Day: May 27, 2016

For me, the training of dogs is not a four or five week course, it is not about obedience, it never stops and continues through the life of the dog. Fate’s training has gone beautifully, especially after I realized she was not going to be a working dog like Red. The pressure was off, and training is all fun.

Fate is an energetic active and instinctive dog, her instincts often overwhelm her attentiveness and focus, she needs to be worked with every day and she is making wonderful progress. She actually lies down when asked, waits by the gate before she jumps in. On the walk in the woods, I step back and let the dogs get about 100 feet ahead of me, and then I yell “down,” and both dogs drop, Red instantly, Fate after a second or two.

Now we are working on “stay,” Fate is so distractable that is a challenge for her. Today it was crisp, they both dropped when told, waited for us to come down to them. The clearer and more patient I am, the better we all do. For me, training is a spiritual experience, not an exercise in authority.

This is turning out to be the year of the gardens at Bedlam Farm.

Our back porch garden, in its third year, is looking great. We have moved Mr. Blockhead from my study to the porch, where it sits happily. Florence Walrath’s Irises are coming up beautifully, so are the diverse plants and flowers we have been planting and watering and weeding for a couple of years now.

I didn’t realize how many years it takes to cultivate a garden, and we now have three or four gardens planted, two out front, one by the pasture, a new Three Sisters Garden, and the Dahlia garden, which we are planting this weekend. Five, perhaps six gardens now at the farm, giving a different look and feel to the farmhouse, which is, itself freshly painted.

We are looking good for the Spring Open House, scheduled for June 25-26. This one feels good and pure and true to its roots. We are calling it “The Art Of Rural Life,” and there will be much art, poetry readings,  book talk, shearer and farrier demos, cow milking, you can meet the pony and donkeys, see Maria’s studio, watch Red and Fate do their work with the sheep.

In many ways, the Spring Open House is a celebration of creativity, especially of Maria’s. And it is a time to share our fortunate loves and talk about them and meet some of the people who make it all possible.

Two days, Saturday and Sunday, 11 to 4. No dogs please, we will have two portable toilets, Main Street in Cambridge is just down the road. Battenkill Books. Over The Moon Socks And Beads. And of course, the Round House Cafe. Scott Carrino will be coming to the open house to sing some songs.

It’s a great town to walk around. Details here.

Fate caught a mouse in the woods today…sort of. She saw it moving, and pounced on it, pressed her nose to it. The mouse, small and fat on the good eatings of the woods, squeaked loudly and several times, and Fate jumped back and stared at it, bewildered. As she is with the sheep, she loves to chase, but not to kill.

The mouse, squeaking indignantly, perhaps could not believe his good fortune, and suddenly ran off pell mell to the stone wall, complaining loudly, and Fate waited a moment for him to get safely inside, and then chased after him. Too late, of course. Fate is a good time girl, she is interested in having a good time, not in biting sheep or killing mice. She is a pacifist border collie.

On the edge of the woods, a corn pasture opens up, freshly plowed. In the distance, the Green Mountains of Vermont rise up out of the mist, a few miles away, but different from our rolling hills. I like seeing the mountains through the mist – it is a hot and humid day here, they look especially grand.

The deep forest is a new world over the past week, ferns have sprouted on the forest floor, the trees are in leaf, the chipmunks are out and busy and the woods echoes with the spring songbirds, who have great places to make their nests. Coyote and bear scat are evident, and the dogs  are busy sniffing and marking and circling, collecting the stories of the forests. The canopy makes the woods more intimate, more personal, it seems as if the forest envelopes us an old friend, protects us, it is cool and peaceful in there.