November Hill farm journal, 176

 Our local weather forecaster says we’re having an early spring this year, and with an 81 degree day yesterday it certainly feels like we’ve fast forwarded all the way to early summer. 

The row of daffodils along the entrance to our big barnyard has been spectacular this year, and I hope to move the remaining bulbs from the front pollinator bed to the fence line on the other side of the barnyard gate to make a matched set in this area for next spring. 

I’m seeing maples flowering and the redbuds are getting close to bloom as well. The tulip poplars can’t be too far behind, and that is when the honey bees, already very busy, will go into high gear. I have 3 out of 5 colonies coming out of winter this year, and I need to clean out the two hives that didn’t make it so I’ll have space for splits. My most prolific colony, Hegemone, is likely to grow so quickly coming into springI will be able populate both my empty hives, and their genetics is definitely worth expanding. 

It also feels like time to do some cutting and stacking of old growth in the pollinator beds, and I know from past years that if I put it off too long the new growth will win the race and I’ll have to go in oh so carefully with my clippers. 

Horses and pony and donkeys are all good, and came in with fans yesterday afternoon because 81 degrees with still wintry coats on is just too much! They’re all shedding and have been, but not fast enough to be ready for that temperature. 

Our stream of birthdays that cluster in February, March, and April has begun, and this year we also have something else to celebrate: my daughter has been accepted into her top choice PhD program! We’re all so happy for her, and I am overjoyed that as it turns out, her top choice is also a local choice, so in at least some ways, life will roll on with my loved ones close by. 

Spring! I am very ready for it, and excited for all the things that will be coming up - in the gardens, and in our lives. 

Happy Birthday, Redford!!

 15 years old today! Seen here a week or so ago grazing hay next to Cody. I hadn’t noticed until this minute as I uploaded the photo, but the configuration of the herd is in itself meaningful. Keil is the oldest equine and definitely its center. Little Man and Rafer Johnson are best buddies and are not usually far apart. Redford loves being with Cody and Keil, and here he’s right between them. 

Redford was always very close by Salina when she was alive, and while he gets on with all the equines, and has been amazing through Keil’s bout with EPM, he is also the one equine who most frequently separates himself from the herd to keep me company when I’m doing chores or just out and about near the barn. He keeps an eye out on things happening around us, which reminds me a lot of Salina. I can always glance out our windows and if Redford is alert to a direction, there’s sure to be something going on. 

He’s the youngest member of our herd, close in age to Rafer. I expect he and Rafer will be with us for many more years and I’m grateful for their longevity and for their sweetness, curiosity, and for the joy they have brought and continue to bring to our lives. 

Happy birthday, Redford! You’re a star for sure. 

New published flash fiction and a couple of essays out

 When They Were Gone is a spooky little flash fiction piece up now on On The Run Lit.

My flash nonfiction essay is available for pre-order in River Feet Anthology #3, along with many other beautiful pieces all centered around the landscape and wildlife: https://www.riverfeetpress.com/product-page/awake-in-the-world-v-3

Another nonfiction essay, Everything Is Connected, is available now from Minerva Rising’s 10th Anniversary Anthology, issue 22, called Then And Now: https://minervarising.com/product/22-then-and-now/ - and there are many beautiful pieces to read in addition to mine.

As always, it’s a joy and an honor to have my work out in the world. 

November Hill farm journal, 175

 Lots going on right now, but this is what caught my eye this week. The daffodils are starting to bloom! I am a firm believer in native plantings but these daffodils were here when we moved in and I have let them stay in this section because they add a cheerful note during this time when the farm looks its messiest. Gradually I’ve moved the bulbs from the front pollinator bed up here, and one aggravated day I tossed some over the fence into the adjacent forest. As some of you might recall, those managed to live and now offer me a bit of color in late winter as I work at my desk in the garret. 

We had just about dried out from the last soaking rains but on Saturday evening the herd was out grazing their hay as long as possible before the 24 hours plus of more rain started. We shifted from 70s to 40s and on went their rain sheets and all their hay was served in the barn during the re-soaking of the farm. This morning it’s wet ground but blue skies and sunshine, so we begin the drying out process yet again! 

It’s hard to look at this winter pasture and imagine it will be as green as - well - as green as grass in another month or so. 

In other news, my daughter has been accepted to the PhD program she most wanted to get into, and she will be working in a research group she truly wanted to join. I’m so proud of her. And have I said that we are expecting our second grandchild in August? I feel very rich in love right now. Many blessings. 

Last week, a large gang of elk ascended the path to the bald and there was a young calf with them. It’s a mystery, as elk calves in our area are generally born in late May/early June, so this one is special and early, and I am so very grateful we got to see them. 

By the next time I post, maybe I will have planted the potager! That’s on my list. :)

November Hill farm journal, 174

 The farm has been a muddy mess the past two weeks, not quite getting the time it needs to dry out before the next rain arrives. It’s also really hit that time of year when I feel like the ground is just destroyed in terms of any chance it can grow anything green again. Thankfully after a few years of our farm helper getting up most/all of the leaves, this year we left them all. That’s mostly what I did prior to having our farm helper and going into this winter without him, I knew we were going back to that. 

I learned during the years he got up the leaves that while it looked better during the sunnier parts of winter, when we had any kind of precipitation it was a disaster. The leaf cover helps with run off, it helps with mud, it helps the insects whose life cycles depend on having places to pupate. So this year I felt good about not only leaving the leaves, but not having that extra work to do.

What happens is that, gradually through the winter when we muck pastures and paddocks, a few of the leaves at a time get picked up along with the manure and composted. By spring most of the leaves are in compost piles or have broken down on their own. In the grassy paddock, where we only allow the herd to have limited and select times of turn-out, the winter grass is as thick as ever and the leaves are gradually displaced as the grass grows. I’ll mow that in the early spring to get rid of some weeds, but even that does not need raking. It seems obvious that out in natural areas, no one is out there removing leaf fall. I’m back to my original plan: let the leaves fall, let them stay, let them do their thing in the ecosystem. It’s best in that way, but for us, it’s also best for the horsekeeping part too.

I noticed yesterday that the daffodils are about 7 inches tall. I confess I actually love this early growth better than the flowers. The straight stems shooting up in bigger clusters than the year before make me happy this time of year. Proof that in spite of how the landscape looks, life is happening and things are alive and well.

I just ordered heirloom seeds for the potager. My son, daughter-in-law, and grandson are going to partner with us this spring to have our potager here and a similar space at their house, where we will attempt to grow the bulk of our produce. Today we have a 60-degree day, and I’m going to spend a chunk of it working in the potager to get the beds composted and ready for planting in the next few weeks. I have a roll of no-climb fencing that was accidentally purchased at the wrong height for side fence line, so I’m going to install it inside the board fencing of the potager to at least cut down on the bunnies entering willy-nilly to snack on new/young plantings. I also have some wire bell cages I can use.

I’ve done a small amount of clearing stalks in a couple of the pollinator beds, mostly along the edges where they were hanging down and getting in the way. I made a couple of small “edges” with the stems so the insects can still have them and the birds can continue to forage and shelter. 

I need to get ready and set up an extra bee hive, which will clear some stuff out of my beekeeping supply closet. Swarm season will be here before we know it and I wouldn’t mind getting one more colony going. So far all five are making it through this winter, even the one I thought had died out, but if we lose any I can replace them by splitting the early swarmers.

The herd is hanging in there through the muddy season. Dogs and cats are all doing their things too. Keil Bay’s chiropractic vet convinced me he could go back to every third month for adjustments, and we’ve spread his acupuncture and Legend injections to every other month. The birthday season has come - Baloo turned 6 and Clem turned 4 this month, Redford and Cody are up next month, and we’ll get to Keil Bay and Apache in April. I’m leaving out the humans but some of us will have our birthdays too!

One thing I’ll announce is that in the next month I’ll be starting a Substack, not to replace this blog, but to add a new weekly “column.” It will have some free contact and some paid content, and its focus will be the psychotherapy strategies I offer (and have offered) to my clients for the past 32 years. When I jumped back in full-time in July I found that the strategies are as needed now as they ever have been, and in ways more so. I’m happy to be able to share some of them in this new forum. I’ll post the link here when it’s active and rolling, in case anyone who reads here wants to also read there.

I hope everyone is making it through this winter with moments and times of joy and also hope. There are things happening that are upsetting and that inspire anger and frustration, and I’m not going to go into them in detail here. But I want to say this: we all deserve the chance to live our lives in safety, peace, and the ability to be with family and friends. We deserve to move through the world without being at risk of human-caused injury or death. And we deserve leadership that focuses on making this world all of those things. I do not know how we get to that from where we are, but I am holding the space for that to happen and doing the things I can to contribute in small ways to that way of life.