Bee~ Journal of then...

[Beekissed]

Tank, the sheep pen had its first occupants today! It was raining like the dickens this morning and when I glanced out the window I saw a crowd of hens in the sheep pen! They looked so cute all clustered up in that pen, peeping out to see if the rain would slacken.

I don't know about you all, but I get such pleasure out of little things like that....a funny or pretty sight in my own side yard. As I drive around this county and the next all day, I marvel at the beauty of nature as it changes the seasons. I feel so blessed to be seeing it in all its perfection. Life is good, y'all.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Yes, I hear you Bee. I can't tell you how much it makes me smile to see my ducks running around in the rain, all goofy like.

 

[Beekissed]

I don't know how full time farmers help smiling all the time! I know the work is hard and makes for a long day....but, darn it, it is so satisfying to be that close to the miracle of nature, God's creation, the cycles of birth, growth, death.....such an earthy connection that my chest aches with joy when I am doing my choring on this place.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Joy, and sometimes grief . . . yes, very intensive living.

 

[Beekissed]

It is, isn't it? I once heard a line on a movie that I agree with...something about how most people live on Earth but are not really living on the earth. I like that intensity...that feeling of really feeling things.

Not just living vicariously through canned emotions from a TV show or from some famous person's life. The real living is outside and in our families...the real living, dying, drama is on a more basic level that assaults the senses. The colors, the smells, the sounds are all so pure and elemental that everything else pales in comparison. I can't imagine being benumbed by the trappings of a materialistic life and all the gadgets and distractions inherent to it and missing all this.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Free, when I see a patch of new, spring green grass along side the road I want to stop and roll in it myself!!!

Now that I would pay to see!

 

[DrakeMaiden]

It is, isn't it? I once heard a line on a movie that I agree with...something about how most people live on Earth but are not really living on the earth. I like that intensity...that feeling of really feeling things.

Not just living vicariously through canned emotions from a TV show or from some famous person's life. The real living is outside and in our families...the real living, dying, drama is on a more basic level that assaults the senses. The colors, the smells, the sounds are all so pure and elemental that everything else pales in comparison. I can't imagine being benumbed by the trappings of a materialistic life and all the gadgets and distractions inherent to it and missing all this.

I was thinking along similar lines too . . . you know there are people who are sooooo bored that they need to play video games all day. It just amazes me! I could certainly give them something to do, if they came over to my place.

A while ago I found a great article about how some people are turning farms into places where people can come to heal, emotionally and spiritually. If the world keeps spinning off it's axis like it is now, maybe that would be a great "business" to get into? I say "business" because I don't want to see something like that stream-lined or mass-produced, the way our society thinks of businesses.

 

[Farmfresh]

I found a new sideline for you Bee.

I was looking at an old UK chicken mag and noticed an ad that is right up your alley.

A lady is offering a "Culling Course" which is a course on how to kill, pluck, gut and bone a chicken. The ad says "Classes are small and informal", all the chickens used are reared on the ladies farm on a GM-free diet. Each participant catches, kills and then plucks the chicken. Then they learn how to cut and de-bone a second pre-plucked bird. At the end of the day's class participants get to keep their two chickens.

Since so many are asking for your help in chicken cleaning I though you would like this little idea!

edited for punctuation

 

[Home Maker]

I just wanted to say, being fairly new here, this is the first time I've seen this thread -- You have such a beautiful place! Every time I see open land ....

 

[Beekissed]

Thank you, Home Maker! Its just a rental, you know? But God brought us to this place and put us with the right landlord, so it was a good place to land.

Drake, I've often dreamed of having such a place and there is a beautiful valley just over the state line in VA, called Blue Grass Valley, which would be the perfect place. I've often thought of having a B&B/working farm where the city folk can come to rest, eat right off the farm, feed chickens and gather eggs, milk a cow or just watch it being milked....along the lines of that.

A wood burning hot tub made from natural stone, secluded paths on which to ride horses up on the mountain so they can view the 40 mile valley in all its splendor. AND a resident massage therapist (ME ) to give them special, relaxing massage and home made salt scrub treatments.....you see, it has all been worked out in my mind long ago! A full-on Bee meets Salatin farm experience with an added twist...cater to the peace lovers and the ones who just want a unique experience with their vacation. And they could buy my down quilts, raw honey, soaps, lotions, beef, lamb, eggs, veggies....whatever they wanted to take away as a momento of their time in Blue Grass.

I've been dreaming of that for years....but it isn't likely to happen. If I had a better bathroom here, I would do a mini-version of it when the boys leave. No horses and milk cows of course, but a quiet sojourn in a real old farm house, comfy beds, massage, home-cooked meals, country produce and stuff to take home. Chickens and sheep, apples to pick off the tree~NO cable, NO cell phone service, wood heat.

But then, my place isn't really fancy enough for folks to really want to stay here, although I read about this one place called Grandma's House that stays rented all the time and its circa 70's decor, board games and nothing special really...just quiet. They rent for $400 a week and stay rented all the time!

FF, I would dearly LOVE to do something like that! It wouldn't really fly around here, as most of these folks have worked at the poultry processing plants around here and already know how to gut and cut up chickens and turkeys.....but it is still a great idea! I may steal that one in the future! There may be folks out there who want to learn, huh?

ETA: Funny thing, but the other day a woman approached me about the garden I had last year and about how "beautiful" it was and wanted to know if I gave classes or if she could just come over some time and watch what I do! Can you imagine that? Who knows? May become a sideline or even a ministry for me...teach the folks to grow food, can food, grow animals on grass....it would certainly be exciting!