Life, death, rain, early, late, success, failure ... and on it goes...

What a day.  AS it winds down to an end I find myself reflecting on a very full day indeed.

Today started around 5:30 when we discovered Maggie, one of our most precious and favorite goats, was finally in labor. We thought she was in labor last saturday but nothing developed a that time.  Today was the real deal. Only... something wasnt right.  When the first baby goat appeared, it was feet first.. all 4 feet. That is not what is supposed to happen! She was already tired from at least a couple hours of heavy labor to get to that point.

We got Maggie up and walking around, which had a great effect, the baby goat went back inside and hopefully re-positioned it properly. That was the hope. Unfortunately it didnt work. When the feet appeared again it was still all 4.  So this time, with advice from our on call vet over the phone, we physically turned things around, pulling on the back feet while pushing the front feet back inside.  Finally it worked and we got hte baby goat out. Unfortunately it had been too long and was still born. We set up a heater (it had started raining and was windy by now) and let Maggie rest before the next goat started coming out.  Fortunately this one worked well and with only a little help she pushed it right not and was healthy.

In the background....  was the morning milking.

After all that excitement, failure and success... it was time to load up for deliveries. Today was (happily) a larger than normal delivery with chicken parts back in stock as well as eggs.  And off we go!

A long day of deliveries, puts us back home on the farm around 6.  Maggie and baby are fine! Also the one born yesterday to Molly (Rosemary's grandbaby).  That is a relief with all the stormy rain and wind blowing in all day.  I stood watching Maggie nudge the little goat to herself to nurse, he latch on and drink, while hte storm blows outside, reflecting on the days events. We could have lost them all today, which would have been a real tragedy. Maggie was our third goat purchased a few years ago.  She is like part of the family.

That  settled, Hunter and Kaelyn headed out to collect today's eggs (9 dozen today!) while I did the evening milking.  Its great that the chickens have just started laying again after all the efforts put into them for the last 4 months. It has been a real challenge with the crazy weather this year.

After milking and putting the eggs away, a final check on everyone and its in the house for the evening.

What is the purpose of this post? not sure there is one. It has been a long emotionally draining and physically challenging day, with weather turning bad over the workload.  But its over, and all ends ok once again. Thats farming. ups and downs. The only constant is work and the cycles of nature.

The high point of the day had to be standing silent in the milking room, all this  fresh in the movie of the mind, listening to the orchestra of light rain falling all around.  A day so full.... and at the end of it there is a huge respect for nature, and the God that created it all. What a privilege it is to me manager over a tiny piece of it, to watch and enjoy the cycles of life and awesomeness of nature.

Farming... hard constant low paying work dotted with moment of soul inspiring awesomeness.