Grab Friday By The Horns

You are capable of being your own best advocate. You deserve to put yourself first. Get the good grass; use your pointy horns if you have to. — Gimlet

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Here’s What’s Happening At Good Spirits Farm

• Mama Chicken is doing a great job raising her babies except for one thing: She’s bedding them down at night in some tall grass that has no protection at all. Every night I have to go out, scoop her and her five babies up, and then deposit them safely into a dog crate. I thought after a couple of days of being moved she’d decide the dog crate was the better option and go there at night. Nope! She’s persistently choosing this same spot! To be honest, having to pick up five fluffy baby chicks is hardly a hardship, so I’m not complaining too loudly about the additional chore!

  

• It’s weed season—and not the fun kind. Late summer is when a lot of the undesirable weeds show up and try and take over the pastures. My real nemesis is cocklebur, which produces these horribly thorny burs that get tangled in the sheep wool. Since we don’t use herbicides, my main control method is mowing. I spent a good chunk of time this week knocking the plants down with the mower, hoping I could avoid them having a chance to produce those nasty burs. I’ll probably have to repeat this another time or two before the first frost knocks the plants back for the winter. But just look at this free hat I got with the purchase of the tractor! What a deal!

  

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Here’s What I Loved This Week

I have been so touched by all the kind words from readers of my Outside Magazine essay about Sebastian and Juliet. So many people have taken a moment to tell me about how much they cared for these two lambs when everything was unfolding. It’s been a great reminder that, while I mostly run this farm on my own all the way out here in super rural TN, I have a fierce network of friends standing behind me. Here’s one of my favorite pics of Sebastian, taken the day I took him for his first vet visit—before we realized the really hard road ahead for him. If you haven’t yet read the piece, don’t wait - it’s going to be behind a paywall soon!