November Hill farm journal, 217

 We are swimming in beautiful, huge figs right now, and I’m enjoying my son and grandchildren’s delight in picking and eating them. In the throes of a long, hot, and in many ways difficult summer, this simple pleasure is sustaining all of us. 

We’ve had enough good rain to rejuvenate the pastures, and the front field has totally come back to very green life. Apache has been able to return to full time turn-out with his herd and they were invited to head into the front pasture yesterday. Every time I glanced out they were heads down and grazing. It was a sweet thing to see. And it’s August! So we’re heading toward my favorite season and although we still have some heat left to sweat our way through, knowing cooler weather is coming makes me so happy.

Right now the goldfinches are devouring the coneflower seed heads. I love seeing these bright little birds in the garden. This photo came from my husband this morning.

I’ve been able to do small gardening tasks almost every day for the past week, mostly tidying up the grass around the driveway with my electric weedeater. It’s nicely self limiting due to its battery charge, which helps me limit myself and not get into the deep rabbit hole of trying to do “the whole thing.” 

Today, I’m enjoying a morning quiet time with Pixie sitting on my lap purring and pushing her face into my arm, which she loves to do, Bear lying on the floor belly up, Baloo perched on the sofa with his face to the window so he can monitor the driveway, and Violet on the very large dog bed asleep. Clem is sleeping in the laundry room, and Pippin, Isobel, and Mystic are napping upstairs. The herd is in the barn with fans and hay. 

It is possible to endure very hard things and also find moments of calm and beauty. This is my mission right now and I think it’s a good reminder to all of us. Find the calm and beautiful moments, as many times as we can do so in a day, a week, a month. 

Fallout from Charlotte Dujardin exiting the Olympics

 I’m reading in various places on the internet posts in which the authors are asking horse people to stop bashing equine sports and its abuses because if they continue, the horse industry itself will die out. 

And my response to this is: 

If competitors cannot treat horses humanely maybe the industry should die out.

Maybe there shouldn’t even BE an “industry” that uses horses for financial gain and ego boosting. 

Maybe anyone who loves horses, or professes to, should consider that if you own a horse or even if you’re just watching someone else “own” a horse, it’s your job, your responsibility, to advocate for the welfare, health, and wellbeing of that horse. Speaking out when we see abuse is always the right thing to do. 

A response to my response this morning suggested that if there is no horse “industry” then what purpose would it serve to even have horses?

My response:

No purpose for anyone to have horses? How about because we love them and enjoy living with them and riding them in ways that promote their, and our, health and wellbeing? I have lived with 6 equines for the past 20 years. My amazing mare who passed at age 30, my heart horse gelding who passed at age 34, and now my son’s 19 year old horse, my daughter’s 24 year old pony (yes, the one who she bought at age 7 with her own money and rode in Pony Club for years), and our two miniature donkeys ages 16 and 17. All these equines have been with us since age 2, 4, and 6 months of age. They bring joy to me every single day. I have learned about equine nutrition, hoof care and trimming, EPM, PSSM, senior horse care, bodywork for all of them, and how bonded a herd of horses becomes to one another and to the humans they live with. This is the true journey of humans and horses, not the industry that makes money off them.

Have we gone so far outside the rails of compassion and common sense that we actually think there is no reason to live with horses if there isn’t industry and competition and training and making money off these amazing animals?

I’m so done with this way of thinking. It represents the worst part of being human. 

In our little horse world, dear husband decided last night on a whim to go ahead and turn our little herd out together for the first time since Apache’s surgery and recovery. Oh, how happy they are! I’m so glad we’ve reached his third month post surgery. Now we count down the rest of the year with him to get all the way through this year’s big event for a very amazing Little Man. 

November Hill farm journal, 216

 

As is true every summer, the button bushes are hubs of activity for birds and insects. I’m grateful for the resources these natives offer on either side of our driveway!

We’ve hit the rainy season here on November Hill, with plenty of sunshine and heat but now regular rain which has given everything a deep watering and turned the landscape around us into a jungle. It’s welcome right now, after a hot, dry period that took its toll. 

Our potager is doing well. There are so many things on the farm that could do with some photos and I hope I can get around to them all this weekend. 

Apache is doing really well. He and Rafer Johnson (who, by the way, has turned 17 years old!) are now turning out to the back pasture and in another week or so the herd will come back together as one for their turn-out time. Rafer’s birthday party has been delayed but we will make it up to him for sure. 

I admit I am more than ready for the fall this year, more so than usual, and I know it’s still a couple months away. Right now I’m taking in all the green, the lush foliage, the front pasture (which has been closed off for several weeks now) going green green green. 

I’ve been in a dry spell with my writing this past couple of months, and I know autumn is going to bring me back to it. 

My family has been through a rough time recently and although we are moving forward into a better place, it’s still in process and still not at all comfortable. The only way through is through, though, so onward and upward we go. 

One thing I can say: I love my husband, I love my children, I love my grandchildren, I love my animal family, and I love my very dear friends, some of whom read here and to you I say thank you. I feel your support and I am so grateful. 

As usual, I am sustained by the actual land we live on. November Hill literally holds me up on a daily basis. And I want to notice that and write it here. What a gift it is to feel connection with the very earth I stand on every single day. 

November Hill farm journal, 215

 My daughter took this morning glory photo along our driveway this week and the beauty of its leaves and flowers takes my breath away. These flowers have volunteered here in just one spot every summer since we moved here 20 years ago. 

Right now my family is experiencing a tragic and extremely distressing situation that I cannot go into at this time, but the persistence of these morning glories in our lives is a bit of a metaphor right now for me. 

If you pray, if you send out light, if you offer healing, hopeful energy, we welcome that right now. I am a hopeful person by nature, and I am someone who harnesses every hopeful sign I see in the world around me, particularly the natural world. I am sending out my own light and love on a near constant basis this past month and today and I believe that if those who know me share in this it will be a powerful effort that makes a big difference.

Love to all who read here, and thank you for any positive thoughts you send our way. 

(And on another hopeful note, Apache is now on turnout with Rafer and they are loving the freedom as he continues on his recovery journey.)

November Hill farm journal, 214

 Apache Moon on one of his grazing times in our back yard, thanks to dear husband who has taken this on and made it happen many times a day for this stall-bound pony boy. 

He’s doing very well and as of today has 12 days left until he can move to turn-out from his stall into the little barnyard that adjoins it. 

Rafer Johnson continues to be a very good friend to the Little Man, with his open stall across the barn aisle and at nights access to the big barnyard where Little Man can see him and know he’s close by. 

I’ve read that if a horse does well for the six months following this kind of surgery, and wasn’t prone to colic before, they generally return to that low risk zone. I so hope this beloved little man takes that path. 

Right now our focus is on getting through July 4th and this wave of high heat days. At that point, we’ll be anticipating Rafer Johnson’s birthday celebration on July 19th! As I say at every birthday at the barn now, it is mind blowing that he will be 17 years old. I hadn’t thought about the difference between Little Man’s age (24) and Rafer’s until right this moment, but wow - these two boys have been friends for 16.5 years now. In any case, it will be a wonderful excuse to celebrate Rafer’s life and also the fact that these two can move on to many more happy years of friendship.

The forecast today is 97 and thankfully/hopefully the trend that it’s been a few degrees cooler on the farm than what is predicted will continue. We have a good breeze this morning and that too may help the heat not feel quite so intense for those of us who cannot come inside!

I am grateful on these hot days for the fans and for the big oaks that shade most of our barn and keep it cool. 

Yesterday I did more watering of some garden beds and also in the morning did some weed-eating of stilt grass to keep it taking over. The upper terraced bed looks quite good thanks to my weeding efforts in the spring and also with the addition of the short-leafed mountain mint, which is thriving. The two button bushes on either side of the driveway are now blooming and creating a kaleidoscope of activity as the bees and butterflies and moths and birds go back and forth to the flowers. 

In a moment of possibly heat-induced irrationality, I decided to power wash the front porch, was thwarted mightily when the outlet on the porch died and took the two inside outlets with it, but I rallied enough to just use the hose by itself with my finger the only engine to make the water flow stronger. The porch really needed some attention, and as dry as it is, the water surely gave some relief to a number of insects and the plants around the porch. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you the cats stretched out in the afternoon as the porch finished drying and looked especially content in the clean and tidied space they love so much.

All the litter boxes got a good cleaning and even the loss of power for 4 hours in the heat of the afternoon did not bring the feeling of accomplishment down!

I’m not planning any big or sudden such projects today though!

May we all stay safe in this severe heat and may we also get a break from it soon.