Our pony has spurred our efforts at rotational grazing, we do not have enough pasture to get us through the summer, I don’t think, and we don’t wish to confine Chloe in a stall for most of the day. (And a baby cow is coming to spend the summer.) So we are turning a portion of the pasture into a paddock, fencing off the rest, and taking care to rotate the grazing time.
Each morning, Maria and I (depending on who is taking the photos or video) move the animals to a different part of the farm to graze for a few hours, once in the morning, then again in the afternoon. Animals love routine, especially when it comes to food. We used to need Red to move the sheep, now they follow the pony, who follows Maria. The donkeys follow all of them, donkeys hate to be left out of anything, especially eating.
Twice a day, there are these quite lovely parades, Red watches from a distance, Fate always wants to be in the thick of things.
I relate my own life to rotational grazing, it is a system of cycles. Writers, like soldiers and police officers, spend much of their time waiting and only some in the most intense part of my work. My work is not dangerous, as theirs can be, requires a lot of thought and introspection.
Once again, and for the 29th time in my life, I am waiting for a publisher and an editor to accept or reject a book proposal. It is part of the life, but always unnerving, because I am not sure what my next book work will be or who I will be working for. Buying a book is a complex and intense process for a publisher as well as a writer.
I am, as always, grateful for my blog, which centers me and gives me an outlet for my writing, and a very strong purpose and focus to every day of my life. Because of the blog, I always have work, always have writing to do, always am interacting with my readers in a new and quite often exciting way.
There is always some nastiness and challenge to being in the open in our culture,but that is a very small part of it. There is also much support, praise and encouragement. If you want one, you accept the other.
Waiting on a book proposal is always a spiritual and psychological challenge. There is always the possibility of exhilaration and focus, there is always the possibility of rejection and a rotation of the mind. That is the life I chose.
Rotational grazing has entered my conscious, because it reflects my life. My work evolves, needs to be refreshed and considered, is nourishment for me. Seeing how the animals accept the strictures of their lives, I am inspired to do the same. One of these days, I will know the fate and direction of my next book. Maybe.