your Power”
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Beautiful!
Miss Hip Hop Poppy cannot hide her secret from prying eyes anymore. That lunch counter is filling up!
Can you wait to see how Poppy handles motherhood before investing in a boar, or will you get another pig for breeding if she’s a disinterested parent who wants grandma to do the baby-raising?
Good Morning Miss C! Hope your day goes well. The heat has given us a break here and yesterday was picture perfect. In fact it was quite chilly when I got up this morning, only 51F (had to put a sweatshirt on!!).
Now to tackle all the weeds that the rains have encouraged to grow! And pull the broccoli that didn’t get a chance to flower due to the heat. Oh well some years are better than others.
Wise words. I have seen people utterly deflated by a careless word or swelling with pride from a kind or thoughtful gesture. I would check the docility of the boar. We used to bring in a boar to serve our sows and they would board with us for a month – mostly they were fine (with all the necessary precautions taken to deal with an entire male) but there was one that I didn’t trust at all so we didn’t use him again.
What a good idea about brining a boar in when the time is right for breeding! We do that with our Lamancha goats. A billy goat is lent to us by a friend, and stays 2 or 3 weeks. It works out great! Having your own boar, especially is he is a sweet one is also nice though, as moving large boars around can be difficult.
The Poppy Pig Milk Bar is now Open! It’s unmistakeable now, isn’t it? Your greens are wonderfully intense and lush, but we’re not seeing the endless mud, the chilly rain and the hard slog. Here, we’re still fighting the insects for ownership of the tomatoes and capsicums – they beat us hands down to the bok choy and English spinach, although my tropical spinach varieties are powering ahead. Our chook run will be done Soon, says the Husband. When it’s done, it’s done, I’m not counting any metaphorical chooks before they are hatched… One day, when we win the Lottery, we will come and participate in Farmy life and I will be 1940s Kitchen Mama.
Nice pictures all together. The greens are bursting of life overwhelmingly. Hope that the rains do not too much damage. For the boar: I thought that there might be some male piglets in Poppy’s farrow – they or one of them could grow at the Farmy until the time has come to do his duty. But maybe that’s a time too long to wait regarding your plans…
Have a nice & beautiful day, Celi.
Whatever you decide regarding to the Boar: Good Hips is a heavy and substantial argument though! 😀
What wonderful lush growth you have in your rain-soaked garden. I’m rooting for Poppy to have an easy delivery of lots of babies. The boar is a good idea, even if you have to sell him again when you have too many of his relatives about. Could a male version of Poppy be a Poppycock? (oops!)
It is going to be too hot for me this week, so I shall just have to stay indoors and watch Wimbledon! How dreadful (I don’t think).
Stay happy and well
love,
ViV
Poppycock!!! Silly…
Poppycock! teehee… made me LOL
Everything looks wonderfully green and lush.
Good Luck with the forrowing, sounds like you are as ready as it is possible to be, did you get a bottle of beer for poppy?
Oh I can’t wait to see the Poppy Hoppy babies when they pop! 🙂 I think she will be a good mama because she’s so curious and interested in everything. And I can’t believe how thick lush and green everything is in your gardens! Even irrigating doesn’t come close to loads of rain…even though you’ve had quite enough of it now. 💦💦
I am sure it is not always so but you always seem so cheerful and know exactly what you are doing..even in the face of adversity like rain rain and even more rain….
Miss Poppy will be fine and will farrow without any problems (fingers crossed)
Keep smiling Miss C you are doing areally grand job
Love the chicken tractor. How do you move it? Are the chooks in there as you do? Beautifully green on your farm.
So beautiful and wise. Thank you.
Celi, I so agree about the power of a small word or gesture. A few weeks ago on a bright sunny day I was in Belfast to meet up with some friends. Since I was first to arrive, I wandered about with my camera. I became aware of a man about my own age sitting on a low wall and struggling to re-attach a side arm to his sunglasses. I asked it he would like help (my hands were smaller), he immediately handed the glasses to me and we chatted as I worked. He produced his little camera that needed the settings changed. I did that too. I learned that although he had sight he was actually registered blind. Before we parted he handed me his card with an email address & phone number. I reciprocated. Today I had an email thanking for my help and asking if I would be in Belfast in the near future, as he would like to buy me lunch as a ‘thank you’ for my kindness! One small gesture that I offered without thinking.
Enjoy the busy & good!
So green there…I long for green and growing rather than brown and dry and dead. Extended 90F in June is unheard of here. Enjoy your wet day Miss C.
such sweet advice …..I too believe in the small things done making big differences. Have a lovely and hopefully drier day!
So many of us have stopped using the intuitive nature we have with people and animals. Quietly feeling our way to their needs. I think that your ability to use yours will make up for any lack of knowledge with your farm animals or the farm itself. The fact that you are open to anything brings the good to you. Our words are powerful. I’ve become very careful with mine as well. Your overabundance of rain is something we long for here. We have had not a drop in more than a month. Quite unusual for the Pacific NW area. Too much of a good thing is never helpful. I’ll be here waiting for piglets. 🙂
Can’t recall words. Animals remember and it affects the way they behave and look at you. I try not to yell at Molly/the German when they are being naughty, as you can see the worry in their faces later. People may hide it better, but it’s there.
As a pebble turns the stream, a word does, too, in the universe.
I love sunflowers – they turn to follow the sun. People turn towards nurturing/light too, even if they don’t realize it.
Smiles sent.
smiles received – thank you darling.. c
Everything looks so green and lucious . Have a wonderful day.
Oh Poppy Poppy! You’re in our hearts today and especially these farrowing days ahead.
Everything is so lush your way… as it usually is in June in the northern hemisphere. But, my gracious, you can turn off the rain any time soon! I feel for you. We have just had two days of solid rain here, not hard rain but enough to keep things chilly and soaking wet, and today’s sun is soooooo welcome. I can’t imagine weeks of that sogginess. But I do love your photos and have to say that Poppy is looking very much more pregnant today that she appeared a few days ago…. and her ‘udder’ appears to be very ready. I wonder if she’s wondering what’s happening to her.
By the way, do you ever sleep? How in the world you keep up with all you must do and then to take the time to show us your pictures and share your thoughts is beyond me. Have you always been hyperactive? 🙂
Your comment about the power of words, or a word, is wonderful. Yes, we must be very careful, and thank you for the nudge.
Hope you’re keeping dry and warm. It sounds as though the sunshine is in your heart, never mind the lack thereof outdoors ~ Mame 🙂
We are an oven here…need some of your rain!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
Sorry I haven’t been commentign much recently miss c – times are a wee bit overwhelming here but I pop in every day and every day you make me breathe in and breathe out and remember that everything is going to be ok.
everything is going to be ok tanya – one way or the other.. we only pass through life you see – the loving is the hard bit.. Heaps of love flying your way – for what it is worth.. c
You are a very special lady x
Wow, the Farmy looks like it’s moved to the tropics… or the tropics have moved to the Farmy… I’m sure if you watched you could see everything growing. When you do get sun, soon I hope, the sunflowers and the greenery will be extraordinary. Your Illinois seasons never cease to amaze me, snow and ice everywhere then in no time at all it shifts to jungle green abundance.
Can’t believe the speed of your jungle growth either: may the weather gods be kind from here on in! And Poppy’s milk bar surely is made up of first class equipment . . . can’t wait to see the customers there either . . .
I’m amazed at how green and lush everything is. Just like NZ!
Life is good! I would love a chook tractor 😄