April 2023 "With a Whisper"

Friday March 24, 2023
 
I whispered to the goat Molly and got her attention. I silently asked her to follow me by waving my hand.  She followed me into the shelter. I pointed to the hay in the corner, inside the triangular pen and without hesitation she walked over to it.  We are quiet, speaking in whispers and sign language because we don’t want the other two goats to know what were up to. Molly doesn’t like sharing a hay bag, she likes to eat alone. Those shorter monsters are pushy, even forceful when it comes to food. Molly doesn’t feel like competing. Molly’s not fat, like the Kinder goats and I’m concerned she’s not getting enough food.  Whether it’s true or imagined on my part, I cannot get over how Molly and I communicate.  A whisper, a motion of the hand and a trusting disposition. 
 
It doesn’t take long for Mae Mae to stop eating and look around for the matron goat.  She calls out for her, but Molly doesn’t respond.  I believe Molly got a 30-minutes of eating alone before the curious little goat discovered her hiding spot. By that time Molly was ready to go elsewhere.
 
This isn’t the first time I’ve done this.  I whisper to William, the blind potbelly pig.  His hearing is excellent and when I whisper his name, he knows that Karen has something special, just for him and that we need to make the exchange quietly and quickly before Millie, the big pig, discovers what were up to.  It’s like sharing a secret with a best friend, slipping them a note in front of the teacher. 
 
Molly and William were my first farm friends and I spent a lot of time with them before we expanded to other friends.  And although our world has changed, we still know each other and communicate, like best friends in a classroom, with a whisper, a gesture and love messages.

​At Crow Moon Healing Bed and Breakfast we communicate we care in all kinds of ways, in a gesture, a whisper, a laugh and of course, through food.