A Shotgun Kinda Mornin’
It’s the mornings that begin extra eerily quiet and you wonder why.
It’s the mornings that begin with the sky being dark and rolling with thunder. It’s the mornings that begin with seeing your duck coop roof has been ripped off. It’s the mornings that begin with loading the 22 shotgun before 7 am, to finish off the four ducks that the raccoons didn’t kill the night before.
It’s these mornings that I wonder if I’ll ever get this right.
What do I mean by get it right?
When you have pray animals, you will attract predators, and yet instead of trying to live going against them, I want to live going with them.
How?
Ug. Well. Clearly I haven’t figured it out yet.
If you haven’t seen the beautiful documentary The Biggest Little Farm, PLEASE do. Whether you are interested in farming or not, it’s a very well depicted story of a couple that buys acres in California with the dream of farming, and the hardships and realities of what it takes to create an ecosystem and balance.
Every time I watch it I cry. And every time I watch it I get a bigger kick in the pants to keep doing what I’m doing.
Keep going.
Their mentor in the film tells them after 7 years they will start to see the balance. After 7 years they will start to see the system take care of itself. After 7 years they will have created harmony.
7 years.
Gah. I’m two. Months. In.
18 ducks down.
Raccoons 18. Tanda 0.
I didn’t buy this farm to conquer nature. I didn’t buy this farm to control my surroundings or micromanage or be a helicopter mom.
I bought this farm to find out what it means to be a part of a system that works. That is healthy. That breathes life and puts carbon back in the soil.
I want to know what it takes to transform lifeless dirt into topsoil that looks like chocolate cake.
And I have a loooooong way to go. I have a lot to learn. I have a lot of mistakes to make. And a lot of wins to be had.
This morning was a bit of all of it.
So I’m off to tractor supply to find me a new coop.
So tomorrow?