Mythical Creatures on the Farm
There is a Great Horned Owl that lives on the farm. Not one, actually but a pair of them. I’ve never seen either of them, but I hear them calling to one another, usually at dusk or dawn. I often imagine what they are saying to one another, signaling where prey might be, or since they typically mate for life, maybe they are just checking in, reminding each other that they are still there for one another.
Great Horned Owl. Photo by Liz Guertin
I also wonder what I could do to tempt them into my sight, but then I remember they are not here for me, and I try to just enjoy the fact of their existence and that there is enough space and diversity on the farm for them to find a home.
Owls carry a mythic quality. They remind me of magical worlds like Harry Potter. They also are symbols of wisdom, and my favorite, as guides through the darkness, a seemingly important creature to have around right now.
As the flowers faded, other natural wonders and creatures have crept in to captivate my attention. Owls are not the only mythical creatures on my farm right now. There is also a piebald deer who lives here. When she is grazing in the lower field with her head down, far from the house, she looks totally white. At first I thought she was albino, but as the leaves fell from the trees I got a better look. White on her back and a splash on her muzzle, with a typical fawn brown neck, head, and ears, she is now easy to spot from even a great distance. I’m painfully aware how vulnerable she is in the brownscaped world of New Jersey drought. For much of the season she has remained in the distance, perhaps aware of her conspicuousness, while other deer wander onto our patio to drink from the bird fountain, but as the drought has lengthened, she too has ventured close to the house.
Piebald coloring in a deer is recessive and rare. It is often associated with other genetic anomalies, but this deer looks healthy. She too contributes to the otherworldliness of the farm these days.
Living in this magical place has given me comfort in the last couple of weeks. My inclination, strong in the best of times, is to hunker down and hope the world outside gets better, while I stay close to home. I’m trying to fight that impulse. The awe this world inspires is based in part on the miracle that these creatures and plants exist at all. That existence is threatened. When I remember that, I can’t just hunker down and admire them and be buoyed by them. I have to figure out something I can do, no matter how small, to move the needle toward safeguarding the natural world, rather than exploiting it.
This week I looked to my favorite nature writer for comfort, Margaret Renkl. She said, “We can’t keep waiting for our leaders to save us. We need to wake up every morning looking for what we can do, collectively and individually, to buy enough time for our leaders to get this right. In a time of darkness, what light is left to us?”
So I’ve found a few things that I’m capable of right now, and hoping for more inspiration in the weeks to come.
*I’ve made extra financial donations to all the local institutions who I believe do good for my neighbors and the local ecosystem.
*I took a deep dive into finding ways to get rid of more plastic from my life. So far, I’ve found some solutions at Blueland.com, but I’m looking for something local. Send suggestions!
*I vowed to do the vast bulk of my gift-giving locally. It’s pretty easy for me here because Hopewell has so many wonderful local shops. My favorite for sustainable gifts and clothing is Wull & Oak. I’m also grabbing gift cards from some of my other local favorites like Aunt Chubby’s Luncheonette.
*I’m finding ways to source more local foods like bread from Sourland Bread and eggs from Grey Market Farm.
Let me know if you’ve found ways to stay engaged and make a difference locally.
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For those who want to give local flowers as a gift, I promise the website will be updated with 2025 subscriptions before the December holidays. Newsletter subscribers will get a notice before I publicize it.
