Not really sure when I turned the corner, but at some point in the recent past I found myself back on the path I'd strayed away from.  Something I've learned from my time in the underbrush?  It's okay to stop doing something if it's no longer working.  Despite the obviousness of that statement it's something that's hard for us as people to do, I've found.  It smacks of admitting defeat, which is something we're culturally trained to avoid at all costs.  It seems disingenuous to say that it's a lesson I've learned, it's not.  It's something I can always strive to remind myself of, however, which may be as close as we mostly-hairless monkeys ever get to having learned something.

Things are well on the farm.  This time of year I'm mostly mowing, straining to keep up with the grass which is growing like it's been waiting to all winter long(which it has, of course).  I visited Ananda hills farm yesterday, and chose three young boys to be castrated, that they might join my flock as growers of wool, and perhaps, one day, a fine meal.  They're adorable, all baby animals are, but there is something about a tiny little Shetland sheep, a little wooly, wee little horns, not sure what about them speaks to me so profoundly, but the effect is undeniable.  I'll see if I can't find some pictures in time for my next intermittent blog posting.

Martin's cows have all had their calves, mostly successfully, beautiful little hybrids in every color of the cow rainbow(cowbow?).  We're getting ready to move all the cows to some new pastures and are contemplating the feasibility of having a Marrowstone Island cattle drive, and just running them down the road, rather than loading them all up in the trailer.  Unlikely though it is, it is fun to consider, if only as a mental logistical puzzle.

The first batch of duck eggs I had in the incubator were a complete bust, but I've done some research and have an altered plan of attack for this next batch, and am optimistic that with a little work I'll be able to figure out this particular challenge.

I love this place.  Just switched coffee-shops to get some better internet, and came upon a cordoned off seal, chilling on the sidewalk, molting mellowly.

I'm still knitting quite a lot.  The yarn shop is getting ready to move to a bigger better location, and we're all excited about the potential for growth.  I'm even going to get some paid design work out of the transition which I'm getting really inspired by.

The weather has been beautiful for the last month, almost unrealistically so, twilight-zone-esque(double hyphenate FTW), even.  Today I woke up to the sound of rain, and the mist which we've been without, of late, seems to have returned, at least temporarily.  Honestly, I walked out into the cool grey, and took a deep breath the smell of this place, wet cedar and freshly tilled earth, and didn't mind the damp motorbike ride home one whit.

I had a really great visit to DC recently, and am getting ready to go back this weekend, for another short trip.  Which on the surface, seems insane, but I'm actually reveling in the madness of it, a bit.  Something about traveling six thousand miles in for a four day trip seems decadently twenty-first century to me.  Also I never fail to have a really great time with J and Papa Miguel, and there is something about DC which continues to satisfy that part of me that has never really gotten the urban experience, what with having moved to the countryside from the suburbs.

I'm about to begin a three day farm-sitting gig for John at Spring Rain, so that he and the interns can go to the Hoh for a little hiking and camping.  While they're gone I'll be responsible for fourteen hundred poultries, mostly chickens of various ages and type, and a hundred Thanksgiving dinners worth of turkeys.  Not to mention the bunnies, who are pregnant and due any day, or the sheep or their guardian dog Becca.  It's all a little intimidating, but I'm looking forward to it.  Also, John got the grant to fund the WSDA certified chicken processing facility, which means that in the next month or so, as the birds get up to size, and the contracts are signed, I will officially be managing a certified slaughter facility(one of four or five day jobs which will be keeping me busy this summer); a fine example of our tax dollars at work.

So, on the whole life is good.  Things are happening, I'm in a beautiful place surrounded by supportive smart funny people, and if not loving every minute of life, finding enough to love that it keeps me waking up with a smile.