05/20/2022
Beautifully put!
Every creature on a homestead has an unimaginable purpose- from the hawk, to the chicken, to the worm, to the ladybug. The fox, the coyote, the goat, the duck, the horse.
They all work together.
You might ask me: “Abbi- how is a hawk beneficial to my homestead when it kills my poultry?”
And though we sometimes take loses that are sad or costly, we treat the hawk with love and respect because without her, the rodent population would be out of balance.
So when she got injured and died on the farm last summer we treated her body with kindness, celebrated her life, and left her in the field for another animal to use for energy.
And when the coyote came to take away her body, we thanked the coyote for keeping the mole population in check.
And we make sure to lock our birds and goats and pigs up tight in barns and coops at night so that the coyote can focus on his real role here, too.
We do not retaliate losses of livestock, but instead, we learn things like wire mesh is stronger than chicken wire, and all coops are safest when nothing can dig underneath them.
And predators will always come- but rather than fighting against them with guns and traps we find a way to use their great hunting skills to create symbiosis, maintain our ecosystems, and create even more life.
So even when the little aphids come to feast on the vegetation this summer, we won’t spray poisons- instead- we’ll release hundreds of native lady bugs.
And we’ll encourage pollinators, grow extra vegetables to account for losses to rabbits and birds, because rabbits help create luscious topsoil with the droppings they leave behind. And the hawk will maintain the rabbit. And birds devour insects. And carpenter bees are fantastic pollinators. So perhaps we will draw their attention away from the barns with bee houses near the gardens.
We will gather the horse manure and use it to create compost, and worms will move in, and what a magical microbiome will be created in the soil.
Year after year, what once was a clay field will grow greener, and one day we will put that soil beneath a microscope and find so much life.
So remember- what might look like a threat might really be a gift.
And instead of putting up an old fashioned fight we’ll just get more creative and use all that energy for the greater good.
Homestead consciously, friends. 🪺🐌🪲🪱🌿
