Good morning. I thought I would try a quote to start the day. I like quotes.
In a gentle way, you can shake the world.
Mahatma Gandhi
This woman walked the gentle footsteps yesterday. Alone. And down empty country roads.But that was OK.
John was on the tractor for the morning cleaning the concrete pads while I scooped, and once those were clean we shifted the feeders around. I have one good hay feeder that he built me according to a design I drew up from a home made hay feeder I saw back in New Zealand. It is round and good for feeding a group of cows, they place their heads down between the high W’s of looped pipe onto a low bar which circles the entire feeder. He welded hog panel around the base to keep the hay in, this makes it much harder for a bully like Aunty Del to bash the smaller cows away from their food.
The design also encourages the lazy cows to keep their heads above the feeder as they chew and so, waste of hay (which makes me lose my mind) is eliminated.
It is easy enough to pick up with the tractor so it follows the largest group of cows, when they are penned up on the concrete pads, moving three or four times a year. You will have seen it sitting empty on the concrete pad by the Home barn for the summer – now it is over at the West barn.
Usually in the winter the hay is thrown onto the frozen fields helping spread their manure. The cows are only on the concrete pads when it is raining and wet. Cows hooves can destroy a little farms fields very fast. So as you can imagine we are spending a lot of time in the yards this winter.
John made me a new hay feeder this winter – I designed it like a gate instead of a ’round’ the chin rests sitting slightly lower, and we set this up for the calves. I can put this across just about any corner, it is very heavy, too heavy for me to move actually (we use the tractor and chains) but can be used in many different areas. And the hay is dropped from outside the field into the shallow corner created by the gate. 
Above is the bigger feeder, now at the West barn for Carlos the Tiny and the four cows who live with him at the moment.
The sun was out all day yesterday and it was glorious. Warm and generous. I opened all the doors and windows in the house and all the doors and windows in the barns. I even hung the washing on the line. It didn’t exactly dry but it was a great feeling. I could not stay inside, and spent the whole day working on the farms, and walking back and forth between them taking the long way as often as possible. It really was heavenly.
There is still a lot of water above ground.
But they have taken all the rain out of the forecast so with any luck it can dry a bit before the weather goes down below freezing again.
Though back to clouds and grimness today. It is densely foggy outside and the wind has swung back to the North. We are looking at a high of 46F/7C today. Still above freezing though. And yesterday was such a comfort, in many ways. Nothing works quite like sun after weeks of gloom!
Have a lovely day my lovelies.
Love celi
PS. Watched an incredible Polish/French movie on my computer last night. It is set in post war Poland. “The Innocents”. Amazing. Really stunning. Subtitles. I love subtitles.
The Kitchen's Garden 
52 responses to “19,044 Foot Steps”
That’s a beautiful day – it’s like that here, with the same sort of temperature 🙂
Tell London to hold that thought!!
They say it will be warmer in a week’s time 🙂
The last sunny day we had was this past Wednesday and we have heavy fog and rain this weekend. Next forecast for sunshine is next week Friday. This is why I prefer cold sunny days to warm cloudy ones! I will enjoy the sun you had!
Back in our cloud today but ah well – I am still feeling the galvanising affect of the sun from yesterday. c
This makes me want to have a farm and start farming right now!
It is my kind of life too.. c
Yes! We saw the sun for the first time in forever yesterday too! What a treat! And it looks like we may see if now and then this next week too! Exciting! 🙂
You are always ahead of us!! c
I like your hay feeder design.
Many gentle footsteps shook the world yesterday. I am thrilled. Our daughter marched in DC. My wife was in Des Moines for that one. You did your part. Thanks to all.
Jim
To be able to express your feelings without fear of redress is a wonderful thing.. c
Oh, that blue sky… It looks cold and sunny and fresh and crisp in a way I just don’t have here, and for which I sometimes get nostalgic.
I particularly loved the chilly sunny days of an English winter.. though there was always a lot of rain too as you know.. c
The rain always made the sunny days so much more valued, didn’t they…
Oh yes!
Thank Goodness John can execute your creative ideas!
Yesm him and his welder.. very useful skill
Important lesson here. Lessons. (I learn from Ton too: be alert, stay close, do the work. Oddly, as he appears in so many pictures, he sometimes makes me think of God, almost unnoticeable, “everywhere present ” (from a prayer I learned ) “guiding and guarding” . . .
I love this comment. I would like to think of God as being Ton.
I’ve always heard the phrase that Dog is God spelled backward. That unconditional love and ever present watchfulness is what makes them so special. Great comment.
Lovely thoughts.. c
I will have to check out that movie. You are the only other person I know that saw and liked Ida. We may have the same taste in movies.
I loved Ida – I still see that scene when her aunt stepped out the window – it said it all – perfectly. Coincidentally this one is about nuns too but is so rich.
I was going to say something about sunshine, and then I read Albert’s comment which stopped me in my tracks. I love it. Ton is Godlike. Or vice versa. This is why we must respect and love and protect animals. Their intelligence still seems beyond our grasp somehow. He stands sentinel. Who know what he is thinking. The sun is beautiful. I’m glad you had it.
my happiness app asked me what i was grateful for yesterday – I wrote SUN – no hesitation..c
That is a beautiful movie. Saw it several months ago.
aren’t the images strong – those trees – and the cold – i loved it.. c
I love how you figured out a way to feed the cows so they couldn’t bully the others! Sunshine is our driving force. Haven’t seen any in quite a while. I don’t think I walk that many steps in a month. We have an almost dry week ahead so I can get lots of outside work done. Burying my compost for starters and then more clearing out of stuff. Just not a lot of steps involved. No wonder you are just a little bit of a person. Only in size. In resolve, you are mighty.
My resolve is mighty but sometimes my execution is only a little bit.. c
😉
So moved by your solitary walking and I love the Gandhi quote. I’m about to start reading his biography by Eknath Eswarean. (I may not have spelled his name right.) And hooray for sun! I wish we’d get some here–everyone got drenched yesterday–but at least all our snow melted!
oh mercy – i hope you stayed warm today c
My favorite foreign films are Amelie and Pans Labrynth. They’re both very good. 🙂
Oh yes – Amelie – I loved that one! – I will look up Pans Labrynth,I have not heard of that one.. c
Watch it with care, Miss C. It’s a great movie but very difficult film at times, showing some very real, very brutal moments of history. Maybe not a story for a sad day. But one worth seeing.
I met my husband online. The first time he came to meet me, he bought me a DVD player and Amelie, because I had neither. Who wouldn’t marry a man like that? Going on 13 years later, still love him to bits.
Stunning! Who could not! c
Love those feeder ideas. It is always a challenge for us finding ways to minimize the waste when our donkeys eat. I think the hog panel bottoms are brilliant.
Are donkeys picky eaters like horses? c