Yang. Yin.

Life and Death. Happiness and Sorrow. Yin and Yang.  This morning we welcomed three new little lives to One Old Goat farm and said goodbye to one very, very old life.

My morning kicked off with the birth of three beautiful little bucklings - sons of my doe, Leslie.  She wasn't due until tomorrow and she showed no signs of imminent birth so I didn't put her into her kidding stall aka nice, warm, cozy spot in the basement.  When I went in to let the goats out this morning, I could tell that she was licking something.  I thought maybe it was one of the chickens who like to hangout in the goathouse.  But when Leslie didn't run out, I knew that it must be a baby.  And it was.  Brand, spanking new!  A beautiful dark brown baby goat!

Today was one of the coldest mornings in the past several months so I immediately moved mama and baby to the kidding stall.  I ran upstairs to get some water and when I returned, Leslie was giving birth to another kid - this time a white baby with tan spots.  Then shortly after I left for work, another white baby was born.  All three are bucklings and all three are absolutely beautiful.

But as those lives came into the world, we lost our very first horse, Snowball.  He was so old.  He was old when we got him but I like to think he had a good life with us here.  His little buddy Clover, stood by him over night until he passed around noon today.  I knew yesterday that Snowball was leaving me and once again, I began to question myself as a farmer.  Every time I lose an animal, I feel as if I failed them.  My kids took it much better than I did.  But they are used to farm animals dying on occasion.  Not me, I only ever remember one dog dying when I was a kid.  I'm not used to this.  I like to think of One Old Goat farm as a haven for animals.  A place where they are kept warm, sheltered, and well-fed.  A place where they are loved.

So while I am beyond thrilled with the birth of my babies, my heart breaks for the loss of the first horse I ever had.  I hope that Snowball is strong and happy again and is galloping through Heaven with his mane flowing.