Treasure Wilkinson called us this morning to ask if she could come over to visit the farm with her daughter and grand-daughter Megan. We are always happy to see Treasure, we said sure. We did not expect her to show up with her week-old baby goat, who now sleeps next to her in bed at night.

Treasure is new to our lives, she is a radiant source of love and connection, she has had a brutal life in many ways, growing up on the hard side of Providence, R.I., (where I grew up). She came up to the country a year ago to help her new online friend Donna build a garden and raise some goats.

She has not left, and is not going back. She and Donna are working to raise and sell goats as a business, she has five or six new ones now. I was first drawn to Donna by her face, a photographer’s expressive dream, and then to the images of love she projected.

She and Maria and I became immediate friends, she is part of the orbit here now, and is very welcome. She emotionalizes animals much more than I do, and anthropomorphisizes them with abandon. But she also loves them dearly and cares for them with all of her heart, I think they are healing for her. Me, too. She seems to be all about love.

She loves to talk and tell stories, and she has some amazing stories to tell. Maria fell in love with the baby goat, we have flirted with the idea of getting goats, and Treasure has some babies – is this one of the reasons she came into our lives? But she feels we have enough animals, she doesn’t want to have more than she can truly care for.

I think that is sensible.