I love this woman's writing. She & her husband operate Perennial Roots Farm out here on the Eastern Shore. The lambs she references were only days old when she found them being savaged & killed by eagles.
These were the folks I bought my recent supply of ground goat from at the Onancock Market.
Ygets1terpdays at 97:0832ll idAM ·
Death and birth weaving themselves together with the threads of all the tiny particulars that make up a life. In the span of twenty odd hours, less than a day, the farm and by proxy, I; held life in one palm and death in the other. Lambs were savaged and sacrificed to the eagles and carrion gods and I cried out only to discover a wee joyful goat born hours later. Every tragedy starts with happiness and health, but the funny thing about life is that give each story long enough and you will always seesaw back and forth between so many extremes: life and death, joy and sorrow, loathing and love. The secret to it all? Learn to dance and spin between the two, keeping your balance as you go.
When you farm or work with nature, you are not given the luxury of being spared from extremes. Initially the learning curve is brutal. You will curse and rage against the gods as they slaughter your chickens, sacrifice your lambs and dance on the graves of your good intentions. Driven mad by your own naivete, at first you will despair, before laughing until you weep and then crying laughing you cannot quite remember how it all began. And so you begin again, anew and raise more chicks and sow more seeds and pray to the nature gods for a bit of luck and rain.
It is then you realize that in an age of sterility and detachment, you would choose the blood and guts, the savage gods of nature again and again. A cry of rebellion in a world gone mad, an act of retribution in a society that fears death, a prayer made of soil, soul, mushrooms, starlight and wildflowers. An act of grace and a little baby goat born just when you need it.
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#farmerslife #farmlife #naturewriting #goatlove #babygoatsofinstagram #femalefarmer #womeninag #womanfarmer #monday #goodmorning #february #smallfarmlife #countryliving #757
#delmarva #virginiafarmer #virginia #perennialrootsfarm #easternshorevirginia #easternshore #esva #biodynamicfarming #biodynamic #lifeanddeath #bereal #regenerativeagriculture #regenerativefarming #portrait #nofilter
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Perennial Roots Farm.