For all celebrating the resurrection of Jesus today, here is one of my favorite hymns. My grandmother told me once that when she was babysitting a 3-year-old Alison on Easter in Pennsylvania many years ago, she caught me sitting very close to the TV, intently watching a program that seemed intense for a child. She said, “Alison what are you watching?” Apparently I was watching an Easter history special. I turned to her with equal intensity and replied, “What’s the matter Granny? Haven’t you ever heard of the resurrection of Jesus Christ?!”
“I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness
Where is death's sting?
Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.”
—“Abide With Me” by Henry Francis Lyte
We have been playing electric fence whack-a-mole with the cows, especially “mommy cow”, who appears to be the ring leader of the fence jumping mafia. She either has a very high pain tolerance or the hot wire we just installed isn’t working. I watched as she ducked under the wire and pushed down the metal fencing so she could help herself to our backyard grass - and a recycling container filled with old hay.
Here’s how to never buy mulch again. Did you know that the crews who trim trees for power lines will often dump the mulched branches at your house for free? We drove by a crew on Friday and within a couple hours they were at our farm dumping an entire truckload of fresh mulch that we can use for our garden! Unintended benefits: free forage for the goats and a free playground for the human kids. Try it out next time you see these crews. Just pull over if it’s safe and ask them if they offer the service. Grab the foreman’s phone number to stay in touch for future jobs.
Lily got a beehive for Christmas from her grandparents and we spent the day after assembling it. We are fortunate to have had offers from several local bee experts to help begin our colony and teach us proper beekeeping. One potential challenge is that a couple years ago I was stung by a yellow jacket on the thumb and my hand blew up like a baseball bat. Two months later I was stung by another yellow jacket in the exact same spot. This time I got welts all over my body. I’ve been stung a bunch throughout my life with no issues but now I have to carry an epi pen with me everywhere. I guess we will see what happens with the new hive-venture. Honey here we come!
I find it interesting how we were all directed to be triggered. Over Bill Gates being a large "farm land" owner. And we all got concerned over moves involving food. And sure, there are some. Meanwhile, Beyond Meat is failing. The whole fake meat game is in financial peril.
The "farm land" is going to AI Data Centers. They just want hooks for power, water and resources to build and maintain them.
It's interesting how we're led to look one way, when the real plot is in a different direction.