Photos by Amanda Naylor, PThreePhoto.com

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

So Far, So Good: I'm Scheming "Something" Mightily

It has been three days since the start of 2012, and so far, so good! 

Reflecting on some scripture and commentary (from my Advent "Blue Book"), I was struck by these words: "So what am I to do?  I am free to do what I can do...something, just not everything...I can do something."   I often feel stymied by my limited ability to DO anything, as a stay-at-home mom.  I want to do something AWESOME, but how with so little free time or extra resources?  This commentary seemed to speak to that exact feeling.  No, I'm not free to do much at this time.  But that doesn't mean that I can't do anything.  Even if it's something small, it is still something, and every little bit helps.

On that note, I've been pretty productive here.  Mostly I'm trying to determine how to use space at the farm to do the most good.  No one wants to hear any of my ideas until they are fully formed, so my mind is basically a whirling chaotic mess!  I have written down my ideas in various notebooks and scraps of paper which litter my desk (basically a tangible version of what's going on inside my brain).

My current "master plan" is basically to consolidate the horses in a smaller area that is more centrally located to the houses.  The horses all require very little pasture at this point, so moving them to a more confined area would make it easier to manage their weight and easier to care for them in general, as water and electricity are already present*.

(*A big deal, as tonight I spent more than an hour fighting with the hose, which is basically the singular plot or at least the most commonly recurring theme of all of my winters.  Eventually, I was forced to give up on the hose, which froze shut immediately after being attached to the carefully winterized faucet.  Therefore, I was resigned to clumsily filling and transporting and lugging and pouring a 5-gallon water tank repeatedly from the basement of the barn to the top of the property where the horses currently reside...until it broke, sloshing me with water in the 23 degree night air!)

So, in order to determine whether my "master plan" is at all feasible, I have been collecting estimates from a variety of contractors--excavating, wood construction, metal construction, concrete construction, fencing, etc.  If it is allowable by the township, I'd like to fortify and expand a barn that currently exists and replace some decrepit fencing that has been removed.

And...if I already have an excavator leveling a spot for an enlarged barn structure, maybe--just maybe--it would be the right time to level a spot to ride (dare I say it, an "arena")?  After all, there is already a flood light lighting the old "riding" area...  Oh, to have an arena after all of these years!!  A level spot with footing and lights would take my enjoyment of the horses to a new stratosphere.

If the horses were removed from the upper fields to the central spot, by way of my "master plan," less mowing and maintenance would be required in that area.  Efficiency: check!  We would be able to ride whenever--darkness, rain, freezing weather.  Efficiency: check!  And, we would have a large acreage of pasture that was not in use.  Efficiency: Zero~ especially as we have been mowing it several times during the summer, which is not a blast, and then allowing the cut grass to rot.  So...wait for it!...we have a service come to custom bale those pastures, thusly, gaining a supply of hay for our horses at a much-reduced price and also creating a surplus of hay that could be sold or donated (to the SPCA Equine Fund!!)  Efficiency: check, check! Not to mention a GREAT BIG SOMETHING for starving horses!

Add that planning and scheming to my ideas for additional fundraising for the SPCA horses--tack sale, sponsorships, market stands, horsey pillows--oh, and my thoughts on a free-range, organic-egg-laying chicken flock--oh, and a non-profit horse sanctuary or foster home--and I'm on a major role!  I'M FINALLY DOING SOMETHING...or at least scheming mightily to do something!

But can she keep up this level of spastic mental activity?  That remains to be seen...

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