On the Animal Farm! Limpopo!
August 23, 2021
So, I am staying in the ‘Northern Territory’ in South Africa! BUT!! Did I mention that I am staying on a small farm in this area?? 🙂 Talk about updating the map of my life journey!! Obviously, you should be able to tell with an event and post such as this that I am looking for a specific thing! And with each step inside, I am finding it!
While there is an entire host of various animals on this small farm, it is primarily a chicken farm. When at times, there are baby chicks everywhere!! And, this includes being in the house in the room next door…I never knew how sensitive chicks and chickens were to their vicissitudes of life. Temperature and disease can whip out the entire flock of chickens. And the chicks require high levels of attention and care…thus, they are right next door…ahhh….the chirping…but, I am in South Africa…it is all good!! 🙂 This is a part of the daily view around the compound….
And, of course the Big Chicks…egg layers and those for the dinner table. Living in an area where I have plenty of room for chickens…and some of those in my neighborhood have some as well…I’ve had thoughts about raising chickens for quite some time. Getting away from the commercial style, full of fat and whatever else, and getting down to some good o’l home and natural raised yard bird!!
Well, one of the beautiful aspects of this experience is that I have come upon my own romanticized notions and am now fully aware of a few of them. In regards to chickens!! Beyond the day-to-day care, every morning they rise early to deal with chicken prep for sale. That would be the last picture in this set…neck rung, feathers plucked, and on the slab getting ready for sale….
Yup, that romanticized notion is over!! I’m strictly on the consumption in…not the prep. Of several lessons learned on this trip…one is that I am not interested in raising chickens…that is someone else’s gift! I greatly appreciate the raising and preparation…but, call me when it is time to cook or eat them 🙂 That’s it…next…. 🙂
The other major contingency on this farm – Sheep!! Interestingly, the chickens are basically a commercial item…they raise them, eat the, sell them…but, the sheep. Well, they are more like the ‘security team’ part of the crew!! The folks from ‘Charlotte’s Web’ would be ecstatic! 🙂
Quite the interesting place here…in addition to the sheep, the turkey’s, geese, and rabbits (not pictured) each had their own contingency 🙂 Why do I call them contingency…well, their survival is contingent 🙂 Okay…it is a farm you know… 🙂
Just a few pictures to share the environment. In actuality, being in this open space surrounded by the farm animals really added to the thoughtfulness about life I experienced then and feel now as I reflect and share. While being out here in the territory could be considered isolation, the fact is this place is teeming with life (also plenty of fresh oranges right off of the trees). And, of course…I have at least one of my personal security team members with me!
What a place to be. Where you must sit and deal with yourself, your thoughts, your life…amongst life! Not always easy to do, and not something everyone will do! However, this is one of those places for it!
As James Baldwin shares, ‘Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.’
Interestingly, the same thing I was facing then, I am facing now! The change isn’t always immediate, sometimes it takes time. And, that time is necessary! This is where I needed to be – Then and Now!!
What’s next!! 🙂
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