beautiful bovine

Rosie

Lovely is the bovine

Who's shiny fur reflects the beautiful zesty spirit within.

Large eyes

and a big nose

Perky udder swaying in the breeze

before she climbs on new-bull-friend Arthur.

Rosie

welcome to our family

who are as full of character as you are.

And when you're done with Arthur

(who lives at the neighbours place)

we'll take you home

read you bed time stories

give you the moozley take-away food you seem to love

and tuck you in safely at night.

We love you Rosie

no trip to the meat works for you.

Instead a life of frivolity awaits!

A sweet milking Mooooooooooo is a

Beautiful Bovine.

life

is worth LIVING:
(love this, there's piggies in it and Mooos and sheepies etc etc, so sold already. Warning it makes some people cry...)

perception

Yesterday I watched the movie "the girl with the dragon tattoo". It was quite a graphic movie in the sense that very unpleasant thing were happening to the main characters. The movie was excellent as the storyline was good and it showed how people can choose to behave in different circumstances. The more you understand the background stories the more things make sense. There are no black and white absolutes which is what I liked about it. I think "truth" and our versions of it are multi dimensional. Having an opinion about anything therefor can be a difficult thing to shape.

We usually do not know what stories people carry around and it's usually not necessary for us to know either. I am a strong believer in that you are able to influence what you attract in your life, no exception. Being responsible for your own life and dealing with any situation that comes along is a daily activity. So what about when people appear not being able to defend themselves?

It's a good question and not an easy one. Are there bastards in the world? Most people would say yes of course: this that and the other! Are there innocents in the world? Yes. Are there tons of grey areas? Millions. Why do some people "have it easy" and why do "some people always experience shit"? I don't know either. But I do know that creating hypes and a lot of noise about bad things will hardly make it any better. It makes more sense to do the best you can do and if you do find yourself in a situation that you can make a lot of a difference, do so.

Nico and I once ran into a troubled girl on a campsite. She had serious thoughts about killing herself and had tried something with a gasoven that didn't work out. She had had a difficult childhood and eventhough she didn't mention all the particulars we did get a fair idea of the horrendousness of it. She spoke about it in such a off hand manner that would turn the average person stone cold. We did what we could for her and suggested things that could help her practically and mentally. She was most grateful as she said that we were strangers there at the right time to listen. And to care. I think it made a difference in her life that she needed at the time to make a decision to move forward.

Ultimately it seems that this is the only thing we can do: to be conscious of what we choose at any given time. And whether we give a damn about others. Even when we don't know them.

Who have you met recently that you could have helped but didn't? Who did you help but only realized later that you did? And would you be willing to step up and do the hard yards or just say you would? Things are never easy and straight forward and yet sometimes. They are.

karma

Whether you believe in Karma or not

Life has a way of shaping itself

As you see and feel it

in your mind

in your heart

Choosing now

to simply be

and accept all there is

releases the struggle within.

Nothing out there can hurt you

only the inability to understand the bigger picture

that makes you experience pain

and creates all struggle

Karma is a name for pattern in motion

It's just a label

Don't worry about its stories

Just feel what is right for you

and let go of that which no longer fits you

Simply be..

And feel you're way through it

You are your own guidance.

Trust that.

Trust your self.

That's all there is.

source karma idea: Eckhart Tolle

poem: Mirjam Spronk

photo: lookANDsee

gentleness

There is much to be said about softness in this oftentimes world of harshness. The way I keep reading in the media about how there are battles to be won, companies to be bought and problems to be overcome. At night I wake up grinding my teeth and wondering why my face has that determined steely set feel to it. Relaxxx I tell myself.
Then the dog died. Glen aka Manny Moo was getting onto 15. His eyesight had long left him seeing fuzzy shapes and his hearing was a lot to be left desired. He could walk but with a wobble and at times he would get caught walking into a bit of sand and would keel over or flop down. Thus it was when I found myself writing a letter to him in the evening, a few hours after I had found him lying so still in his kennel.

Dear Mennie (Dutch for Manny)

On all acounts you appeared to be a normal dog..
You didn't have a dashing appearance, if anything you were pretty scruffy looking.
Yet we loved you straight away and you came with the farm we were buying. How cool!
You rounded up the neighbours sheep when they went on an escapade, because you knew what to do. Naturally we hadn't a clue being farmlet newbies and you understood that perfectly.

Over the years your favorite activity was to find sunlight and then bask in it on the lawn. You loved me brushing your coat. It made you feel like a guy with a tophat being so nicely groomed. And if you could have a rummage in the grass and roll around in it well nothing could beat that. I will always remember you smiling, and it was quite something to behold.

We looked after you and you learned to trust humans again, be it always a bit careful. If anyone put their arm up high you would duck down by instinct. We told you that you didn't have to. We gave you cuddles. I talked to you until even you had enough of it after a while. As time went on you knew the routine by heart of bikkie twice a day instead of once. You never understood what a ball was for though, so we decided to give it to the goats to muck around with. (Not that they did.)

Mennie you were very special to us. You were gentle and you were kind. I will miss you yet I know it was simply time, and I'm glad you died in your own home instead of on the vets table in a clinic. You deserved to live at home for as long as you wanted to. I hope you will like the tree we will pick out for you. Please see us from time to time, but if you don't then that's prefectly fine. An awesome place like heaven can be very distracting I'm sure!

Talk to you later Mennie. Take care and have fun!
Lots of love,
Mirjam (and Nico of course but he's less girly about these sort of things as you know.)

veggies for life

I have decided:
I am becoming a vegetarian. It was likely to happen.
This nagging awareness that I was doing something silly.
How could I possibly eat those that are my friends?


When words unsaid are spoken
Nose to nose
When my curly hair is torn from my skull as they nibble
the practicing of their social rites of fitting me into
their group (because I smell funny goat Mia says).


How could I possibly eat my friends?


I have started to understand them 
that I know what they want
When they have pain and where
and what they want for dinner.
And how they want their beds made.
When they need clean water.
When they want cuddles and hoof holding.


How could I possibly eat my friends?


And even when Lisa the mini goat gets stuck in the fence again
as she's always curious
and always eager for the greener grass
I keep pulling her out and setting her free again.
As she dances off with a guilty face
I know she will do it again anyway but that's ok.
Looking after them is top priority.


How could I possibly eat my friends?


Why would it be hard to give up eating meat
when I can stop eating my friends.
And I can look them in the eye and say:
don't worry I'm one of you now:
I only eat greens.
I am part of your fuzzy tribe.


How could I possibly eat my friends?

(picture of Kuddles our 2 year old highland steer)

home steading

I am currently reading this book, which details about the lifestyle and healthy home made living a la farmette. A friend of mine posted this on my Facebook page which had me laughing: a chicken sitting service for the urbanites. I also know about a business that hires out goats to munch your lawn. So what's the story with the home ca-noodling?


Green, the Sloffood movement and all things yummy and nice are back on the cards for those who have had enough of the concrete jungle, the plastic micro waved dinners and being stuck in traffic. This is not new of course, but it seems back en vogue. In the Netherlands it's quite custom still to have a herbal and even veggie garden on one's tiny balcony on a high rise. Many dream of living in Italy (this I hear on a regular basis at work), sipping some wine, eating some wonderful breads & cheeses and staring at the olive trees sprawled out over generous hills and sloping meadows. Ah yes. The Good Life. So how do we get there?

My husband and I enjoy living on our 64 acre block, the "farm-let" and we are farmettes which is a bit different from the lifestyle block of a few acres and a big farm over say 500 acres. We work in the city mostly while also running our farm-let. While reading Jenna Woginrich's book mentioned above, I had to smile at her hilarious anecdotes! I recognized so much in the early boo-boos that she tells about.

Having a small farm or even a bit of a green blob of land in your backyard is really enough to get you started with a veggie garden, a beehive, or a chicken coop. And what you learn while starting on this fun enterprise is basically that making mistakes or being a doofus is all part of the experience. We now walk easily amongst our highland cattle and move them about without a fuss, whereas in the beginning with the meat cattle we had to jump the fence and the dog too as one bovine we aptly called "Loopy" starting chasing us around the paddock. Very in-dignifying. We seriously wondered whether we had the balls to go through all the motions that were required. We have now graduated from the initial newbie crispiness. We have the experience, know how to do the practical things and keep adding to the farm knowledge. I can clip the goatie hooves by myself without the use of proper yards which apparently is a great achievement.

So how can you get your slice of paradise, even in the smallest ways?
Decide what you would like to start with and read up! Nothing beats the look and taste of fresh veggies, the view of animals snoozing in the sun, and the privacy and tranquility that your own place gives you. What you need is knowing what you want to do and most of all: sheer determination! It is very rewarding.

To learn how to start your career at Homesteading: http://www.homestead.org/
Modern homesteading: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Modern-Homesteading.aspx
Homesteading forum: http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/
Great website to read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/blogs/blog.aspx?blogid=1510

the art sense of nonsense

At the moment I'm working on new textile designs for Hemptech (and myself too). It's the putting together of that which doesn't make sense and also does make sense, at the same time. It's a controversial process. I tried to team up clover with various items, have filed away pics of pelicans, and suddenly have a brainwave about implementing knives, forks and spoons. Where that came from, nobody knows. Least of all me, my brain associates the craziest things.


Today I came across a designer, who also finds the 'outside life' helpful in keeping her ideas "fresh". I don't have to tell you that reading about a designer who has a farming background (or someone who still IS a farmer) is a joyous occasion for me. It's the moooo aspect that rocks the kazba. In this case, designer Matali Crasset spoke to Fastcompany about the benefits and all enticing aspects about the quirky in art. (The quirky can be so under valuated. I mean what can be more hilarious then murky quirky? Exactly.) 

This lady has right handedly come up with a domestic UFO (always handy those), a coat hanger that transforms in a bed (good to hang around in) and some goofy interiors. No wonder she is French and well known throughout the quadrant. 


Recently she has produced kitchen utensils for Alessi (pic above). She says about these: 
" I start by giving intention to an object and I start drawing only at the end. I don't draw to shapes; the shapes are coming from themselves. For example, with the bowl, I just had a vision of one bowl and I wanted to make it more practical. To be two bowls. And I combined them." 
So what does the farming life mean to her?
"You know I come from a small village of 80 farmers. I am kind of an ET. I had nothing to do with this kind of culture when I was growing up. For me it's easier to break codes because I'm still not inside. The best you can have in a collaboration is to have this outside look. And that's my position."
(Read the whole post later here. Source: Fastcompany) 


I also read about a Canadian pigfarmer lady, who like me, has to look after animals by herself usually. She got inventive (thats' what you do if you have to tend to animals and not be pummeled to the ground, have them dash out the fields or see you poking yourself with the drench gun.) What did she do? She invented a roller that dispenses a swath of red cloth--a sort of farm version of the retractable "lane guides" that movie theaters use. 

She had noticed that the hogs didn't like a red material moving about and she could use this idea instead of electric prodding to move them where she wanted them to go. This is industrial genius. And very self sufficient I must say.
(Source Core77, whole post here)


So: the outdoorsy life can inspire us in various forms! Whether you own a green pasture or not, thinking outside of the concrete box is groovy. So if you like to have a bit of zesty farm design right at home, to uplift you, try these:

Japanese artist Koshi Kawachi takes old Japanese graphic novels and carefully adds a few radish seeds to create miniature indoor farms.
(source: greenmuze)
.
So who says oddball-ism doesn't pay off? It turns out that it can be very practical indeed.
.