Manure is a significant part of our lives on the farm. We rake it out of the barn twice a day and also clean up the piles of manure the donkeys leave. They like to dump the manure in the same place every day. We pile it up and save some for the gardens for our friends and us and scatter some around the pastures for fertilizer.

In many ways, it brings us close to the animals and the farm. Maria makes almost everything she does look beautiful, even shoveling manure. She enjoys the connection it gives her to the animals, and they visit her while she shovels. Rituals like this can be calming. Being in nature is calming. I help to gather it; she distributes it.

I credit our donkey manure for making my garden beds so productive.

I’m taking her out for our weekly Sunday breakfast, and we’ll stop at the farmer’s market after that. I have new book recommendations to share and flower photos. More later.