i wish i could take a video of how it goes.  there are all these details first…be sure the bales of feed are covered with the tarp.   haul the water bowl and the pellet bowls out back.  make sure the latch on the back gate works.  put Tulip, the old deaf dog inside and close the dog door.  ok.  give the bucks some pellets.  fill the magic bucket that makes noise,  open the doe gate and call out:  Come Come!!!  Come Come while rattling the pellets in the bucket.  which really, i probably don't even need to do anymore, except that they like it a lot when things keep being the same.  I wish i had a video of the explosion of goats and how they make a beeline through the big yard, through the gate, through the house yard…hesitating a few seconds because it's tempting, but then no another rattle and Come Come!!! and onward, past the wood splitter through the back gate and the final rush to the pellet bowls where i dump evenly three batches of pellets making that wonderful clatter.  and of course, SnowBunny will not be fooled and wheels around and tears back out the gate and i try to catch her but can't and then just outside the gate she turns and stands and DECIDES HER SELF to walk slowly back through.  and i quick latch the gate closed.

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mercy…mi consentida.  special one.

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Just Going, who i thought was a stillborn, but HA!, a strapping junior doe and VERY FAST

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Cinderella, sister of SunnyRay   

3 of the Junior Does.  Magic only would be photographed in group photos today.  But they are all very very nice does.

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there was a LOT of this,  everyone taking their turn, their Time, their Place, over the course of the afternoon as the Sun moved through the sky

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Michelle's cloth,  after a winter of Wind flying

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for the Crows

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lots of pics of Goat butts

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maybe a lilac bush this year, maybe not

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a rare moment of Arctica standing for the camera

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so…this was the day today.  and i am having Feelings.  am reminding self that "feelings are thoughts, and thoughts are mental constructs.  So, ok, i am entertaining mental constructs.  It's been almost a year.  Lucky Star and Caroline will kid in mid May.  THOSE kids will NEED to be sold.  Unless, Unless, one is an exceptional little buck.  he could be kept intact, as the beloved and bad Buckwheat also will need to go.  and i remember saying here, goats are not pets.  no.  they are not.  but…..how do i Just Go. ???? 

No excuses.   the two bred does will NEED to be milked for cheese.  and cheese will NEED to be made.  No matter what.  No excuses.   and i will NEED to get word out and use the bucks as breeders.  Today, oddly, they were very quiet.  Peacefull even.  Buckwheat napped in his food tub…who would have guess that would ever happen.  We are all familiar with everything about eachother.  we know what we can expect of eachother.  we trust and rely on eachother to be who we are.  Not to say there are still things unknown, as in that there seems to be a Uhhhhh,  sense of reconciliation to the fact that two does are now pregnant.  the other does still come in heat but there is not that urgency anymore, of the doe calling, the bucks answering, the comotion the comotion.  and i'm wondering….Could it possibly be that the herd accepts this?  That it is good and ok with The Herd that two are going to kid?  i have no idea if this could be true, but it seems to be. 

so…there is still so much to learn.  and we MADE IT through a winter.  and though the Daughter, is still incommunicado for her own reasons whatever they might be,  we are ok.  and we are Just Going.  and we are just going holding hoof and hand with the Unforseen.  and i am thinking i can DO IT.  whatever IT turns out to be.  I love them, those Goats.  i really love them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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26 responses to “Love”

  1. roz Avatar
    roz

    i LOVE the sky and the colour and the fur of the goats, and the gathering together and the looking and their faces.and the climbing up to be king of the castle. i think i would love them. those goats.

    Like

  2. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    Yes love, it is felt here. It’ been almost a year and a family has come together, has survived the leaving of some, the arrival of some and more to come, has survived a winter,etc. To me the goats are family and whether it is good or not to view them through the “feelings” lens, it just happens each time that I gaze here on your world with appreciative joy.

    Like

  3. Julie Avatar
    Julie

    “an explosion of goats”. there is a cloth in that
    thank you so for the tour…just seeing the sun and winding cloths makes the start of this day lovely

    Like

  4. patricia Avatar

    i love your description of doing. the steps involved in getting from here to there and each one so important for the flow, for the goats ease of being–and it’s so obvious that they are at ease in these pictures. so at easy, so healthy and strong. a fine cloth you’ve helped weave together. especially love the pic of your hand gentling the chin of the one–and trying to pickut out the pregnant does -hard to say for certain, but one brown and one one? and the sky–surreal in its blueness. what a day you had.

    Like

  5. patricia Avatar

    some weird typos in that post of mine. meant pick out not pickut–but like the looks of that word. and then “one brown and one white? is what i meant. and it’s not even that early here. hmmmm.

    Like

  6. Deb G Avatar

    Such an intense blue sky, so beautiful. And the goats too. Thinking about how we find balance.

    Like

  7. saskia Avatar

    wow, your goat-filled life, your very full life. I have only one dog and I know how much joy he brings into our lives and the Love I feel for him, well beyond words; I have no idea what, if anything he feels for me, but him letting me love him is a good thing.
    As always Grace, it has been a pleasure to catch a glimpse of your life, love Saskia
    p.s. the colours are all so beautiful: the subtle shades of brown, white and greys and then the Blue blue sky, wow.

    Like

  8. Mo Crow Avatar

    ah your goats are glowing with the TLC you give Grace

    Like

  9. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    Heart pounding beautiful opening to Spring…I feel it coming—Spring, though there may be more snows, still…it will come and all the green reappear like magic. This work of your hands and heart is visceral and the photographs capture much of it. I can almost smell the goat hair with it’s pungency infused by love. That blue…that blue is worth a Winter of waiting by the fire…it’s electric.

    Like

  10. Suzanna Avatar

    Oh beautiful goats, happy herd…a year, oh my!

    Like

  11. grace.porvida@gmail.com Avatar
    grace.porvida@gmail.com

    we repeat days. there is nothing amazing going on…
    nothing really New, unless there are babies being born.
    otherwise, days are similar. one to another.
    but somehow, they feel so incredibly
    GOOD.
    the looking at one another’s face is such a GOOD thing.

    Like

  12. grace.porvida@gmail.com Avatar
    grace.porvida@gmail.com

    the feeling lense is easy to Feel.
    i need to go beyond that sometimes, but then i can
    fall back into it and just Feel how it Feels. which
    is very uhhhh, very Right.
    Soon, you will be able to feel it yourself. how
    amazing will That be……..

    Like

  13. grace.porvida@gmail.com Avatar
    grace.porvida@gmail.com

    not time yet for a goat cloth. i don’t know why.

    Like

  14. grace.porvida@gmail.com Avatar
    grace.porvida@gmail.com

    they are all maybe too fat. i only feed them 2 flakes
    a feeding…twice a day. there are 13 does. and then
    in the evening, a bucket of pellets for all. now it’s
    no longer alfalfa, but grass hay. less protien. and
    mixing in, i am giving the native grass. they all
    look pregnant, don’t they. what to do.

    Like

  15. grace.porvida@gmail.com Avatar
    grace.porvida@gmail.com

    that sky…that sky IS New Mexico. just how the sky IS
    here. almost every day.
    and balance. yes. how we find it, and before that,
    what exactly IS it?

    Like

  16. grace.porvida@gmail.com Avatar
    grace.porvida@gmail.com

    those browns and greys will change soon. greens, all
    manner of greens amidst the sand brown. very soon, it
    will all
    leaf out.
    things we love and weeds.
    and now, it doesn’t really matter anymore to me. Weeds
    are good too. what a wonderful thing that is to say.
    Weeds are good too.
    Weeds are good too.

    Like

  17. grace.porvida@gmail.com Avatar
    grace.porvida@gmail.com

    they ask for it by just their beingness

    Like

  18. grace.porvida@gmail.com Avatar
    grace.porvida@gmail.com

    the does fragrance, goaty a little, but mostly
    a kind of soft essence, like sandlewood. not even as
    punguent as Pachouli…soft. musky. good.
    Bucks…different but for a different purpose, so we
    forgive their fierce smell.
    and that blue. yes. and your indigo cloth…i will try
    to untangle it soon. but then, i wonder why. it has
    Placed itself

    Like

  19. grace.porvida@gmail.com Avatar
    grace.porvida@gmail.com

    Suzanna…a year. yes. you would love these goats.
    i can see you smiling……..

    Like

  20. roz Avatar
    roz

    there is beauty in everyday and everyday .. a blue sky day after day will always make me swoon and feel instant happiness . i am in fact addicted to it. it is like a drug.
    as for the goats i know little about goats but these look so well cared for , their coats so soft, and with abundant personality and strength and cheekiness. i imagine they would make you laugh. out loud.

    Like

  21. grace.porvida@gmail.com Avatar
    grace.porvida@gmail.com

    they do. make me laugh Out Loud. and sing. Out Loud.
    they think singing is interesting. i work at understanding what kind of singing they like most. i don’t know yet.
    and they make me stop procrastinating. it’s a great thing, to do things in an orderly way that i KNOW i need to do anyway, but keep putting off till it’s all in a pile. Now, i just go. i just do thing, thing, thing. and
    it’s better.
    and they each somehow know their own name. it might have
    been explicable, at first. only Snowbunny, then Oona and
    Onday. but then the rest, pretty fast….Ginger Caroline
    Barbara, little Grace, Lucky Star from an entirely different herd, Arctica, born during hardship, and then
    Magic, Cinderella, Just Going and Mercy. How can this be?
    But they do. and each has her place in the doe herd.
    The bucks are their own world and understand things as
    they do. They too are very much individuals with very
    certain selves.
    and we are all HERE. this acre of the Earth, under this
    Sky Blue sky. we have tried all, very hard to be ok since
    the arrival and we Are. we are OK. and we are Just Going.
    and we will continue. one Blue day after another.
    i never would have imagined. but here it
    is.

    Like

  22. roz Avatar
    roz

    love. it is all love.

    Like

  23. KaiteM. Avatar

    So Beautiful, so peaceful, such acceptance……..

    Like

  24. saskia Avatar

    since I started dyeing with the weeds, they have become some of my favourite plants! plus there are (half)wild bunnies wandering through the gardens and they love certain weeds like dandelions, so that’s fine with me (not so fine is their munching away all my courgettes and pumpkins!)

    Like

  25. Dee Avatar

    your word “eachother” says so much!
    all those books about dogs teaching people all they need to know – these beautiful posts seem to be suggesting that goats are teaching you all you need to know. it is certainly a wonderful journey to take part in, even from a distance.
    we need eachother. we speak to eachother. Each of us inspires another. herds, packs, skies, seasons, readers, writers, cheesemakers, clothmakers, lilac bushes (or not).

    Like

  26. handstories Avatar

    i think i’ve said it before, but your words create such movies in my mind, of a world i don’t know, but can feel through your sharing. my favorite photo is of the two on the top of the stairs, looking out, knowing this is their world. a good glad world with grace.

    Like

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