Our Lady Of Chicken Grace

(It's Ruthie, of course)

In the rush of cooking and cleaning and gathering and leading the family in grace, don’t forget: You deserve grace, too. It’s okay if the taters are lumpy, the rug didn’t get vacuumed and your toddler is melting down. Thank you for being here in this imperfect world with all the rest of us imperfect souls. And thank you for all you do for your little flock. - Ruth Bader Ginsbird

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Here’s What’s Happening At Good Spirits Farm

• We are wrapping up our turkey operation for the year, and, honestly, I’m not sure I’ll do it again. It is so stressful to worry about someone not liking their bird and blaming you for ruining their Thanksgiving! I’ve laid awake a whole bunch the past few weeks totally stressed about this! (Perhaps farming is a poor choice of profession for a person prone to anxiousness?) Here’s hoping we have nothing but happy customers.

• It’s Gimlet’s first birthday! Gimlet was the first mammalian birth on our farm, and I fretted for weeks about how it was going to go. Our livestock vets are so few and far between, so I knew that, in an emergency, saving Benni and her baby would likely be up to me. In the end, Benni delivered Gimlet while I was asleep, and didn’t need any help at all. Gimlet is growing into a sweet and curious little cow, and I hope she’ll have a long, happy life on our farm. (You can see her as a naughty teenager bowling-balling through the sheep last night here!)

  

• Squeakers, remember her? She’s fully recovered from her unfortunate run-in with Veli’s chompers. Apparently, as revenge for us getting a big dog, Squeakers (or maybe we should call her Sneakers) has taken to sneaking into the garden to eat cover crop seed. I’ll have to spend some time this weekend figuring out where she’s breaching the fence—and replanting the seeds she hoovered up. I mean, just look at that guilty face!

  

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Here’s What I Loved This Week

These gorgeous hot mitts one of my favorite newsletter readers (don’t worry, you’re all my favorite) sent me! I’m not naming her because I know you all would overwhelm her with orders and I am not sure she’s ready to become a full-time potholder maker (but if you are, say so and I’ll let everyone know!). One lovely side effect of the past year of social distancing is that I feel like strangers on the Internet have been surprisingly kind and generous to each other. This package totally made my day! I mean, just look at these beauties!