Longing for the garden

Unlike the nasty and apocalyptic winter the poor folks back east are getting, we're having mild temps and (at this moment) no snow.

I took this photo of the garden on December 31 when we had a few inches of snow and some bitterly cold temps.

But for the last few weeks, temps have risen and hovered in the 40s. We're even getting sunshine sometimes. As such, the gardening bug is biting, long before we can rationally think about doing anything productive. This photo was taken February 16.

I walked around the garden the other day and began deciding what to plant where.

The beds with straw on them are where I planted the multiplier onions a reader sent last fall. I'm anxious to see how well they grow.

There are five other tires in this section. Last year all eight tires were planted in potatoes. You're not supposed to plant potatoes in the same spot two years in a row (for fungal reasons, I understand) so I'll have to come up with something else to plant here -- probably carrots.

Here are the herb tires. They did very well last year and I'd like to put in more, particularly for basil, of which we use a lot.

Last summer these tires held miscellaneous items -- tomatoes, beans, broccoli, Brussel's sprouts, etc. This year we'll be planting every tire in this section with potatoes.

We still have room for lots more tires. This particular spot is between the blueberries and raspberry bushes. We plan to put four to six more tractor tires in this area with blueberry bushes in them.

Here's the garlic boat. Last fall I planted it full of garlic and buttoned it up with hay mulch. No need to do anything with it (except water, as needed) until next summer.

I peeled back a bit of the mulch and confirmed yes, the garlic is growing. I anticipate a bumper crop.

The strawberry beds.

They may look dead, but there's growth.

By contrast, here's what they looked like last summer.

And yesterday (from the same angle).

I planted two beds of carrots very late in the season last summer, but they grew very well. However I decided to leave them unharvested and let them go to seed (carrots are biennials).

I didn't mulch them, but they wintered well and have a bit of green growth at the top.

The pear tree...

...has buds.

The pond is brim-full.

These are the corn tires. We had a nice corn harvest last summer and plan to at least double the number of tires of corn this year.

Wanting to do something garden-related, I decided to start clearing the corn beds. I figure if I work at a nice easy relaxing pace, I'll have the whole garden ready to go by the time spring rolls around.

It might be too early to plant anything, but it certainly isn't too early for weeds to take deep root. I made sure to dig out every possible weed as I went.

Dug up lots of worms too, an excellent sign.

While I worked, I was serenaded by robins, sparrows, and blackbirds...

...while overhead, flocks of swans headed toward the lake.

An ant's nest in the yard had these large specimens clustered around an opening, moving very slowly.

I can't claim spring is here because the weather could flip-flop at a moment's notice. But neither are we buried in snow like the poor folks back east. So I'll enjoy the mild weather while we have it, and dream of the garden to come.

Provoking our children

I've been cogitating lately on Colossians 3:18-21, "Instructions for Christian households." This chapter includes the fiery verses so many people (especially women) find objectionable, namely "Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord."

But putting aside the horrific (to feminists) word submit, it's verse 21 that caught my eye: "Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged." The King James Version has it translated, "Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged."

It is, of course, necessary to discipline children. That’s biblically mandated. But what does it mean, to provoke or embitter children?

We all hear about the duties of children toward their parents – it's enshrined in the Ten Commandments, after all – but what duties do parents have toward their children, beyond taking care of their physical needs? Do they have a duty not to "provoke" or "embitter" them? And what does that mean?

Endless people will interpret that verse in endlessly different ways, but I think a lot of it has to do with nagging or forcing kids to do things against their nature. Children must be "forced" to do things they don't want, for many years – they must be "forced" to share household chores, "forced" to do their schoolwork, even "forced" to attend church. But at what point does forcing backfire and rebellion ("bitterness" or "discouragement”) results?

I'm no psychologist, but my guess is it happens when parents totally and completely disregard the wishes, needs, natures, or interests of the children as not important or worthwhile. Kids are not robots who will unquestioningly obey regardless of their opinion. Children have their own personalities, emotions, and opinions. Within the bounds of rationality, these should be respected.

In the patriarchal hegemony of the Bible, children were expected to instantly obey a father's directives without question, regardless of their opinion. Fathers were expected to know best. They were expected to guide their children away from whatever dangers awaited. They were expected to shield their children from the dangers and temptations they knew existed in the world.

But undoubtedly many parents (particularly fathers) took this to such an extreme that the children naturally rebelled. Enforcing rules that are too strict or oppressive will make children hate whatever it is you’re trying to encourage, including matters of faith.

Child rebellion is as old as the Bible (hence the many verses in Proverbs addressing it) but parental despots were also common. As Colossians 3:21 illustrates, such unyielding dictatorship could result in bitter and discouraged offspring.

I've met parents who suppress every original thought their child harbors lest it depart from parental supremacy. Yet our children must learn to think independently, even if they go through stages where they’re wrong, or where we disagree (again, within the bounds of rationality).

And sometimes rebellious kids will grow into adults, still harboring those rebellious thoughts – and won’t learn differently until they’re clunked upside the head with Real Life.

As young children developing their theories of their world through observations, a child may tell his mother that "the sun goes to bed at night." Mother scoffs and tells Junior what a dumb idea it is. Does this reaction encourage Junior, or embitter him?

Growing older, again while trying to make sense of the adult world they are soon to enter, teens may develop opinions contrary to that of their parents in an effort to either claim independence, or to provoke. Many parents quash these contrary views and tell the teen he's wrong to believe thus-and-such and he'd better darn well change his mind OR ELSE. This often causes the teen to cling harder to his idea until it becomes part of him rather than just a passing fancy.

If this keeps up – if children are not allowed or permitted to have their own unique opinions, thoughts, or conclusions – then they may indeed become provoked to the point of embittered. I've seen it. It's sad… particularly because teens change as they mature into adults. Had they not been provoked or embittered, these young adults might eventually have dovetailed their opinions and attitudes with those of their parents – except they were provoked otherwise.

In short, while children have the biblical mandate to obey their parents, I believe parents have a biblical obligation to their children as well, not to provoke or embitter them lest they become discouraged. It's not our job to stifle their creativity, their opinions, their emotions, or their interests. It's our job to guide those qualities into acceptable and respectful channels.

Just my $0.02.

Totally unexpected surprise

Yesterday morning around 6:30 am -- just when it was getting light enough to see outside -- I suddenly heard the cattle bellowing in excitement. Looking out the window, I saw them galloping up to the bull pen and milling about. I grabbed a coat and scarf -- it was 22F outside -- and what did I see?

A calf! Shadow, who's been our bull Samson's pen mate since late December, had borne a calf!

This was totally and completely unexpected. Shadow, you may recall, lost a calf two years ago. It was born dead and was the first calf we'd ever lost in 15 years of owning cattle. Poor Shadow was understandably upset, and as the years went by it seemed she was barren as well. She had plenty of exposure to the bull, but never again became pregnant (or so we thought).

We received some suggestions we should just put Shadow in the freezer since she wasn't able to have a calf. We're not particularly sentimental about (most of) our cows, and we will more readily butcher an ornery animal, but Shadow's disposition is sweet and we saw no need to get rid of her without a good excuse.

Besides, even if she couldn't bear calves, she did have a use -- she could keep the bull company during times we didn't want other cows bred. That's why she's been Samson's pen mate for the last few months.

As for how we didn't know she was pregnant... well, some cows, like some women, carry a pregnancy with great subtlety. So it was with Shadow. Never in the past nine months did she look even remotely pregnant. So I repeat, this calf was a complete surprise.

A glimpse of a tiny scrotum -- we have a little boy.

By the time I saw him, the baby was on his feet and nursing strongly. Shadow has shown great attention and promises to be a good mama.

All the other ladies lined up to admire the new arrival.

Samson, of course, thought they were lining up to admire him, and he pawed and pranced around like the stud he is.

I gave Shadow a little bit of food right where she was, so she wouldn't be conflicted between being hungry vs. staying with her baby.

But our priority was to get her and the baby out of the bull pen.

Not because Samson was likely to be aggressive to the calf -- Dexter bulls are pretty good about respecting calves...

...but because the bull pen, like the feed lot, has parts that are literally knee-deep in sticky black mud and we couldn't risk the baby getting mired.

Nor could we turn Shadow out with the rest of the herd. Again it's not because anyone would hurt the baby, but there's mud everywhere.

After some discussion, we decided to confine Shadow and the baby in the hay barn for the time being, at least until we can castrate the baby. Here they would have unlimited food and complete protection from the weather. Although it was chilly this morning, thankfully we're having mild weather with temps in the 40s.

Even in cold weather, calves do fine as long as they have shelter, hay bedding, and a belly full of warm milk.

So after giving Shadow most of the day to recuperate and get used to having a baby...

...we got her and the calf out of the bull pen and shooed another cow in to keep Samson company. It was too dark to take photos by the time we got everyone bedded down, but suffice it to say we blocked Shadow and baby in the barn with cattle panels (which also locked poor little Lucy out, the greedy thing) and filled a tub of water for mama.

I've been smiling the whole day over our new addition. Cows are happiest with calves, and it pleases me that Shadow has one at last.

Now... what shall we name the baby?