Life changes can be challenging and so my transition to farm life has not been easy or smooth. I was thinking of a title for this blog and the word "Goats" popped into my head. It kind of sums up the change in lifestyle that I have experienced. After living in the city for years and when you get goats and live with them and learn to take care of them it is definitely a change in lifestyle and takes some getting used to. There is a learning curve and there is an adjustment period. Like when our goat Slash and his brother Axl (yes named after the band members of Guns and Roses) jumped on the roof of our house and climbed to the top and would not come down and our goat Slash head butted Axl off the roof (Axl hurt his leg a bit but was ok after shaking it off) and Slash was so proud of pushing his brother off that he climbed to the highest point and puffed up like a swollen porcupine and with eyes wide and legs planted firmly bleated the loudest I'd ever heard as if he were king of the world. I was in a panic trying to bribe Slash the goat off the roof with goat treats. I finally realized that he would come down (and did jump down off the lower edge next to a hill which was the same way he got onto the roof) when he was good and ready.

Our goats are like little children and are very curious about everything around them. Goats are also very social which I never knew. We built a pen for them and I lock them up at night to protect them against coyotes and the occasional mountain lion. I have my loaded 22 revolver ready to go in case a predator breaks into their pen at night. We have a path that runs behind their pen that the coyotes and other wild animals use to cross over our land and onto the next.

When I lived in the city I lived within feet of my neighbors. Out here in rural California I live acres away from the next house. I walk outside here and I am in nature and am surrounded by nature and I am completely submerged into nature. There is definitely a spiritual connection I feel when I am out in it that I never found in the city. There is a closeness to my creator, to God. There is also a letting go of the control that I thought I had when I lived in the city. Out here, nature is in control. You find yourself adjusting to whatever it hands you. You also learn about life and death and that it is all part of life.

I originally had six goats. My goat Hope was the milk producer and I milked her daily and I made soap and yogurt and ice cream with what she produced. I had never milked any animal before so this was something new for me but I did not find it hard to do. Milking was fairly easy with my small hands. I'm guessing Hope appreciated that I had small hands. Something happened to Hope. I believe that she was sick when I got her. She ended up with a kidney infection of some kind and after trying hard to save her, after injecting her myself (you become a veterinarian on a farm) with antibiotics, pain medication and fluids, she passed away in my arms. I was devastated. The pain of loss doesn't go away but the acceptance of death becomes a more normal thing.

It has been two years since I moved to a rural property. I have learned quite a bit about farm life and about myself. As an artist I find that art and life are the same. This life transition has definitely made me challenge myself and it has submerged me into nature and into a spirituality that is crossing over into the art I create. I am an oil painter and so I paint what I experience. The image that I chose to go with this blog is the painting of my goat Angel. He was a baby when I got him and now he is a chubby, happy teenager. Angel is the baby of the herd and refused to stop drinking from his mother's teats and I believe this stunted his mental growth. He acts like a big baby and is completely lovable. Angel's brother Eli was weaned early and acts like a tough little man and is much more independent. It is interesting how the timing of when they are weaned changes a goat's personality.

So I am on my farm life journey. It has been a challenge and an adjustment. We have been talking about getting chickens next. Let's see what kind of adventures we have when we get the chickens. Maybe the next blog I write will be titled "Chickens."

Until next time, peace and be well....Kristen