Ben painted the new barn addition today. Looks grand to me. Sheep coming Sunday, donkeys, chickens and cats in a few weeks. I am spinning with all of the things going on but also proud of the progress, the good decisions, the good people here working so hard.
We’ve come up with an idea for how to use of the old barn foundations. Ajay is hard at work clearing out the glass, nails, garbage, old hay and manure and when he is done, Todd Mason will built a rail around the area (so Rocky can’t walk off the hill) and we will put a feeder there and feed the donkeys, sheep and Rocky there. It seems a nice use of the old barn area and it will keep the hay and manure away from the Pole Barn. Nice photos too, I bet. I love this idea of reusing everything in one way or another. And this is why I do not mourn things too much as everything is reborn and lives in its own way.
Another adjustment for Rocky – he’s out of his small stall and into the big stall, the Pole Barn. This is where he and he donkeys and the sheep will gather in the winter and we wanted him to get used to being out there. It is just a bigger stall, really out of the sun and rain and wind, exactly where he stood day and night for years. We don’t want donkeys and sheep going into the barn – lead to brawling and crowding – so everybody will make do outside.
Rocky has had a lot to handle this week, and more to come. He is smart, adaptable, resilient. His life will get even more exciting shortly.
I’m beginning to figure out the photography at New Bedlam Farm. It will be different, less pastoral, fewer idyllic vistas. And in some way better – flatter, more open land, good for animal photography. I am just noticing the field of my neighbor to the South and is is beautiful in its own way. I have the right lenses for this flat and open shooting and taking down the old barn opens up some real beautiful landscape possibilities for me.
It is good to change, be challenged, think differently about the light the composition of photos.
Ben started priming the barn and will paint it barn red shortly. It already looks like it’s been there for a hundred years. Red will be moving out of his stall and into the pole barn space. He’s just figuring out that there is shade there.
