I realized last night when I was loading pictures that my blog has attracted over 10,000 follows now. This blog is my solace and comfort and company, without you all I would never have survived out here in the Midwest. Thank you all so very much for being with me here on my journey through life and farming, its ups and downs, its changes, challenges, joys and sorrows.
But this morning, as happens so often now, I have very little time for back patting. This hay needs to be brought in before the rain comes and I have visitors coming from the city for the weekend. And if you have a minute look at the two beautiful Angus Mamas who were delivered yesterday.
The Mama’s are very anxious, they have come out of a huge herd of about a hundred kept on concrete and fed haylage and corn. They have never seen dogs, or cats, or chickens let alone pigs or peacocks. So for most of yesterday they stood and stared over the fence with a mix of horror and amusement flinching back from the occasional surprise appearance.
The farmer is selling off his old girls because he is running out of hay and does not have enough pasture. What pasture he has is already suffering from lack of rain. He has not had rain since the last snow fall – his fields are not growing, his new alfalfa hay field has not even sprouted and he was obviously miffed that I was already cutting hay.
So I guess being down here in the lowlands has its advantages.
The two Mama’s are 10 and 11 years old, and are due on the 31st and the 1st. He said that this year everyone is calving early so lets hope these girls follow suit.
The rest of the farm showed very little interest in the new arrivals. Everyone just poddled along in their usual way.
To make room in the barn Sheila very happily followed me out her summer fields.
Within minutes she was in the mud. Here is a funny thing. Sheila is the only pig I know who makes eye contact so directly. She came to me in the barn and I leaned down and said to her “Want to go for a walk? It is time for you to go out into the field.” Sheila looked me in the eye then turned and walked away from me to her gate where she stood and waited quietly but intently for me to undo the knots and swing it wide. Once the door was open she maneuvered her 6 foot body through the gap and led me over to the field gate.
She did all this very calmly with a serious sense of purpose and “message understood’. It is this connection that convinced me to keep Sheila as a pet. Poppy will follow me to a gate, attempting to bash her way through while I open it but Sheila leads me to the gate and waits quietly for me to open it. Very different pigs.
I have never, before or after, had a pig like Sheila.
Now, I must saddle up the tractor and attach the rake and get out there and turn the hay. It blew all night and now the rain clouds are gathering. I hope I have until midday because with just a little more drying this hay will be ready. It is looking very good which is naturally terrifying me. Rain loves my hay when it is perfect. Hay sure raises my anxiety levels.
Talk soon. Have a lovely day.
celi
Friday 40% Precip. / 0.05 in
Considerable cloudiness. Occasional rain showers this afternoon. Thunder possible. High near 75F. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Friday Night 60% Precip. / 0.21 in
Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Low around 60F. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
The Kitchen's Garden 
43 responses to “10,001 AT 7.47PM”
What makes you think that you would not have survived out in the Midwest without other Bloggers? That makes it sound almost unbearable rather than ‘merely’ difficult. Are there easier options? Perhaps you should take more credit for what you do.
Survive may be too strong a word – and readers and commenters are the important ones – you all are the ones I connect with in a day. Yes, it is lonely out here. Ii have many like minded visitors though. But my home life has no like minded people. It is all a but complicated and not for a comment. But rest assured that your comments and the comments of the rest of the fellowship are a positive and important contribution in my life. ’nuff said as they say. c
On The Farmy, the 10,000 and Survival: No Celi, I truly think you had it right the first time; feeling like the lone voice in the wilderness is a terribly sad place to be. Just as “many hands make light work”, sharing thought and discussion with those of like mind are equally as important. So glad to have found you and all the souls connected to The Farmy. Bee well, D… xox