LIFE ON LAUGHING WATER FARM

Last night, as we were taking our ease on the screen porch, we heard a lamb crying. This a frequent occurrence and it usually means it lost sight of its mother and she is ignoring the lambs calls. I try to determine if the lamb is walking by the sounds of his/her cries. If the lamb is walking it is, generally, okay. We went into the living room to listen to a show on television and forgot about it.

About 11:30PM, as I was thinking of heading for bed, I heard a lamb crying. I couldn't go to bed without investigating. I headed out to the pasture, the sliver of a moon had set, it was pitch black. We have plenty of real flashlights, but I depended on a little pocket variety powered by two AA batteries and they were weak.

Somehow I traversed one hundred yards of overgrown pasture without falling on my nose. There she was, a big ewe lamb, with her head stuck in the fence. It was pretty easy to pull her out, and the way she tore out of there, looking for mother, told me she was none the worse for wear.

They have the most luscious pasture, with everything a sheep could want. Yet............. that weed on the other side of the fence was sure tempting. Hmmmmm, I guess there are some people like that. 

In any case, I am glad I went out to check on her.

I have lived in cities. I have lived in suburbs. I think life can be great and rewarding in either one. But for me, its the country; a little plot of land, room for a garden, a few fruit trees, some chickens, maybe some sheep, perhaps a cow or goats for milk and cheese, then I am in heaven. We have been living this way since 1975, I have hard time imagining a different lifestyle.

Jamie and I are thinking of ways to share our knowledge and experience about living close to the Earth and pursuing a subsistence agriculture. Over the years we have learned a lot, both following a light and stumbling in the dark.

 Jamie has mastered the art of homesteading. She is excellent at preserving food; canning, drying, pickling, etc. She has been the chief gardener for many years. Her professional background is in nursing. She was an RN and she has a vast amount of experience in understanding the human condition. We are interested in natural medicine; herbal and otherwise. We have gathered foods from nature; mushrooms, greens, roots and even bark. We are continuing to learn about our natural surroundings and are convinced, in a perfect world, nature provides everything.

We are planning to create a web site, devoted to help people who want to live close to the Earth, in a sane manner. We don't know how to set up a web site ourselves, but we have children who do. It may be a little while. We are planning articles on chicken raising, goat raising, cheese making, gardening, wine making, canning and a whole lot more.

Ever since I told Jamie we have some readers from Russia; she has asked me, if I could find out how she could get a Fokin blade cultivator. It is a hand garden tool. She has been attempting to buy one in this country but there are apparently no importers. We have a picture of it, but have not been able to find a blacksmith to fashion it. If you folks in Russia could find out where we could purchase one, we would be very grateful.

Jamie was making a huge batch of apple sauce and, since, she was monopolizing the kitchen, she did my dishes. That's twice this week. Is she trying to steal my job? Nah, there is no danger in that.

Love and Peace,  Gregg