Wednesday, April 06, 2011

Spring! And Moving Forward?

Well, it looks like spring has finally started to settle in here in north west Alberta Canada. We have had a good week of sunshine and mild temperatures so the snow is starting to melt nicely. The Canada geese and seagulls have started to return; I actually saw the first goose fly over a week ago. The poor thing must have been worried as there is no water anywhere, it would have been looking down at a whole lot of white.

Like I was saying, all this snow has really been melting and you can tell how much wind we had over the last half of winter as some patches are still feet deep and in other places the ground is already coming through. But you can also tell how very dry it has been as much water is seeping straight into the ground, very very quickly. Unless we have a damp spring, in a couple of months it could look like we had little runoff at all. It will take years of this much snowfall to restore local water levels, including our precious slough. We may find ourselves missing all the mud that we will spend the next couple of weeks slopping around in.

My parents made it back from their trip so the farm has been passed back into their hands. No more prime responsibility for me for now, and despite getting snowed in and wrenching my neck BADLY, there were no real reportable occurrences. No spring calves have yet appeared although 3 heifers and one old cow are looking quite close. Given how badly I strained a group of muscles in my neck, its a damn good thing nothing happened. That first day I was in more pain than I ever remember feeling before. Thank goodness my sister was able to help me with feeding the pigs and cattle that morning, as I don't see how I would have been able to do so all on my own. It was a real lesson in just how hard it would be, trying to run a farm by oneself.

In regards to my sporadic blogging, I suppose I should just say right out that it is unlikely that my posting will accelerate here anytime soon, if at all. I had originally meant for this blog to be a place for me to rant and share some of my passions in a relatively anonymous fashion, and to explore my ideas about balance. I still intend to do these things and sometimes will want to do so anonymously. But I am also feeling a need to be less anonymous for various reasons, not the least being my desire to advertise and write about happenings on the farm and that part of my journey. As such, I am trying to decide just how to move forward.

And its not that I have nothing about which to rant or try to foster conversation. Quite the opposite. There is soooo much shit going on out in the real world, so much to talk about, mourn, even to yell about. So much that I often don't know how to start talking about it here. And I think it might be time for me to stop being quite so much of a chicken shit, and say my piece a little more openly.

3 comments:

LindaM said...

I hope that your neck is on the mend!
As to being anonymous....I'm not sure what say except that I relate to your dilemna.
I also have to say that I miss your thoughts on current issues.

You could continue to maintain this blog and start another for the business end of your life. Eventually you might feel the need to consolidate the two. But its not a bad thing to seek a fresh start while you think things over.

Jerry said...

Thanks Linda. The neck is slowly getting better but is still stiff even now. I know the way I sit at this computer desk has an effect that I must be careful of.

I do intend to maintain this blog to a certain extent but I suspect the posting will remain more sporadic as its hard to write in a lot of detail about the farm while maintaining anonymity, in addition to the fact that my view on current events feels more and more like it can be summed up as "things are f#%cked and only looking to get worse". I get tired of trying to write around that viewpoint and I doubt people want to read it.

But who knows, maybe the spring and summer will see that shift. Thanks for the thoughts, it is nice to be missed, I admit.

MoonRaven said...

Hi Jerry,

Only nearly a month later. I can understand your need to only post sporadically--my posting has become only once in a great while. It's time to do all that we write about.

Still, I am glad that you are still around and blogging--if only to tell the world what you think now and then. Your voice is still needed.

And, yes, spring is coming to New England as well. We have actually had some warm days recently. I hope that you enjoy the nicer weather and keep tell us your truths.