I know that we are encouraged to be thankful every day, in every way, but isn’t November the month that all hearts turn to Thankfulness? Also, there is so much going on in the world today, that we are often horribly reminded to be Thankful for what we’ve been given. No matter how hard you’ve worked, or what you’ve been born into – all that we have is not simply the product of our own lives. Along the way, so many people have helped us; parents, grandparents, teachers, friends, exceptional Pastors – Leaders – trailblazers, and – for us – God has been leading the way. We are thankful for the opportunity to do what we are doing, on the land that Sue found, with the animals entrusted to our care. How can we be anything but thankful?

If you an active Facebook member – even if you’re only lurking, like I did for a long while, you’ve probably seen any number of guidelines for 30 Days of Thankfulness or 30 Days of Gratitude; a friend of mine posted one that I like a great deal and I thought we could use here for this month. We’re starting out already behind, so let’s catch up. Since I only post three days a week, we’ll have to do more than one day at a time anyway.  So, maybe you can add things in the comments, or on the Facebook Post as well (I tried this once on the Church FB site I was running a couple Thanksgivings ago, and I think only one person ever participated – let’s see if this works any better.) Today is the 6th of November- so let’s do 1-6.

• Smell – New hay added to the coop.  It’s such a wonderful clean smell, even if it does make me sneeze. 🙂 Reminds me of my childhood when we’d have a new calf in the barn and my mom would put down clean hay for them. It’s a warm, almost homey smell.
• Technology – The Internet, how else could I keep in touch with everyone and keep an account of what’s happening here on the farm?
• Color – Green! not that we have that in abundance now, but when things here are green in the summer – it is amazingly beautiful. Sue might not agree, because she ends up mowing so often.
• Food –  Eggs, I guess. Because they help to sustain us in so many ways; not only eating them, but selling them, and being able to give them away.
• Sound – Rain. I absolutely love the sound of rain on the roof, rain in the gutters – trickling down the pipes into the water tank. I love the sound of rain as it drops off the leaves of the trees or hits the rocks or puddles in the birdbaths. I also love the happy sound of the ducks that love to play in the rain as the chickens watch on from the dry coop and shake their little heads in befuddlement.
• Nature – /I am grateful for the seasons. I enjoy the changes that they bring and watching how the earth and the creatures are affected by what is happening. I may not always like the outcome; how the chickens slow their egg production, bur realize this is how it should be, God gave them this time to replenish their bodies and gear up for the Spring. Many of the trees take this time to sleep in preparation for bearing as well. Then the Spring comes with it’s blossoms, ripening through the summer, yielding in the fall and quieting again in the winter.  Everything in its season, it is a lovely plan.

There you go – I’m just speaking for myself here, I didn’t even ask Sue her views… just kinda did it on my own… what would you like to add? We’re interested in knowing, truly. How are these questions answered for you and your family or friends? If you’re living in an urban area, they are probably quite a bit different for you. If you’ve moved to a new area, have you begun to find the answers to these questions in your new life? I realize that this is quite a different post from normal, but the issues in the news really got me thinking about this. I appreciate the ability to write about this here, and express these thoughts of thankfulness to those who may understand or feel similarly. We’ll keep it going – maybe in place of the “cool sightings” this month – but get back to regular blogging next time. Until then, as always~
Thanks for reading!

Today’s Weather: To me it feels like it’s fixin’ to cloud over again and I hope that means rain; although, the chance of rain is only at 10%. Would love for it to beat the percentage! Currently it is 63° at 6:59 p.m. High was predicted at 78° and I think that’s probably accurate.

Egg Report: Just got back in from taking Leggs back to the coop (we’re still working on her bumble-foot issues) and almost stepped on a duck egg; so that means we got 3 duck eggs today… but we might only get one for tomorrow. We ended up with 14 chicken eggs today. Over the weekend we had a few: Saturday – 2 duck eggs and 12 chicken eggs, 14 chicken eggs and 2 duck eggs.  We might have enough to take to the Farmers Market in a couple of weeks.