A farming post....

Did you ever run into one of those days where you really wanted to do more than you were able to?

This time I don't mean adoption - we are still working on that, in fact, I have another Etsy fundraiser sale going on Friday, I will post a link if you want to do your Christmas shopping!  Sara's Treasure Box sells the most beautiful jewelry and it is really inexpensive.  We benefit from sales of necklaces on Friday, October 15th, if Oswald Adoption Fundraiser is listed in the notes section.  Her necklaces generally run $10.75 and $5 will go towards our special needs adoption!  So, it is really affordable, I have ordered several (for other people's adoption fundraisers) that I have stashed away for Christmas presents!  Here is the address: 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/sarahstreasurebox

So, go shopping on Friday, October 15th and mention the Oswald family!  You will love Sarah's stuff, and support her efforts to help special needs children get to loving homes!

Anyway, today I have two sick kiddos, so we are at home.  I am not sure if I will be able to get the other kids to church or not, given hubby is working far away and has a late meeting.  Oh, well.  God must have known that we needed a day of gathering ourselves.

Of course that means that Kiley (one of the sick ones) is snuggled down in my bed, surfing craigslist. 

Sigh.

Given the economy, there are so many horses for sale, many at what is typically considered fabulous prices (if not free or nearly so!).  And, in the last two months we have bought two that way (oh, yeah, kids joined together to save two yearling arab fillies that needed a new home), and then were involved in a huge rescue effort to get five abused animals out of a bad situation.  So, there are three donkeys, a mule and some sort of small draft gelding added to our herd - to bring it to a grand total of : SEVENTEEN!!!!!!

Yeah, seventeen.

More than we planned, more than certainly we need, but they needed a place. 

We are working on training and gentling them and it is rewarding for everyone. 

So, if we were independently wealthy, had a big barn and an unending supply of hay, we could be really busy!  All the "green" horses are up for sale now as people tighten their belts.  I totally get it, you have to face priorities.  If the market ever turns around, whoever has gotten these animals trained to good saddle horses could make a mint (that always appeals to my husband's thoughts).  But, we aren't.  Thank goodness!!!!

So, we are out loving on animals and teaching them that we are trustworthy!  To watch an animal that large gentle and begin to trust you reminds you of how important trust is, how easily it is lost, and how hard it is to win back.  In human relationships that is just as important.  If we can trust someone, we can do anything. 

Kiley's now three year old mule Polly is a good example of that.  Polly came to us as a six month old filly.  She was skittish at first, but then became just like a large puppy dog, and grew and grew.  She is now fifteen hands high, and built big - her daddy was a Mammoth Jack, her mama a Haflinger mare.  So, Polly is a big girl as you would expect.  But she thinks she is a big snuggly thing.  Kiley has gotten her trust so completely that in one day she was able to introduce her to a saddle blanket, a saddle, a girth and stirrups, and get her all saddled up with the girth tightened with nary a flick of her huge ears.  And then the next day, she put a bridle on her for the first time!  Complete with a bit!  And went on to mount and take a few steps on this huge animal that had never carried anything on her back!  That is trust.  And it was rewarded and not disappointed. 

That is the way it should work in all areas, shouldn't it.

Which does make it a little odd when we butcher our chickens.  Hmmmm....  

But we are really humane about it anyway. 

Okay, so I am still in a bit of a quandry about that one, but they are really there for food, right?

Okay, so that is my struggle as a city-girl turned farmer.....  LOL.  I think.

But, boy, they taste really good, and they enjoy their free ranging lives while they live it!  Doing what chickens are meant to do - chasing bugs, each other, eating, enjoying dust baths and sunshine. 

So, now I have rationalized myself back into it.  Plus the practicalities of our health and my children's always hungry bellies!  LOL! 

Isn't life funny?

"For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans for hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11