Inspired by the Flaming Lips at Feed Me Farms (10 for 2010)

How can a man (Wayne Coyne) and a band (The Flaming Lips) inspire us here at Feed Me Farms? It all began on New Year's Eve. We decided to take a well earned break from the farm and drive through snow and sleet to see The Flaming Lips play their hometown of Oklahoma City on this celebratory evening.

As soon as we hit the city limits, we began to see the positive influence that this band has had on their hometown. Instead of heading for the bright lights and big time status of living in L.A., New York or any other glamorous urban setting, they have chosen to stay in Oklahoma and help their States tourism and economy. And what a great job they've done. Wayne and his band mates have turned the ordinary into extraordinary. If more people did this, the world would be a much better place to live. No matter where in the world that might be, from small rural farms to big urban sprawl.

I picked up a local paper in the lobby of our hotel upon check-in and to my delight found an article called "10 for 2010".  To my surprise and delight, the first person listed was Wayne Coyne and his 10 for 2010:

1. To see U.F.O.s come down and enlighten all humans
2. To see all humans be kind to animals
3. To see religious fanatics disappear
4. To see the Pentagon levitate
5. To see Global Warming stop
6. To see marijuana de-criminalized
7. To see humans give love instead of taking it
8. To watch the Oklahoma (or in our case ,Texas) sunset more often
9. To sleep late
10. To accept things we cannot control

I was immediately drawn to Wayne's wonderful philosophy and decided, right then and there, what my new year resolutions would be. I would adopt his and add 10 for 2010 of my own:
1. To live every day with no regrets and fill our life with art, music, entertainment and laughter
2. To think less of what I want and need
3. To think more about what I have and can do with it
4. To savor the smell of fresh hay, freshly turned dirt and green pastures
5. To savor the joy in finding a hidden egg or newborn farm animal on any given day
6. To really love those around me -  be it family, friend or animal
7. To make things grow so that I can feed the minds, bodies and souls of those around me
8. To enjoy the simple pleasures of fresh food, a good bottle of wine and the time spent preparing it with the
    one I love
9. To embrace middle age and what it really means to be happy with yourself
10. To BLOOM WHERE YOU'RE PLANTED!

So as we begin a new year here at the farm, these 10 + 10 will play a role in our philosophy here. It may not be the most glamorous of lives and it's not what I ever dreamed of when growing up, but it is where I've landed and I really love it.  I have come to realize that life is what you make of it, not what others make for you.  I want to find the EXTRAORDINARY everyday in the ORDINARY everyday.

Thanks Wayne!

Shutterbug: Winter Vacationer

We were out near the barn prepping for the single digit weather that is taking over for the next few days (a rarity in Texas). We were surprised by this visitor swimming in one of the tanks. Seems like this pelican is taking a 300 mile inland vacation. Not a good time to leave the coast, if you ask me!

Do Cows Know It's Christmas?

Probably not, or else they would have not behaved so badly these past few weeks! It all started innocently enough...my cowboy and his business partners (mom & sister) decided it was time to move the herd from the farm where we live, to the wide open spaces of the Antioch property. In anticipation, all the border fencing had been repaired except for an area that was considered swamp and flooded. There was fence back there, it's just that a normal human being would have trouble getting to it, so the assumption was...so would the darn cows.

The night before the herd was to be worked (branded and ear tagged) and moved,  we were able to trick most of them with sacks of treats and corral them into the barn. This would make it much easier once our hired cowboys (former NFL football players) would arrive the next morning. Brahmans are good cattle till they think someone is about to corral them, they become as agile as gazelles and nothing keeps them in. BUT, so far so good that is, until the other cowboys arrived.

We had a plan or so we thought. The bottle fed babies were going to stay with us at the farm. The young bulls   were on the way to the sale barn and the calves that needed weaning would stay on the farm too a few more weeks but then join their mommas at Antioch along with our breeding bulls. Seems easy enough...

Not so, my cowboy's sister all of a sudden gets sentimental and does not want some of her registered ones to go to the other property for fear of theft. They get a reprieve and get to stay in the back pastures. So now we are splitting the herd in half and only some of them will be placed at Antioch.

So now we switch gears and concentrate on working them, separating them and hauling them. By the time it was all over, one large bull had jumped a 6 foot corral fence and some of the younger ones decided to skip the gazelle move and just run right through it. Keep in mind it's made of foot thick posts and heavy gauge wire. They also managed to tear off two gates and pretty much trash the 35 year old barn.

To add insult to injury, the herd that was taken to Antioch managed to find the only bad place in the fencing (way back in the flooded swamp) and make a clean break for it. Half of them came back on their own but the other half are now happily residing with one of my cowboys cousins cows in their pasture that backs up to Antioch.

The half that came back on their own are happy as can be roaming around Antioch with two big lakes and many tanks, lots of hay that was baled during the summer and still some coastal grass to munch on until real Winter hits. So you might say, they got their Christmas gift.

The half that took off and did not come back through the only opening of 800 acres of fence is having to rely on the kindness of kinfolk till we can get them separated and brought back. You could say that they are getting coal for their gift.
 
Then there is the misfit bottle fed babies that are staying with us at the farm. They will all be getting fresh hay and carrot treats for their holiday gift.  I never knew how much I could care for a cow until I had to raise 5 of them from birth. I love each and every one of them. Each time one gets weaned, I get just a little sad and wistful because I miss my twice daily ritual of their feeding. Therefore I consider the newest calf  (Lucky La Moo) my personal gift from Santa (albeit a little early). Thank you Santa!

Have a wonderful Christmas Eve and be sure and kiss the little calves in your life, in a blink they will grow up to be ornery cows!

Shutterbug: All Ears!

Here comes Lucky La Moo (born on Friday the 13th). She was playing out in the pasture until she saw her milk bottle. She has a very healthy appetite and kicks up her heels when it's bottle time.

Shutterbug: Mootherly Love!

Here comes the sun, what a beautiful day! Our adult miniature Zebu Beauregard, using ZZ Topinha,  one of our baby bottle fed Brahmas as a pillow.

A Love Letter To My Cowboy (13 is our lucky number)

Two years ago today (November 13th, 2007) a small kiss changed my life forever. Funny how two people can know each other for years, live parallel lives, run in the same circles, share many of the same friends and not realize that they should have been together all along. But then came a kiss and the deal was sealed or as he would like to say...we pitched some woo and the deal was done.

I had no idea that pitchin' woo could be so wonderful, considering I thought he was referencing a barn activity (and looking back now, I guess it actually could be..hee...hee..hheeeee).

I never thought that two years later, we would be living on the farm and settling down into a life of love, laughter and finding the little things in life are what is most important.  He is the best thing that ever happened in my life and I thank my lonestars every day.

 Four nights away from the farm and my cowboy have made me realize how much I have grown to love my new rural life. The city life is no longer an option, I cannot wait to go home. I miss the clucking of the chickens, the mooing of the cows and the sweet nuzzles and waffling that the little donkeys like to greet me with whenever they see me.

Most of all, I missed my cowboy. I missed drinking coffee in the morning and contemplating the day based upon the weather outside. I missed having lunch together, we make it a habit to drop what we are doing and meet for a bite to eat at the old kitchen table or in town at the museum I curate. Most of all, I missed our evenings together tucked away snugly in our little farmhouse, just us and the four dogs and two cats who share the same little four square at night. 

It's funny where life takes you and who it throws in your path. Like I said, we had known each other for years - before we REALLY knew each other. I think I knew somewhere deep inside that we loved each other right there and then on that fateful night of November, 13th.

So 13 to us is a very lucky number indeed, so lucky, that we made it permanent - in ink, on Friday the 13th no less.

So, the question is now - what are we doing next year?

Stay tuned!

Shutterbug: Have you kissed a chicken today?

The old saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" really resonates with me. I am old school and prefer a real camera over my telephone one, so I actually carry my camera wherever I go. This makes for a sore purse shoulder but the additional weight in my little black bag (or whatever else I am carrying that day) is well worth the muscle pain. I have decided to share glimpses of our life through our photography (mine and my artist cowboy) whenever the shutterbug bites us. Sometimes they might make you laugh, other times they might make you smile and some may transport you to the farm, if only for a minute.