Friday, December 4, 2020

Long time, no see

 It's been a very long time since I posted and my husband has been urging me to start writing again, so here I am! There have been a lot of changes here on Hickahala Ranch since my last post. We've lost many of our dear four-legged friends and gained new friends. Biggest change of all is that Don and I are not the only humans residing here these days. Our eight-year-old granddaughter, Coraline, has been with us for the past five years.

The farm is a little ragged around the edges now that Don and I are growing old. Time has a way of slowing us humans down and as we slow down, things go undone. But, we've found some good in that. There are more birds and other wildlife to enjoy since we let the mowing go undone a great deal of the time. We sit and rest more often, giving us time to enjoy all the beautiful nature around us. We're content and I think that is a wonderful achievement.

We only have 17 dogs with us now, six cats, the same three silly goats and three horses. We've lost all our ducks to predators, but still have eight chickens. We grow a few vegetables in raised beds and pick tons of blueberries on our bushes. This year the peach tree had fruit for the first time (but I forgot to check them and lost the whole crop to the birds and wild critters).

The world has suffered this year, especially here in the United States. Times are rough. We're doing okay here on the farm though. We rarely venture out into the world, content to stay right here on our little patch of heaven watching the rest of the world fall into chaos. It's a sad situation, but we have to make the best of it. I hope you are making the best of it too.