Oak and Ice

 

November Hill farm journal, 226

 

It has been real winter here the past few weeks, with horses in blankets many nights and ice on troughs and now predicted snow tomorrow evening. 

I’ve been able to stay warm and have been working a lot seeing clients and puttering along with writing projects and other things. 

I haven’t done a thing in the garden beds for the past few weeks but thanks to so many native plantings the birds and bunnies and squirrels are staying busy foraging. It makes me happy to see the wildlife loving the messy but well-stocked gardens I’ve put in over the years. 

The herd is also keeping busy, grazing the hay we put out for them, enjoying warm feed tubs, and resting in the warm sun on the days we have it. Our truck is in repair right now and we missed the last hay co-op pick up as a result; it’s been like very old times going to get a few bales at the time from the feed store. I remember the first 9 months when Keil Bay and Little Man came into our family and were boarded, we were responsible for purchasing and storing our own hay on a pallet with our feed bins. This meant being able to stack up to around 10 bales at a time if I’m remembering correctly, and I would drive our minivan to pick the bales up. When you don’t buy more than that, you are always on the lookout for the hay you want/need. We’re not quite back to that but close enough! I hope the truck is back home soon and we can stock up the hay room again. 

The cats and dogs are also staying warm and cozy. If the power goes out with this coming snow/ice we may be returning to times past in another way and that’s the woodstove. We haven’t used it in recent years but we do have wood ready in case we need to heat the house!

I used to love snow and find it beautiful still, but I would be fine without it, and I am secretly/not so secretly hoping the forecast bombs and we get nothing. 

It’s also writing weekend on Zoom with two dear writer friends this weekend, and I don’t want to miss it. In the end though we’ll get what we get. 

Sending lots of love and light to southern California and all impacted by the horrific wildfires there. One of my dearest friends is there and is okay - hosting families who have lost their homes - and I’m so grateful she and her family have been spared that, though she says the air quality is awful. I hope this ends soon for them. 

Oh, the pure beauty of a second Christmas with precious beloveds…

 

The days on which we celebrate matter not at all, it’s what happens in the room, when we’re eating delicious food, enjoying one another’s food as much as our own. Tasting new things, having new favorites. It’s the little table waiting, earlier in the day, for its occupants to arrive, christened by Violet, who always christens everything new in the house. 

It’s the arrival itself, coming off a day of play and hugs and laughter, coming off the looking together for the birthday gift for dad, the drive through the gate to the farm, which itself knows how to welcome the family who loves it so.

It’s the run up the stairs to the living room, the instant seating at the little table, then playtime, the food, more play, the gifts. 

It’s when every person in the room loves everyone’s gifts as much as they do their own. The way everyone in the room exclaims with smiles and satisfaction and joy. The pure absence of awkwardness and tension. It’s the way the gifts become immediate activities, shared, delighted in all together. All the smiles, all the hugs, the Christmas basket monster who makes everyone laugh. 

The stockings, such delight in tiny things, treats and little gifts. The sharing, the trading. 

And it is the gathering of things to take home, the dogs, the cats, the leavetaking that is not goodbye but simply until tomorrow, until our next time together, such fun to pack the car and give second and third and fourth hugs. 

The bird call I do not recognize in the darkening forest beside us. It occurs to me it could be the phoenix. 

ATTENTION NC HORSE HAY BUYERS: DO NOT BUY FROM TREY WALLACE IN ST. PAUL’s NC

 He is reportedly employing and covering up the fact that two known horse abusers, whose trial is still pending in NC, are not only working for him but handling horses. They should never be allowed to be in the vicinity of horses again. 

This is just one of the people posting about this on FB today, sharing personal experiences with Trey Wallace, Austin Wayne Simpson, and Kylie Lenore Parker. These two people are known to be using fake names, accounts, and information online to hide their identities because so many people will have nothing to with them knowing what they have done. 

The foal they maliciously abused died from those injuries after months of rehab and professional vet care in the hands of reputable rescuers. 

It is tragic but not surprising that their young son is acting with the same abusive behaviors they have been videoed using on foals and horses. 

If you have or witness any abusive behaviors from any of these people call 911 and report them to the authorities. 

November Hill farm journal, 225

 My newest friend, this little phoebe, visits every day while I’m in my lofty office seeing clients, doing EMDR, and also writing. 

It’s been a busy month so far, with kids and ponies and donkeys and dogs and cats and one very handsome horse. Let’s not forget the garden beds, and my slow but steady progress in tidying them while leaving all the good parts for the birds and insects and small mammals who also live on November Hill. And let’s not forget the apiary and the honeybees.

We have had cold weather, then a warming, some much-needed rain, and today we are back to cold and sunshine. 

During the rain spell, I was out romping with Baloo in the heavy fog when I looked up and captured the sweet gum tree talking to all the other trees who are circled around us. Let’s not forget the trees! I count them among my very best friends.

I’m working in the novel I began last November and am officially at the halfway point. This isn’t my fastest first drafting for sure, but it represents the slow and steady progress of committing to doing what you can, on a very regular basis. I’m proud of this effort and I’m still loving this new story. 

I’m also thinking a lot about anchors in daily life. Anchors being, for me, moments of joy that keep me centered and focused on positive things. That I have so much power to place my mood if I actively look for and notice beautiful things. Here is one of those, outside my bedroom window. You may not see what my brain inserts here: Rafer Johnson, Cody, both of whom are up closer to the barn in this photo. But also Keil Bay, and Salina. And my first little horse, Bo-Jinx. They are all there, behind Redford and Little Man. And they will always be there. 

Today I am noticing the joy of two children and their faces as they talk to their dad, all of them full of smiles and joy and sharing. It makes my heart sing. It makes my entire mind soar. What love can do, how much it can repair, and how strong it is when it needs to be so. We have the power to reprocess trauma, to push negative things away from us. We often need support to learn how to do these things, sometimes we need professional treatment. Sometimes medication helps. But we have this power. If you are reading here and you do not know how to tap into this, you can ask me and I’ll tell you things to try. Or ask someone closer in your own circle. I do this kind of work every single day and I see people finding joy. If you don’t have it, you can find it too. The only way you won’t is if you refuse to try. 

Last week the crescent moon and Venus rose above our neighborhood like beacons of hope and possibility.  You might notice the trees, the deeply-rooted guardians who are always there from my front porch, watching over us but also joining with us. I feel so much love from the trees. The crowns, the trunks, their bones in winter skies, their lush foliage either evergreening or at rest until spring. Let’s not forget the root systems, going deep, connecting, intertwining with one another. Communicating. This is where we live. This is our ecosystem. This is our support network. All we have to do is tap in to it. 

Happy December from November Hill.