Wild Things

Will you look at these three little works of art. . .killdeer eggs, laid right in the cows' alleyway between the barn and the pasture. Hmmm. We may need some creative fencing solutions here.

They remind me how we, the domesticators and the domesticated, and all of our domesticated animals can and do coexist with the wild ones in many places on this land. The skunks like the dark cave beneath the walk-in cooler. The robins and barn swallows nest in the pole barn. The Sand Hill Crane (yes!) roosts in the woodlot and circles overhead squawking its eery rattlebox call. Neighbors saw a moose in the woodlot this spring. We saw lots of its scat (or can I call it manure?) and cow-like prints. For weeks, our woods walks involved a lot of hushed voices and wondering. . . where might the moose show up next and where did it sleep at night and how tall is it?

 Batter fried fiddleheads by Joseph

It is spring. We hand harvest nettles, dandelion greens and fiddlehead ferns as well as the spring planted 'Tyee' spinach that is rocking out in the hoophouses. Yes, we plow the ground open for our crops. We disrupt the wild by our agricultural acts. Yet, importantly, we strive to involve the wild in our days so that we might mirror nature's cycles and generosity more. So that we might be taught and/or remember how to be better domesticators. And how to be a bit more wild.

With so much hope for the seasons of abundance ahead,
Polly