Quite often, talk about farming starts off by talking about the weather. It sets the scene, mood, and tone for the conversation that follows. This past winter was mild but still long. The rain hasn’t really stopped much, but temperatures and sunlight are increasing, so grass is popping like it just heard about the space race. Lots of good forage in the pasture this year. That’s a tick in the win column.
Legacy apple trees leafing out on last year’s new top growth.
Since Farley and I both started new off-farm jobs last year (both going well — another win) some things have fallen by the wayside. Garden preparations are still not complete. Shop organization, an important winter task, appears to have never been started. That’s a couple of ticks in the lose column. Not all of the apple trees got pruned this year and bloom is in full swing. It smells and looks nice but means they’ll be even more work next time. That’s a tick for the Ghost of Losses Future.
Cous Cous at about a week old, making her first trip outside.
A recent and new win for us was that we successfully hatched our first French Toulouse goose in an incubator this year. We called her Cous Cous the Goosegoose. She had a crazy sideways smile (scissor beak) and a long left arm (angel wing) and was sweet as Farley’s Key Lime pie (always a win!) We brooded her in the house for a short time and took turns cuddling her under our sweatshirts while making baby goose talk. Since she was the only one to hatch, we bought her a friend (“Teasel”) from a nearby farm so she could have another goose to grow up with. They were two weeks apart in age but bonded quickly. Two weeks later the goose mommas hatched a clutch of their own outside — 7 fuzzy little wins!
Things were rolling pretty good, but I had neck and shoulder problems slowing me down. The good people of Nature Nurture Farmacy and Discovery Therapeutics were getting me on the right track and the weather was turning nice, so I took advantage of it and spent a lazy hour around the farm with our geese. Cous Cous and Teasel had a nice afternoon in the sun and went to bed fat and happy, but didn’t wake up that way. The next day I entered the shop on morning rounds and heard a disturbing sound — silence. Teasel was resting her head on Cous Cous’s sprawling, lifeless body. Our first goose win of the season was now also a loss. Which column does that go in?
Teasel rejecting Kiki’s attempts at friendship - it’s not often you find a creature that believes itself superior to cats!
The big geese have not accepted Teasel yet, but Kiki is considering her as a possible companion. Just this morning she attempted to cat rub and share some purring with the young goose as we lounged under an unpruned apple tree. Teasel hissed assertively. My geese-speak is not great, but I think she said “I’m a goose, dumb cat!” Kiki climbed the tree and the three of us enjoyed the breeze awhile, listening to chicken egg song in the distance, each thinking our own thoughts, together. Other things on the To Do list were not getting done, but this moment was a win. You’ve got to take those where you can get them.
