New Bones and No Bones

I got a call from our butcher first thing this morning to come get our lamb meat right away because his freezer broke during the night. So I rushed right out and brought the meat back. It just barely fit into our freezer.

In the rush I forgot to ask about the bones he was supposed to save for me. I have a person who specifically wanted some of our sheep bones for a craft project, and I was going to use the rest for a project of my own (It's a secret for now, but I'll post pictures here if I ever get around to trying it).

When we checked back with the butcher, he said he forgot to save the bones for us, even though I specifically asked him to. This makes me a bit grouchy. Last year, he forgot that we wanted to save the pelts from the sheep we sent, and he ruined several beautiful hides by removing them carelessly and cutting them full of holes.

He's a nice guy, very chatty and friendly, but he's used to dealing with plain old livestock that are commodities, not high-value niche markets. So it seems that he doesn't exactly take sufficient care to preserve the special items I ask him to save.

However, he is very conveniently located, just a few miles away, so our choice is really to try to work with him and educate him better on our needs, rather than seeking a different butcher.

He did offer us any other bones we might want, including lots of deer bones (since this is hunting season, he's getting lots of deer in right now). That will work okay for my project, but the other buyer specifically wanted the Icelandic sheep bones because she's making a historical reenactment (SCA) project for which the Icelandic sheep would be most appropriate.

Oh well, we have one more lamb we may slaughter later, once we have more room in the freezer again. Perhaps he'll remember to save the bones for us then.

The other "bone" news for the day is

(1) Leeloo, our Pomeranian, finally got her leg brace taken off today. Her broken leg is all better! and

(2) Our ewe Peri is starting to use her rattlesnake-damaged leg a little bit, now that I've put a brace on her ankle. I don't think the leg will ever completely heal, but with the brace she regains a little more mobility and can live a more normal life.

Goodbye Sebastian, Hello Ken

Here's what happened on the farm today:

1. My ram Sebastian and my ewe Shakti went to join their new flock. Thanks Natasha, I know you'll give them a great home!

2. My husband Ken and his puppy Leeloo came home from their vacation at our friends' rented beach house. They had a great time, and Leeloo even swam in the ocean!

3. My computer started suffering from random attacks of electronic narcolepsy---just blacking out periodically in the middle of things. Hence, I'm writing this on Ken's computer, while Ken attempts to back up all my files (just in case one of these blackouts becomes permanent). Hopefully, he'll be able to fix whatever's wrong. But that's why there are no photos with the blog tonight... they're all on my computer, where I can't access them right now.

4. A woman I've been in email contact with decided to buy my whole inventory of ram's horns and skulls for an SCA craft project. So, a little more money coming in---Yay! After I finished cleaning up the newest batch of horns for her, I decided to rub them with a little mineral oil. Wow, does that make them look nice!

5. We decided which are the "lucky" sheep who get to go to the state fair later this week. This will be the second year our Icelandics will be on display in The Big Red Barn, which is the fair's most popular attraction. It gets thousands and thousands of visitors every day of the fair, which is fantastic exposure for the breed, but it's also incredibly noisy and the sheep hate it.

Last year, our senior ram Nicholai was one of the two we took there, and he was absolutely miserable. So this year we promised him that he didn't have to go. But our sheep sold so well this year, we don't have any other impressive-looking adult rams left to send, only ram lambs. So we decided we'd send a couple of ewes as well.

Naturally, I'm reluctant to subject any of my most valuable ewes to such a lot of stress so close to the beginning of breeding season. So, if I can't send my biggest ram or my most impressive ewes... what criteria shall I use to pick who goes?

Since I couldn't go with "biggest," I decided to go with "cutest," which means my two leader ewes, Salem and Savannah. They're super cute and sociable, plus they were too small to breed last fall, so they didn't contribute any lambs to the farm this spring. Doing time at the fair can be their offering to the flock for the year. To add a little more color variety, I'll send a couple of the ram lambs with them. We'll have a gray mouflon, a black, a white, and a moorit. That should be a nice mix for people to look at.

We half-jokingly thought about sending Trouble the Runaway Lamb, figuring she deserved a little payback for all the trouble she put us through. But then we were afraid she might escape again, and we'd end up having to chase her all over the fairgrounds... It would be a whole new chapter to her saga here on the blog, but not one we're ready for! :-)

Cause and Effect

The sound came again: a deep, hoarse, wavering bellow, something like you'd expect to hear from a dying walrus.

I had just gotten up and was groggily checking my email. Because the house windows were closed, the sound was muffled and faint, so it took a few moments for my brain to register what it was.

Maggie.

One of our broodmares, Maggie has a voice that evokes images of elderly elephants and wounded sea-beasts. But why would she be bellowing repeatedly first thing in the morning?

~~~~~

This is a story about cause and effect, how the littlest things can have the most unexpected consequences. You never know what little thing you do---for good or ill--will have a profound effect on someone you've never met, or what insignificant event will change your life forever.

Here's what got me thinking about that:

When I opened the window to listen more clearly to Maggie's whinnies, my hand knocked against a glass ornament that was hanging there. It fell from its hook, tumbled out the window, and shattered on the ground below.

Well, shoot! The decoration wasn't valuable, but I'd liked the cheerful spark of color it had added to my office. A minor disappointment, but nothing to get upset about.

Still wondering about the commotion outside, I put on some shoes and went out to check on Maggie. She was standing alone at the hay feeder, hollering. All the other mares were out of sight, probably swishing flies down among the cedars at the bottom of the big pasture.

When Maggie saw me, she gave one more bellow, and cantered off to find the other horses. Nothing was wrong with her. All I could think of was that she'd fallen asleep near the feeder while all the other horses were still eating, and had been distressed to find that she'd woken up alone.

It was an insignificant event. But it made me stop and think what a quirky little chain of effects it had been. Who would have guessed that a sleeping horse in the pasture could manage to break an ornament upstairs in the house?

The minutiae of the causes and effects that shape our lives fascinate me. You never know at the time what insignificant detail of your day will end up changing the course of your life, even decades later.

For example, if it hadn't been for one photocopied flier on a bulletin board in Portland, Maine, sometime around 1987, I would never have met my husband in Boston in 1993. Here's how it happened:

1. 1987: A flier on a bulletin board announces the formation of a new writer's group. On a whim, I decide to join. Through this group, I meet a man named David who I eventually date for several years.

2. During that time, David and I take a road trip down the east coast to visit some friends of his. The friends take us to a local festival, where I discover the SCA for the first time. I love the idea of a medieval recreation club, so when I get back home, I join the local chapter.

3. 1992: David and I have broken up. At an SCA event, I meet Derek. We begin dating, and eventually I move to Boston to be with him.

4. 1993: Derek and I are not getting along. One particular night towards the end of our relationship, we have an argument. Needing to get out of the house, I go alone to the local SCA dance practice, which I have never been to before.

That night, I met Ken, the man who two years later became my husband. We've been married for twelve years, and still going strong---all because of a flier, a road trip, and an argument. If that flier hadn't been on that bulletin board that day, I can't even imagine how different my life would be right now.

An example of obscure cause and effect came up on the farm recently, too.

Somewhere in California not too long ago, a boss stiffed an employee for a month's pay. I don't know the details. All I know is that the employee is the person I talked about in This is a Test, who wants to buy my mare Bonnie. "Oh I want her, " she told me in a recent email. "I think about her all the time." But now, because of her boss's action, she doesn't have the money right now.

If I had sold Bonnie to this woman a month ago when she first inquired, I would have had the money to buy hay for my herd and pay our neighbor Bob for the alfalfa he gave us on credit. And with that money, Bob would probably have been able to do a few things in the past month that he has not been able to do without it. All the while, somewhere in California, that boss has no idea that his behavior is affecting the lives of farmers in Virginia.

So much of the time, we live our lives feeling alienated in our own little world, never realizing the far-reaching ripples our actions can cause.

I try to be a good person. I'm not an angel, by any means, and I've certainly had occasions when I've been impatient or thoughtless or unkind. But for the most part, I try to treat people---and animals---at least as well as I hope to be treated myself.

Even if I can't always see the effect of my choices, whenever I think about the tiny details that can change a life, I know that it's worth it to make a little extra effort to put some kindness and helpfulness out into the world.

~~~~~

So who would have thought that a sleepy horse in the pasture could break an ornament upstairs in the house and inspire a philosophical blog entry that would be read in [fill in the name of YOUR town here]?

Where will the ripple of cause and effect go next? If even one person who reads this is inspired to go out of his or her way to take a kind action towards another human being, there's no telling how far the results will reach.

My Secret "Girlie" Side

I've never been much of a girlie-girl. I loathe pantyhose and high heels. I almost never wear makeup or jewelry. I have no interest in designer shoes or handbags. Heck, some days on the farm, I don't even brush my hair!

But for all my daily concerns with dirty, non-girlie things like loading hay, training horses, and picking maggots out of wounded sheep, I have to confess (with a certain amount of embarrassment) to one exceptionally girlie hobby.

I collect porcelain dolls.

Not just any porcelain dolls. Just the most exquisite---and usually quite pricey---dolls made by Franklin Mint. Preferably the Gibson Girl dolls or some of the historical or storybook themed ones. I have an entire wall of my office with shelves on it to display them, about two dozen in all, plus another half dozen or so other dolls that I started with before I graduated to Franklin Mint.

For several years now, these dolls have been my secret addiction. Whenever friends come to visit, I'm embarrassed to show them my office, because this wall of dainty, elegantly dressed porcelain ladies doesn't fit with my idea of who I am.

I like to blame them on the fact that I'm no longer in the SCA. My husband and I did medieval historical recreation for many years---in fact, that's how we met. But after moving several times and getting busy with other aspects of our lives, we eventually stopped participating.

For all those years, I had the creative outlet of designing, making, accessorizing, and wearing my own medieval-style costumes. But after we quit, I got tired of seeing them hanging unused in my closet, so I gave them all away to a friend: Thirteen years worth of green, crimson, purple, royal blue, and ivory colored gowns, embroidered, beaded, jewel-bedecked. Once they were gone, my closet was spacious, practical---and dull.

Right around then, the doll collecting began. I guess they were a smaller-version, eye-candy substitute for the costumes I'd given away. Having spent many tedious hours making my own costumes in past years, I could really appreciate the dolls' intricate level if minuscule detail.

I love them, and I hate the fact that I love them. I can't wrap my brain around the idea that I have such a girlie hobby.

But soon, that inner conflict will be resolved. I'm selling them all on EBay to try to keep this farm running a little longer while we wait for some horses to sell.

When I started putting the listings up today, I soon learned something: It's really time consuming to make a good EBay listing!

After you decide which item you want to list first, you have to find a good place with a nice background and take lots of close-up, well-lit photographs of the item. Then you have to download the photos to your computer, select the ones you want to use, crop them if necessary, and save them in the proper format. Then you have to fill out the EBay forms, upload the photos, and write a detailed, sincere-yet-enthusiastic description of the item.

I have LOTS of things I'm planning to sell, but I only managed to get five listings made today. Three of the Franklin Mint dolls, my gorgeous leather motorcycle jacket, and Ken's 1992 Nissan Sentra GXE.

There will be lots more listings to come in the next days and weeks. Everything I sell will go towards helping us keep this farm going, so please check my auctions every now and then to see if we have anything you "need." Tell your friends, too!

If you want a preview of some of the things that will be coming up for sale soon (and some things we're offering for sale directly, not on EBay), visit our Online Yard Sale. The list is not complete, and it doesn't have a lot of detail right now, but if you see anything you're interested in, contact me, and I'll be happy to take photos and send you a more thorough description of the item.

We are almost entirely out of hay now, and almost entirely out of money.

On the bright side, our mare Bonnie has suddenly become very popular. I have two buyers who are interested in her already, and today I got calls from two more people asking about her!

All the potential buyers seemed knowledgeable and pleasant, like they would probably provide Bonnie a good home. So keep your fingers crossed for us that one of them will decide that she's the one for them. That money would do WONDERS for our cash flow right about now!