We have four goats. I don’t know if you have much experience with goats, but they are a lot. Not really hard to care for, but a lot in that they get into a lot of trouble. They get out a lot. They want you a lot. Our goat journey started with one tiny bottle baby, Cookie, and has sense grown to a little herd of four. Cookie was joined by Dough (we thought she needed a companion), and then later two more ladies, Doodle and Tater.
Until recently, the two older goats were in the horse barn, and the other two “babies” were in their own little shed/pasture area. Now they are all combined in the shed/pasture area. Hijinks ensued. More escapes. More heads stuck in things. (Buckets, fences.) With more goats in one area, feeding them has gotten a little trickier too. Its hard to just open the door to the shed and put their food in when you are feeding by yourself because they all gang up on you and before you know it they are out the door while you are pouring the food in the trough. So, I have taken to climbing over the tall fence so there is absolutely no chance they will get out. It takes longer, but worth it because you aren’t chasing them later.
I was thinking about what a pain this is the other day: this climbing of the fence to feed four smallish animals. I’m sure your average farmhand would have a better solution than me, but for now this is what I have figured out. I was walking behind the barn the other day on my new feeding route, and stopped and realized what a beautiful view it was. The sun low in the sky, dew still clinging to all the weeds. Beautiful.
It is so much quicker to walk through the barn lot and throw in feed the “regular” way. But, these goats have forced me to go the long way around the barn, through the weeds. Would I go the long way on my own? No, climbing the tall fence with two buckets is hard! Taking time to notice beauty is sometimes hard. It takes a slower walk, and sometimes an inconvenience. In her book I Guess I haven’t Learned That Yet, Shauna Niequist writes an essay about beauty and putting yourself in the way of it:
“Whenever possible, walk out of your way for a few minutes and take a few deep breaths somewhere beautiful—whether that’s a forest clearing or a French bakery or a path through a prairie or a cobblestone street. Take the long way sometimes, reveling in the discovery of beauty, noticing everything you can—what it smells like and the slant of the light…”
Thank you goats, for forcing me to take the long way, and for adding more beauty to my life.
I”ll even take the mischief that comes along with it.