Still no sign of another mink. But nature abhors a vacuum ( which is why I won’t let anyone bother my good band of coyotes). I have never had any trouble with the pack of coyotes whose territory includes my farm. If they were shot we might have a killer coyote move in. And now that Boo and I have rid the henhouse of that big killer mink we have to wait and see who will take over his territory.
Nature is an interesting playground. The land I work with is full of such a diverse range of animals and birds and my aim is to live in it with as little fight with them as possible. But the simple act of fencing, farming and introducing animals to a piece of land is by its very nature the antithesis of natural. It is disruptive.
Still, the coyotes and foxes and minks of the land adjust to a food source. I have become part of that source. So I will adjust to them. 
Nature is naturally messy and disheveled and wild and though full of patterns also embraces a kind of righteousness and insistent chaos. 
I keep trying to tidy my world up and my environment walks along behind me spreading micro-organisms and weed seeds and random native viscousness and rot and decay and wildness chuckling to itself. And hopefully not choking to itself – I try hard not to poison my little patch.
Left to my own devices I am quite sure I would let it all go and join the wilderness. But to literally keep this little patch of land under my stewardship, in a modern world and for this human to live on it – it needs to pay its way. Taxes are as inevitable as decay.
What an odious thought. I was much happier daydreaming about going feral.
I hope you find loveliness today.
It is overcast and blustery here.
Love celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
30 responses to “DUCK CAKE”
Have a great day!
I love the cake you posted on your site! Delicious!
The ducks look like they are enjoying their sprout cake. How are the three doing? Laura
They are ok – I saw one slowly grooming herself yesterday – still all alive and moving fast this morning- one is still looking worse than the others but they are still alive – and suddenly I am getting 8 eggs a day ( yesterday and today) so at least one of the injured ducks is laying too
What a mild and peaceful face Carlos has, ruminating as only a ruminant can.
I think you’re doing a pretty good job of walking lightly, leaving your land in better heart than you found it, and respecting the creatures who inhabit it with you. Nature herself interferes with the balance from time to time with flood, fire, tornado and blizzard. All we can do is try and keep up!
That fellow is just a Bobby though as you would imagine I refer to him as Horns. Interestingly the horns have helped him grow into a bit of a bully.
No one with horns that big is Just anything! And now I think of it, Carlos doesn’t have horns, does he? It was the profile shot that made me think it was him…
Daydreaming about going feral is one of my current favorite things.
We used to hear coyotes fairly often and never had ANY trouble from them. Then a neighbor shot at least five of them last year (according to another neighbor) — because he likes to hunt, as far as I know — he has no livestock. Which made room for the fox(es), which killed four of my chickens last summer. I definitely prefer the well-behaved coyotes!
The coyotes were probably keeping the fox population in check.
“my aim is to live in it with as little fight with them as possible. ”
“Nature is naturally messy and disheveled and wild and though full of patterns also embraces a kind of righteousness and insistent chaos. ”
If only more shared these insights. Maybe it’s difficult to have that view if stuck inside little concrete boxes – with little view of sky and sun and stars.
Take what you need and walk softly in the world. Gold star, Ci!
“my aim is to live in it with as little fight with them as possible. ” That had me chuckling in remembering how ambivalent I was when we lived amongst deer, rabbits and other nibblers. I had a small successfully fenced veggie garden and outside of that small patch I was ambivalent about who ate what. I was advised about what was safe to plant- and so I planted lavender, rosemary, mints, sage and other herbs that were not eaten. When I planted Ribes sanguineum, the red-flowering currant bush I found the deer truly loved it. So I countered with “Deer Off” and it deterred the nibbles. It was a very small battle.
I hope the minks stay away – they wouldn’t dare bother Sheila!
I agree. Sheila would be a bit of a shock!
Lovely serene photos today, and gentle food for thought. It’s requires balance and effort to live in a natural environment with its other inhabitants and meet everyone’s needs but gratifying to accomplish. I love reading your thoughts, they are hopeful snd inspiring ♡
How coincidental that you describe the situation as unnatural and disruptive to nature. I just wrote about how unnatural the horticultural commodities (such as those that I grow) are; but that so many of us purchase them to bring nature closer to our homes.
That is brilliant observation! So true.
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Sandra J.
Hullo Sandra. The free themes are certainly the best to start with. I set my first one up myself and my computer skills are rudimentary at best. This one is a paid site.
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, I will keep reading.
That’s great / when you do finally launch – pop back in and let us know how you are doing!
I, too, have tried to live helping where I can and going on doing as little damage to the people, earth and creatures around me. It’s not always entirely possible but it certainly is worth the effort!
Hullo there Sherry darling girl! I do agree that we can only do as much as we can. But we do it cheerfully. How are things going on your little farm?
It seems, maybe, hopefully, the winter is in the rear view mirror! Still a bit soggy and squishy but things are looking up. The farrier comes tomorrow so I will have to try to find Winston and the horses under a whole lot of mud. Meanwhile Percy is shedding hair like confetti and this morning I heard swans and turkeys, fingers crossed all this points to spring!
I am often struck by the human need for civilization and order and how it seems so at odds with the natural order of things. And yet we seem to thrive in our desire for order and it’s consequent taxes, so perhaps we are just an iteration of the the natural way of things. Still. I also often long to just let it all go and just be about the existing inside the chaos. About meeting the immediate needs in front of me, instead of about all the planning and the order.
The title Duck Cake made me think the entry would be about something else.
No! I am not eating these ducks. Horrors
Beautifully put, perfectly crafted words to explain the world you live in.