** warning, graphic wound photo below.
It was 95 today and humid but not nearly as humid as it has
been and no rain at all. I love the rain and have all my life. There’s no
better or more fulfilling dance than the one done barefoot, in the rain. In
meadow or muddy garden, it is the answer to “what is it all about?”.
What the rain knows, what it has experienced and then shares
with those it rains on …the rain falling on my head today may have been in the
river Nile or the Amazon or come from Antarctica
last week. The water running down my neck swam with crocodiles, pink dolphins
and orca.
Like the wind, the rain sees everything.
But we’re tired of the muck, soft hooves, leaky boots. And
so thankful for the blessed sun. At least for a little while.
So today was warm and sunny and we glistened with the sweat
of good work.
We woke to a little bad news. Sometime during the night Anya
cut her lower leg pretty badly. It must have been early night because the blood
was quite dry. She’s not limping or favoring it at all, a very good sign. I
treated it first with my walnut salve, which is healing and antiseptic, but
mainly because it has lavender in it to keep the flies away until I could clean
and tend it better. It’s now been washed and cleaned out with iodine solution
and loosely wrapped with vet tape to keep it clean. It is bad enough to need
stitches, which I can do but loathe doing. We’ll see tomorrow how it is.
Worse than the cut is that we can’t find what she cut it on.
It had to have been sharp and fairly large and I’m afraid she could do it again
but we searched her pen and found nothing at all that looked to have been able
to cause such a wound. It does look larger and worse than it is because of
swelling, which pulls the wound open a bit. But even so, it’s pretty bad.
She is so sweet and kind and patient. A thousand pounds of
stomping thunder stood quietly and carefully while I worked. Even when I know
it was sore or stung. The world could learn so much from folk like her. I am
honored to know her and have her part of our family.
Anyway, she will be fine. Selfishly I hope she’s well enough to go wandering with me in a few weeks. I had planned to go this week but will wait however long it takes for her to be completely healed properly. But it’s a big harvest time and my lists of wants and needs and hope to finds is long.
I’ve been harvesting every day it hasn’t rained and sometimes when it has. I’ve gathered an abundance of Yarrow, cinquefoil, mulberry leaves, raspberry leaves, with hazel leaves, queen anne’s plant, flower and seeds, persimmon leaves, blk walnut leaves, hickory sticks, sassafras leaves and sticks, wormwood, mugwort, tansy, Echinacea plant, red and white clover, dock leaves, sorrel, stinging nettle, wild lettuce, lambs quarters, mints, hyssop, motherwort and on and on.
About half of what I harvest is aplenty and I take what I need. The other half is meager so I only take a little at a time, just what I think the plants can afford to share.
I’ve been making tulle caps for the elderberries and actually got a compliment on the one near the driveway :) I left plenty for the birds so we should all have enough. That tulle was a great investment! I’ve used it for several things and am so grateful to have found it. I’m a yard sale, used, secondhand, thrift, trade, barter kind of person but it’s been so useful I would consider buying it new.
The big Good news of the day is Mullein :) I forgot to take a picture but will get one tomorrow. He’s a lovely little elf eared mutt goat buckling. 25% LaMancha, 25% Saanen, 16% each Nubian, Kiko and Boer. He has a Saanen head, LaMancha ears and Boer body. He’s white with a light brown cast on his shoulders and head, kind of a pale Boer coloring. He’s a wonderful, beautiful little sweetheart! I traded for him in May, before he was born. What a blessing he is to us.
No one ever claimed the little throw away dog that showed up here a month or so ago, so we’ve named him Fox and made him one of us as well. His ears have been ripped off and are in shreds. They were mostly healed when we found him but even more so now. Whatever happened to him, someone did love him and we are thankful to that person. He’s a dirty little ragamuffin at the moment, and smells like a dead thing. He’s due for a bath this week and then photos :)
Aside from Fox and Mullein, we also have 10 new ducklings and baby goats due soon! And I may be trading for Royal Palm turkey hatching eggs soon. We've not had turkeys since the Burrow and I've wanted Royal Palms for ages. A heritage breed, beautiful white with black markings, and smallish to fit in our little homestead.
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