Tag Archives: spiritual journeys

Finding Comfort: Shelters for Goats, Chicks, and Us

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It’s another rainy, spring day — and exceptionally cool for this time of year, which means there is little outdoor work to be done — again. I am so behind in the garden. It may not happen this year. The few seedlings that survived may go in pots and be done with it. On the bright side, there was an opening in the builders schedule and our goat barn/shed is complete! She needs a coat of paint, but I am super exited! It looks great and I didn’t have to wait the weeks I thought it was going to take! I spoke with the breeder and I’m going to check out a few babies likely next week…it is happening people!

The chicks are indoor still but growing well… except for “Onion” a little peep who still seems to be fluffy and downy soft. In fact, she looks like a turkey chick if I didn’t know better. I didn’t order turkeys, so that is very unlikely, but it makes me laugh just the same. As I type this they are all quiet and snuggled up together under the heat lamp. It’s a perfectly peaceful afternoon in the house right at this very moment in the rain. It’s silent and still. And feels safe and warm and serene right now. Which has me musing…

All safe and warm under the glow of the heat lamp!

I’ve been looking at all kinds of shelters… goat, chicken, rabbit. I’m constantly on Pinterest or FB Marketplace looking for ideas and habitats. Before moving to Itsnotta farm, I spent hours (and yes, I mean hours!) scrolling for the perfect century home with all the things on my checklist. Yes, the property is full of maintenance that is draining our time and certainly our budget, but I am so thankful for all the blessings we have. Last night, God granted us a spectacular sunset. The sky was a blaze of oranges and pinks and purples. It was stretching far across the farm fields and I am sure it looked absolutely gorgeous reflecting off the lake. Yes, we are blessed to live in a free country surrounded by the beauty of the southern Ontario countryside.

After such a harsh and long winter, and what is turning out to be a very wet spring, I take comfort in our warm home. I take comfort knowing these little chickies are spoiled in my house under the heat lamp. I feel bad for the bunnies on rainy days and try and snuggle and dry them up before bed — knowing all living creatures appreciate a warm, soft and safe place to sleep at night. A shelter. My A.I. overview gives me this description of the word “shelter”:

“Shelter refers to a structure, covering, or place that provides protection from danger, bad weather, or exposure. It can also mean the state of being protected (refuge) or a place providing food and lodging, such as a homeless shelter. As a verb, it means to provide protection or to take cover.”

Those words describe a lot. Protection. Safety. Comfort. Warmth. I think shelter is one of those basic human needs… like food and water. Essential to life. Did you know the word shelter is used 36 times in the old testament, and almost always, the Lord is our source of that protection? He hides us under a cleft of rock, or draws us near, or under His wing. As I hang out with my new baby chicks, they do not like to be picked up as a rule. They squawk and yell and flap about, until I cover their fluffy little heads in the palm of my hand. This, like hiding under a momma’s wing, seems to give them comfort and a sense of calm protection. Shelter, if you will.

The completed Goat Shed! She still needs some paint…

My goat barn is a simple wooden shed. The goats are new to me, but I am told they will “dog pile” to stay warm. And that they hate rain. I’m looking forward to baby goat snuggles. Still, I know they belong outside and can’t stay in the house forever. My family will surely disown me. So, I will do my best to provide shelter. As our Heavenly Father does for us.

What about you, my friend? Are you seeking shelter right now? Do you need to feel the warmth and comfort of a “safe place”? I can’t imagine being homeless and wet and cold. I am lucky. Many in our world are not. My tiny chicks have it better that they… warm, fed, relatively clean, but most of all safe and protected to the best of my ability. Everyone deserves that, am I right? We must do our part.

So, as you’ve come along with me on another weekly muse, I hope you have taken notice of how you are blessed. Are you warm and safe in a cozy spot as you read this? Be thankful. Can you go to God with all your needs and know that He’ll “take you under His wing” and “protect you in the cleft of the rock”? Absolutely! Take a moment to thank Him for it, as will I, and we’ll see you back again real soon as we walk along this journey together, my friend!

Learning to Embrace Mint: Freshness for Your Garden and Soul

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Hello, my beloveds! The new baby chicks are in the house, scratching and pecking and chirping, the goat fence is up, the snow has melted, and the sun is shining today! Finally! Oh sure, there’s still dishes in the sink and junk scattered throughout the yard, but things are moving in the right direction… I think. Maybe it’s all coming too fast. The garden has started sprouting already and I was hoping to get it looked at before that happened. Still. I’m feeling good, so let’s not focus on the other side today, okay? Let’s just dive in to our muse of the week, shall we, and forget about all the stuff we gotta do for a short, five minute read? The stuff will be there when we get back.

Okie dokie, I was musing about what plant to focus on for this week and came up with mint. Realistically, I was thinking about catnip, but it’s in the mint family so I’m blending it all together. We were chatting about catnip at work, and my cats seem to like it… well, one of them does anyway. The other could take it or leave it. The warning with catnip, though, is that it, like most herbs, spreads like crazy in the garden. So if you plant it, thinking you’ll just grow a bit for your kitty, you’ll soon be overwhelmed and have enough for the entire neighbourhood of cats! So plant it in a pot.

Likewise for “mint”. I’m wondering if my bunnies would like a mint herb? There are just so many summer garnished desserts one can make with a fresh sprig of mint leaf. How can I justify growing vast, spreading plants? Do goats like it? I was at the dentist yesterday and requested mint polish…maybe that’s an option. (Giggle). Mint jelly! With lamb. Nah, couldn’t raise lamb. Mojitos? I don’t drink enough for those either. Anyway, mint was on my mind.

I was thinking about mint in context of the Passover meal. Symbolizing “spiritual freshness and cleansing”. Kinda like the dentist appointment. Fresh and clean again. Traditionally mint was thought of in line with purification. This is how I know it in the biblical context. Yet, I also discovered a few other associations I had not known. And so I share….

First, Mint may represent Hospitality. Perhaps after you cleaned your house all minty fresh? Or with those mojitos. I’m not sure what you do with the mint that makes it part of “hospitality”… but Google tells me so. So, now I have told you. The other one was also new for me. It stems from a story in Luke 11 where Jesus rebukes the pharisees. Usually, this story focuses on cleaning the outside dishes and not your “insides”… which are full of greed and wickedness, but a tiny mention in verse 42: “For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God…”

Mint container Photo credit: medowlarkjournal.com

Remember how I said mint flourishes? Obviously, the leaders were giving tithe of that abundance and it wasn’t really any sacrifice at all. A tiny income from our garden. Little effort required. So. Hospitality, freshness, abundance and giving wholeheartedly. Did you get all those? I’m learning, that even when things are not totally clean, and my farm is a little crazy with half finished projects and chicks in the house and mud and chaos and an already growing garden that hasn’t been tidied up yet, that my friendships must take precedence. I hosted our small group with supper dishes piled in the sink. Shocking!

I’m not good at that. I get overwhelmed a little. I dream big and fall hard. And usually that involves something alive to take care of. Which, don’t get me wrong… the creatures are well cared for and loved… but they take up time. I am aware. And now you are too. Thanks for following along in our journey of chaos, where we gather spiritual tidbits of inspiration along the way and try and follow the straight and narrow. It’s a little messy, but maybe a little mint will freshen us up as we travel along and purify our hearts a bit today! Until next time!

Navigating Life’s Pathways: Lessons from a Spider

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Greetings, friends! It’s been a hot moment, hasn’t it? We’re back though, with another thought of the day to enlighten you. I was finally taking a moment to relax in the bath, when a teenie little daddy long legged spider decided to meander its way along the side of my tub. Now, I don’t have any fear of spiders, especially one so small, but I didn’t want this little guy to fall into my bath, or worse, disappear from view, so I gently scooped him up and placed him along the edge of my dangling English ivy (which I am so proud of… it’s growing well on my bathroom window ledge…long and sprawling… I am hoping to weave it all through the mirror). Anyway, I placed the little guy along the edge of the vine, hoping he would follow the path into the heart of the plant and live happily eating the fruit flies or whatever little gnat things live in soils. He did not. He made a quick veer to the right, grasping at the smooth painted bathroom wall to start his ascent. Once he slipped and slid along the wall, he had to spot check a few pieces of web to swing over the window ledge. I didn’t watch him after that. I don’t know if he every made it to the plant, or the sunny window, or simply slid down the other side under the sink and whatever lurks under there.

Which pathway to choose?

And so… you guessed it… I mused about that little spider and wondered why on earth did he choose the more treacherous path when I clearly had shown him the easiest route? The quickest definition of a pathway is “a way that constitutes or serves as a path” — it says nothing of the difficulty of the pathway, nor the length of the route, nor the dangers along it. It is simply a “way” from point A to point B. Plenty of us have traveled along many a pathway — both easy and hard routes in our lifetimes. They are worth a thought and a look back to see how far we have come.

Most of you know, it has been a hard, long, cold, snowy winter here at Itsnotta Farm. The snow is still deep on the ground, the days are still bitterly cold, and my farm chores are tough. Gates are frozen open, two feet deep in snow. Entry ways to the barn are icy because when it did warm up for a few brief days, the snow melted. The barn is a skating rink. I need to clean out my stall bound bunnies, but everything is frozen to the ground. One day, the wind created huge drifts enroute to the coop, I was waste deep and shoveling my way along. I bump my head on the top of the chicken run because the snow has lifted me up a foot or so taller. Goat fencing can’t be started because the ground is solid and still buried. Needless to say, I think we are quite sick of it all! Spring could not come sooner.

Photo by Anurag Jamwal on Pexels.com

Metaphorically speaking, we’ve been on a few pathways since moving out here. Adjusting to the weather was just one. We’ve had new schools, church, made new friends in a new community. I’ve been given several job opportunities and navigated that trajectory for awhile. Life is a seemingly endless pathway. And then you die. My faith would tell me that that isn’t the final checkpoint, though. The Bible tells us the pathway to Heaven is narrow and tough going. It’s a hard one to choose. Like my little spider, the challenges are real and sluggish. Choices we make now, will determine our fate. Is it worth the slow, arduous route to arrive in Heaven and eternal life? You bet it is!

I don’t know where you are, friend, on your pathway through life. I don’t know who reads my little public posts, or who shares them and why. I do know, God is faithful. He’s proven it time and time again. People around us try and set us on the path that is easy… one with few obstacles, an easy climb through the ivy. Sometimes, the sacrifice is worth the harder route. Sometimes, we need to plant ourselves and haul up over the ledge. It’ll be a bit more difficult for sure. Oh, we’ll have a few blessings along the way… someone will surely scoop us up every now and then and keep us from drowning; but it will all be worth it in the end. Trust me. Spring thaw is coming, and the pathways will soon be green again! And there will be plenty more spiders to watch.