If you’ve been following me for very long you may have noticed two things:
First- I kinda disappeared online.
Second- we’ve been building a new home.
I think these two phenomenas are tied together.
I love analogies. I use them as often as possible. As I was putting food in the crockpot this morning for tonights dinner I had one of those ah-ha moments.
Does that ever happen to you? In the middle of something mundane a truth about life pops up?
I love it when it happens to me…but usually those break throughs happen while I’m riding a horse. Not cooking dinner. But hay…I’ll take it either way!
Here is what I discovered.
What I want my life to look like….
What my life looks like….
I have so many things up in the air right now that it is making me crazy!
I love my new cabin and enjoy making it neat and tidy…but keeping it organized with three teenage boys is not happening. My oldest started college today and my other two start tomorrow. As much as I want a clean house I also want to be slightly less than a dictator…so I live in slight chaos. I accept it but somewhere inside I can still feel that it bothers me.
I love my new barn…but the property is taking 4x longer to tame then I thought it would. Our ‘fields’ were previously farmed. For the first time in my life I sprayed gallons of round up…and the weeds grew stronger! This is my first experience with RoundUp resistant weeds. Not fun. So I quickly changed the plan from fencing it all in to building a few small paddocks. Not my first choice and I’m still figuring out how to battle the weeds.
I also want to start writing again. I miss my daily interactions with you guys online. I appreciate your comments, suggestions, and thoughts. But I find myself postponing my writing until I have ‘something important’ or ‘I feel more organized’ or ‘I have something to offer’….
And then I realized, as I was stirring my crock pot this morning…that maybe what I needed to share was that I DON’T have it all together. Just like riding horses, much of success is hidden in showing up daily. The rest will work its way out.
I think this will be a topic I explore in upcoming blogs:)
P.S.-yes, I spelled hey wrong (hay) because it makes me smile…and I am love, love loving the trail riding that I have out my back door! Just last night Jesse and I rode so late that we returned home in the dark and in light rain (not as dangerous as it sounds). I love where I live!!!! Oh, if you’re interested in this recipe here is the link I use: http://www.thecomfortofcooking.com/2012/02/crock-pot-chicken-taco-chili.html
Oh, here is the crazy video of riding home in the dark last night. You can see the horses are wet from the rain and you can hear us laughing because the horses both jumped when the video started because the flashlight came on:) In the video I’m talking to the owner of the horse…this is the kind of updates owners get from me all the time… https://youtu.be/GSk6UKLbook
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Goats can clear your “dream pasture” space for you. You simply book them to do the job. Their owner/handlers set up & move temporary fencing until the job is complete! Poison ivy & all! I know two gals with goat Grazing businesses, one in SE PA another is just getting started in Ky. I honestly LOVE RoundUp, and prefer that over weed whacking around everything every other week. I’m surrounded by commercial farmland & haven’t seen resistance problems. I always buy the real stuff. I learned that “generics” whether EPA products or even FDA (drugs), that it is more than having x % of the (supposed) active ingredient to make products work, and importantly stable over time. I’m sure you’re familiar with Ivermectin. Well, parasite resistance IS becoming a huge problem in some areas and species. When generic “Ivermectin” products were compared to the Real Ivomec, efficacy was worse for the generics. The longer the generic was stored, the worse the efficacy. In Ivermectin’s case it was partly the “Inactive” ingredients that matter, because they both stabilize the product and also affect how it works. But it was also the CONTAINER. Merck uses expensive, but UV light proof plastic. The generics did not. Just like antibiotic resistance, parasite or in your case plant resistance are know to be selected for by poor efficacy (too low a dose/ weak generic or too short of a duration. Of course the flip side is, whoever farmed your property may have not been using agricultural chemicals correctly. They are highly regulated for a reason! Human, animal & environmental safety.
I wondered about goats but found mixed reviews online. The ‘pro’ recommendations said the goats could be injured. The average goat owners posted ‘mine eat anything and everything and are fine’. I don’t like the idea of hurting a goat and I’m not sure if the ‘pro’ sites, like the extension offices, are trying to cover themselves from a liability stand point…or why they say goats would be injured but goat owners report they are fine.
Whew, that was a long, twisted almost question.
Do you think they would be fine eating poison hemlock & mares tail (the weed-not my horses tail:)
Sorry I missed your reply & subsequent
Questions until now. I know they can eat Poison Ivy. The friends of mine who have Grazing goats, have not reported any injuries (nor concerns about them getting injured). Both are also horse & dog people. One a very competitive barrel racer!! So they are well versed in animal training management, not someone who just got into goats because they’re cute. I will check on poison hemlock…and mare’s tail. The weed not the swishy posterior appendage ? Although Friesian people apparently have a lot of trouble with their foals chewing on manes & tails …..
Hemlock -no. Very bad for pretty much everything. Not only can as little as 3 ounces be toxic to goats, lesser amounts can cause deformities in kids if the does are pregnant. Although people have seen their goats eating it (hemlock) and other poisonous plants w/o any signs. Those goat owners think the goats just nibble a bit of the poisonous stuff & decide it’s icky, them don’t consume much. I’m asking one of the really good small ruminant vets at MSU about horseweed/ mare’s tail
They CAN eat Horseweed / mares tail!! It’s one of their favorites.
Hi Stacy,
I love hearing you talk about those crazy “ah-ha” moments, I can totally relate! That was an AMAZING example; thanks so much for sharing 🙂
Maybe I’ll share more of them…I think I’ll go look for wisdom in the bottom of a latte cup tomorrow:)
Love your blogs…Love hearing about your days…and Love updates on your family/horses…stole the recipe… had it for supper… Husband bragged… thanx for making us “fans” smile from time to time!! 🙂
Really! Does that make me a food blogger too!!! Can I add that to my resume?
OF COURSE you are a food blogger TOO!!… and Yes ADD that to your resume!!!..LoL
We did notice that you disappeared and missed your posts!
Hi Stacy! You may want to check with your local NRCS office for recommendations about the weeds. You may also be eligible for some of their cost share programs! Good luck with the new place and I look forward to your posts!
Stephanie
You have light in your words…maybe we all need more vulnerability…authenticity:). I am moving to MT and am excited to have ride off property!! That sure was dark riding and Trust, from both, blazed the trail!! I love that there is wisdom in your chili:). Something that may have crossed my mind as well!! Love to hear from you and continue to be inspired!!! xo
Oh lord, I have a soon-to-turn 9 yr old daughter. She is the light of our lives, but God can she make a mess. We have a big and beautiful home, and inside it looks like a gipsy camp, lol. I miss your regular blogging a lot, but like true friends not in touch for a while, I know that any time you’ll be able to pop back up I’ll love hearing from you and it’ll be like you never left. In the meantime I’ve kept working with my colt, the one the Jac series encouraged me to start. Most days I feel like I’m a total failure and I’ll never achieve the reining maneuvers on this horse. Maybe he only has subpar abilities. Most likely he has a very unsufficient trainer (me). In any case we are (VERY) slowly learning from each other and improving, at least a tiny bit. We may never have a reining pattern down, but I started him on cattle and he seemed to enjoy that, so that’ll be something else to practice. Enjoy the new home, enjoy your wonderful boys, and come back to us any time it feels right.
Lol…reading this made me laugh. Maybe I should do a follow up series, “Stacy’s Video Diary: Presto” aimed at the slow learner…Presto (my appy rescue foal) is sweet…and slow…
Learning and teaching does make it slower…but its all about enjoying the journey and staying safe. Thanks for writing!
Olá Stacy, comecei a te seguir recentemente, moro no interior de São Paulo no Brasil, te admiro muito, fico emocionada em ver seus videos, pois amo os cavalos, desde criança tive o prazer de conhece-los, e conviver com essas criaturas iluminadas, hoje tenho uma égua que esta prenha o potro nasce mês que vem, estou muito ansiosa para conhecer ela ou ele, a égua já comprei mansa para andar, aqui na minha cidade não tem aras e nem competição de cavalo, só ando nela e faço muito carinho kkkkkk, mas como disse acima já comprei ela mansa, mas ela não foi treinada da maneira que eu gostaria, e com isso ficou com algumas manias, tem muitas cocegas nas pernas e paleta, no rabo também, as vezes ela morde, ela tem uns 5 anos, gostaria de saber como faço para mudar essas manias, e como faço para conquistar a confiança dela. Aqui também não criamos cavalos em baias eles ficam no pasto livres, todos os dias eu vou vê-la, levo ração para complementar a alimentação e fico fazendo carinho nela.
Thank goodness for google translate! I would recommend checking out this video series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3f1Ii1jkWxexn-LhRzFDNTHAno1t3ka_
Keeping the horse in the pasture is great and once you can catch and halter them the training is all the same no matter if they spend more time in a stall or in a pasture. I love to see them outside a lot!
Mess here too. You are not alone. We ripped out our kitchen in March to rehab the log cabin and we are living in the not finished basement, with the new kitchen cabinets in boxes, the new flooring in boxes, the log cabin stain in paint containers, etc. We have exactly one folding card table with 4 chairs, and one bed. The fridge is up top and the stove/sink/dishwasher is in the basement with no stairs between, we have to go outside to go between the two. I feel like I am on a permanent camping trip. We carry a little ice chest between the two and have an umbrella at each in case it is pooring. Our fencing will not go in until spring so I am still boarding 3 miles away….but….I wouldn’t trade this journey for anything. My husband and I were so close before but now I feel like we are even closer. I wish you the best on your journey and don’t forget to Breath.