Deer - Lots of Deer!

The longer I live the more I start to realize and accept that there is a rhythm that resonates just below the earth's surface.

It connects us all and the meaning of the quote; we all are one at some point in time, makes a whole lot of sense.

There have been moments in my life that make me believe that the universe is indeed not a random place but an intelligent place…I will share one of those such moments…

As some of you already know we have had literally hundreds of deer in our back field for the last several weeks.   They migrate in, forage for food and than move along, returning the next day and they day after that and the day after that.   The field has seen so much action that quite literally there is not a spot in the front 1/2 that doesn't have a hoof mark in it.   There are even deer "super highways" diagonally to the corner of our neighbours bush that are so beaten down that they are hard packed and flat.  Quite honestly it has been astonishing to me and I am still amazed by it even tho it has been going on for weeks now.

I believe there is meaning to this…meaning that I may not fully understand at this point in time and may never understand but I know it has meaning because not a single other person I have told this to can tell me they have ever seen this many deer in one place other than in captivity…like at Marineland!    

This is the making of a non-random event for me because so many incidences all had to happen at different times over the course of the last several months to provide this spot for the deer to come to and then for us to actually see them.   

By this I mean the following:

1. Last fall during the harvest of our soybeans the farmers combine broke down.
2. The part was a special order from the US and it was a several week wait.
3. By the time the part arrived the weather had turned rainy and the field was too wet to finish the harvest of the last ~10 acres.
4. The combine still sits in our field broken.  :-(
5. Mother nature has been particularly harsh this year.   We have had record cold for record length of time with a decent snow cover that has not melted and re-fell.
6. My mom on a whim decided that she would come to our house for a mini "vacation".
7. She was the initial person to have a siting of the large herd.
8. She walks the dogs at a time of day that we are not normally home or would not normally walk the dogs out back.
9. Since this initial siting the deer have been out back nearly everyday…eating the unharvested beans as a lucky find in this unforgiving winter.

All these small events are somewhat insignificant on their own but when you put them all together it makes for something very extraordinary!   This has been a tough winter for me for a few reasons and a good friend, Terrie, shared the attached link with me when she looked at the medicine cards for me.   There is no way the universe is a random place…it's an intelligent place; especially when my medicine card was Deer!

Medicine Card - Deer  

DH and I have looked for antlers since we moved here.   We know that this is the time of year that the male deer are shedding their antlers.   We have seen evidence of deer trying to remove their antlers on trees and stumps but have never been lucky enough to find a set.   Friends of ours had a lovely rack they found on their property at Christmas time and we oh'ed and awed over them.

Out on a Valentine's morning hack I found a lovely set from a ten point buck laying right in the middle of the field beside the "super highway".   I was thrilled to find these beauties and to think sometimes you just have to stop looking and wait for the gift.

A few additions to the things I have learned in the last few months.

• My dexterity for buckles, clips and zippers increases significantly after few months of wearing mittens.  Everything in Dec that I had to take my mittens off to do, can now be completed with mittens.
• Running on a treadmill is way harder then running outside.
• Even metal pitch forks can't compete with poo frozen to the ground at -25ºC
• Time with friends is incredibly valuable and greatly reduces the Feb blahs.
• Moving your feet less and eating the same more is first noticed in your middle.

More on the farm happenings in my next post...