{"id":6586,"date":"2017-08-08T09:00:57","date_gmt":"2017-08-08T15:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/?p=6586"},"modified":"2017-08-08T08:50:46","modified_gmt":"2017-08-08T14:50:46","slug":"on-grief-and-farming-a-k-a-me-and-my-arrow-pt-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2017\/08\/08\/on-grief-and-farming-a-k-a-me-and-my-arrow-pt-1\/","title":{"rendered":"On Grief And Farming (A.K.A. Me and My Arrow) Pt. 1"},"content":{"rendered":"Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> < 1<\/span> minute<\/span><\/span>
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Arrow.<\/p><\/div>\n

On a farm, we often have to cope with grief while the object of our grief is still here.<\/p>\n

We are far from unique in this. Lots of people are forced to deal with this when they find out their loved ones have some terminal illness (I’ve faced THAT a few times myself too).<\/p>\n

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This is Ray (the duck) who had been blind for nearly 4 years before he died of natural causes, at the ripe old age of 17.<\/p><\/div>\n

However, on a farm, we are faced with this more often than most.<\/p>\n

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Ra (rabbit), Ray (blind duck) and Helen (elderly duck) enjoying retirement together.<\/p><\/div>\n

Old animals can be truly wonderful to live with (and more than a few have taught me important things in their twilight time), but as they approach the end, the lives of our senior critters can weigh very heavily on our souls.<\/p>\n

In many ways, watching an old critter fade away is harder than if they die without much warning.<\/p>\n

Sometimes on a farm (maybe even often) there is one person who has (or accepts) primary responsibility for all the lives that exist on that farm.<\/p>\n

On our farm, that’s me.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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This is the first in a series of posts about Arrow, and about grief. Stay tuned for more in the coming days.<\/em><\/p>\n

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If you are at all curious why I named this guy “Arrow”:<\/p>\n

Listen:<\/p>\n