Just another Day on the Farm

Bang, Bang, Bang.. Hunting season has started..

Ah, the joys of being on a flight path, duck hunting season has opened, I’m not sure what they are finding at this point locally because we still don’t have the normal heavy duty flocks moving in and over my area yet this year..

I know that the locals are building hides and setting up tree stands for when they are allowed to finally start turkey and deer hunting seasons.

We have a great looking flock of turkey’s in the area and after hunting season, it will be greatly reduced.. was out on the trails and ran into a number of hunters out scoping the area, the one gentleman was trying out new gear and just practising

Big Brother has already got his first of the season having brought home an elk, and is currently out on a hunting trip for moose. I had elk last Xmas when I was home and it was heavenly, and its my understanding that there is going to a BBQ with wild game at my mom’s on the big thanksgiving weekend get together that is happening for DH’s trip out west.

The local hunters and I have a understanding, I don’t mind hunting at all, in fact I approve of it, and think that done correctly its a excellent way to fill the freezer and the pantry with amazing healthy meat and also helps keep natural populations down.

I understand that I have a slanted view as I was raised in a hunting family, even worked in hunting camps in my 20’s and have lived in a number of places in canada where hunting/fishing is considered not just a tradition but a required part of your life.

I loved being able to get locally caught char in the artic, Boo is excellent, but I never warmed up to seal or whale  and muskox was ok but I have always been willing to try new kinds of meat and dishes.

The only thing I require is that you don’t hunt to close to my farm, and to understand that my old fashion heritage bronze turkeys are not wild turkey’s, the fawn colored 130 pds hair sheep is not a doe! and just because the geese are in my pastures does not mean that they are to be hunted..

I had hunters one time that refused to back off and go to the back feild, they used! my right of way to access the land, now it was not my land, and the owner does have his own right of way and entry point, but for some reason they took mine instead and they were lazy, they didn’t wait for the flocks to come in away from the farm, they would fire towards the house..

Now I coud see which way they had their lay down blinds and I was pissed, I sent my hounds out to bark on command to drive the birds away, I would send them out to clear the my own pastures which would send the birds up and then of course the whole flock would go up, which meant that with them up and not settled, the hunters could not wait for a flying flock to come in

I drove them out fairly quickly, and I got a visit from the landowner, asking what was going on, because he knows that I am pro-hunting, and I explained what my issues where, needless to say all hunters that get permission from him now, are told the back field only, no more front field hunting as its to close to my own farm and pastures.

I understand that they are recommending that we get hunter orange for both myself and my horse if I want to trail ride in the local woods, I don’t think it will be a issue on private land but I can see their point..  just one more thing to need to spend a little on..

Boy  I miss the old days in my childhood when you just went out and rode or drove or XX with little to no thought to the work that parents or grandparents or uncles etc did in order to have all that just waiting for you when you arrived in the barn  ;p

I guess I touched on it a bit with the wordless wedsday but this week has been filled in so many ways with humbling moments for me, moments where time slowed and peace filled me, times where I learned and relearned that while you can learn lots on your own from books, and from doing.. there are times where being able to learn from others is of great value.

I have had looks now and again over the years when Dh and I talk about going off to attend this seminar or that training session and what we attend and for how long changes with the ebb and flow of what is needed.

Being on the farm and even before that, I firmly believe that we should have X amount of funds set aside each year for continuing education.  Sometimes you need to pay to get that info..

As an example of that , Dh is off this weekend for a full two days of a writers conference, I am so pleased that he is taking advantage of this chance to attend a dozen to two dozen different hour long talks/workshops, and I hope he has some fun while he is out, I hope that he makes contacts, and gets to visit with fellow members of his own writers group, that he had a total blast, and brings back some great stories and fresh ideas.

Having said that I have flown to attend events, I have driven to different provinces and planned weekend events, or taken once a week events for X number of weeks to improve and learn..

Coming up in the first part of Oct, I have been lucky enough to find a great weekend horse clinic, I am planning on attending some of the event, and I am greatly looking forward to watching and learning..

I was lucky enough this past week to get to spend some time around a older gentleman who is one of those natural horseman and came away with a number of amazing idea’s and things to do at home..

I have a huge number of books, and I tend to read and devour alot of information, the amount of info crammed into my head at times is overwhelming to me, i can know something but it will often take me longer to figure where I got that info from, but If there is one thing I hae figured out over the years, is book knowledge is great but it won’t settle in unless you can use it and see how it works in real life and it won’t become natural unti you do it so many times..

Its been raining off and on all day so far, and during one of the light rains I snuck out and put in an hour of ground work on Brandy girl.. and I repeated a trip that I had done with her two plus weeks ago.. the goal, take her off the farm, walk down the road and work her on the running road (or so its called locally, its really a nice farmers lane for access to different local feilds), last time it was a fight, we did circle down and back the whole way while she fought to get to the horses across the way, and on the running road, she was bossy,  we learned things alright, like the fact that she can push me around if she wants, that she crowds me when she is nervous, that she perferred to rear then to kick out, and O boy, its a hoot! (not) trying to figure out things to do to with a horse that is “reacting” instead of “thinking”

This time however, I had alot more knowledge, I have gotten a number of books to read (there has been both some good and to my mind some silly advances in the horse world), I have spent 20 plus hours working with her on ground work on the farm doing different things..

So this time, I put her in harness, because she has a different head space when she is in gear then she does when she does in halter and lead, second I took my carrot stick with me, and this allowed me to push her over two feet side ways with a gentle one or one-two tap, when she would try and push forward, a way/jiggle in front with a back would have her backing on command, there for stopping the overrun and also collecting her and changing the power of her direction from forward to backward, effectively giving me a stopping switch..

We got to the running road and she was allowed to have some off time and just graze, walk etc, and then I started some basic training exercises, and in a way I had to laugh, as all the different “bad” girl behaviours that we had worked though in our training sessions came out again, but a few different things happened, a) I had read up how to deal with the one thing that I had never had experance in back in the day, so I had a plan! b) we have a much better understanding of our working relationship and when she acted out, a firm loud NO, with a lead pop, was enough to make her come down, turn and face me, give me eyes and do a heavy duty lip chewing think session before we moved on again.

But the big thing was, she threw all five of her ” can I get my own way” behaviours, and in each case , I had a rock solid response and within 15, 30 seconds or a minute, she gave up and we had correct behaviour that could be rewarded and enforced.

I stayed calm and center because I had the knowledge and the in real life skills to deal with each of these blips and we came home this time with calm horse, calm person, and we ended our session with a nice grooming session/oats.

So here is my weekend challange, what is something in your life right now that you are reading about, or you have taken a class, or a clinic or a seminar or a conference that you are putting into real life action in your world? Tell me about it? and how its going?

Well, this is turning out to be more of a twice a month, then weekly but I’m trying, the thing is, there is not alot to write about this week in terms of health, down another pd or two, overall been doing well on my eating and enjoying the bounty of the fall season in the garden, working with the horse, puttering around the house and outbuildings, giving a helping hand now an again with friends fall to do lists. Lots of Grooming of hounds, as they are all shedding out their summer coats and starting in on their winter coats.

So lets talk about something related to health but not directly to mine.. Recalls.. I am guess that most of you have heard about this huge beef recall, involving Costco, Safeway, co-op etc

I asked my momma as I know she shops at costco, but was pleased to learn that while she likes to shop their fruits and veggies, she gets her beef from a small local farm front store where they wrap in butcher paper instead of plastic and that the beef is all locally raised on their or farms around them.. Wonderful and way to go mom..

So here is my question for the day, did this recall or any other recall in the past month effect your household, or not?

Ever had one of those moments, where you are standing still, while in your mind, you are flying off in ten different directions, o admit it.. you know just what I am talking about..

I am feeling it.. I am living in the moment, with all that comes with it, fall has arrived with a thud and while typically it last for a good long while in our neck of the woods, I just have the urge to get things settled a bit more, almost like I am expecting a early snow fall or something..

Its like cold man winter is breathing down my neck.. despite the fact that the tree’s are barely turning, this morning, I watched the breath of the horse and cows steam up the air, and it yet again sent a shiver of unease in regards to the coming winter..

Am I the only one that thinks we might have a hard winter coming on? Are you expecting a easy winter with a earlier spring? or do you think we might have a long hard winter?