finding your spot.

we had a little bunny pass through here recently and she came to be known as "willa". she was such a sweetheart , and as none of the bunnies had chosen to stay yet and i was getting a little weary of loving them and then" letting" them leave, i was determined that this would be just the "spot" for little willa and that she would stay here and be mine, as much as a bunny can be yours.
So, i watched and listended as little willa revealed her ways to me and i thought i will just drop the hint that she should just pick this spot as her own and stay here with me, as i was gettin so lonely everytime one of the bunnys "flew the coop" so to speak.
now it is hard for me to send the bunnys out to find their way, but some are easier than others, i knew for example, that miss petunia was meant to be the proprietor of a shop full of the beautiful treasures that i know miss pamela has in her shop.
...and well, i know that nancy jo will provide wonderful surroundings for her bonne, and that even though i am known as a gatherer of sorts, that i am not in the same league as our new york farmgirl, miss nancy jo.
but , well the truth is we need love here at the farm too, and the bunnies are about as loving as they get, so i was just ready to put my foot down when little willa arrived. she didnt say anything at first and i thought,
"yes, this is the one for me."
then one day i noticed behind her little skirt a glimpls of an ear, and i mean an award winning ear, and then an eye, and, and, and, and ....then a ......SNOUT.
and i knew that this was not the SPOT for miss willa, that she would be moving on.
i was right and soon she let me know that she would be heading out soon, her little pig tucked under her arm to make a home with a farmgirl friend from the maryjane farmgirl sight.
at first i was really sad and thought i deserve a bunny of my own, but then i knew i dont have pigs, i have goats and well, miss willa LOVES pigs. and so i knew that she had to find her own spot.
I guess life is just like that for everyone really. we just have to find our own spot, and for many of us it is a farm.....or wanting a farm....or hunting for a farm.
and for all of us farmgirls whether we have arrived at the farm or not we have found our spot at maryjanesfarmgirl.org where maryjane says being a farmgirl is just a condition of the heart, and she is right.
so, i reluctantly send off another bunny to her very own spot and hope that one day a bunny will come up the trail and declare"this looks like the spot for me."
i know that is how i feel when i pull in the drive and wind through the trees and spot my little bit of heaven in the woods....I am home....i have found my spot.
my hope for everyone on this fine spring weekend is that where ever you find yourself i hope you have found your spot.

SURPRISE.......its spring break!

well, here at the farm, we had a rare experience. we had spring break and a whole week off !
in our neck of the woods, we have to set up house for warm weather or cool weather, we dont really have room for everything to be out at the same time. our little cottage in the woods is just 800 square feet and getting more cramped as the newest arrivals, the bunnys had started moving in.
so as the break approached the little bunnies said," take a break, we will be happy to help out with the farm and you can have some time off."
this seemed a splendid idea to me and hubby, so we did,.................
......only to find that in our absense, many gardens had been planted,
and truckloads of bunnies had moved in!

SURPRISE! the bunnies squealed as we entered the
castle garden.(this is the name olivia gave this garden) .the garden looked lovely with all new plantings and baby seedlings popping up everywhere, and around the corner a new truckload of bunnies arriving .
SURPRISE, indeed! i was beginning to understand, that in fact , the bunnies were not living with us, we were living with the bunnies.......................
but the gardens, well they did look good, and i knew i could live with that!
thank you, bunny friends for a job well done, and a great SURPRISE.

funnybunnys???????????

so the bunnies let me know that the plaid bunnies had a somewhat more difficult journey. they had to find new homes and they through no fault of their own had lost some of their natural ways and had to relearn the ways of gatherin and gardenin and being the caretakers of the bugs.

i had a pretty big job ahead of me but the bunnies assured me that they were great teachers and that they would help me with the funnybunnys as they made their transition back to the realm of bonniebunnys.

we would be in this together.

plaid bunnys, oh my!

so for the time being, the gatherin spot for me and the bunnies was the pass thru, a large window in between the kitchen and the living room that

in bygone time was used to serve food when the farm was
more like a weekend spot than the full time home it had become. every morning as i sipped my coffee the bunnies would gather and let me know what the work for the day was to be. sometimes i was to finish up a garment for a travelling bunny, or gather up from a list an odd assortment of items that seemed of the utmost importance to my little friends. of course, at times my curiosity would get the best of me, and i would question
them as to the possible use of these items.
"all in good time", i would be told, a phrase that was becoming more frequent and less appealing to me as the days went by.
well at any rate, on this particular morning the bunnies were gathering in their flurried fashion, and i prepared myself for a long list of chores and items to be found.
then, miss francey, a rather fancy grand dame of the bunnies announced that some bunnies of a different fashion had arrived and what were we do to do?
"they will never find a home, why they are plaid and tweed and not of the sort we would naturally find, they are of a domesticated variety,'' she cried in a voice with much alarm.
..and right she was, i could see standing off from the group two little bunnies, one decidedly plaid and the other a sort of tweed.
"well,'' i said , "and how charming they are!"


......there was a long pause.



"well, charming you say" the grande dame replied.
"do you know that these bunnies live in hutches and eat food that comes from a large bag, and they have all but lost their ways of gathering and recycling?'
"no", i had to respond, " i was unaware of the difference, a bunny to me is just a bunny."
at which point all the bunnies , even the plaid and tweed sort, laughed and laughed and....LAUGHED.
"well, we are all bunnies, this is true, but the plaid bunnies are used to being cared for and they have lost their "ways", why they dont even keep bugs!" the pink bunny replied.
"but ," i said, "aren't you one of them?.....welll, ya know, you are pink!"
"well, i am pink today, but i am really a soft brown color, and i am not plaid!" she responded, "and i have a very extensive bug collection even for a young bunny."
"a bug collection...?" i asked.
"yes, of course, we are gatherers, and farmers and .....well, naturally we collect and care for bugs for our gardens,,,,,,, dont you?"
mmmmmnnnnnn
nnnnnnmmmmm
"well, no!"
again with the uncontrollable laugher!
"ladies,ladies,,,,please be kind" the grande dame ordered.
what kind of ....
where do
what..
i had all kinds of questions, but the bunnies said we would talk of the bugs later.
right now we had the matter of the plaid bunnies to settle......

a surprise at the farm......

well, we were just getting settled in and adjusting to our new "borders" and the comins and goins at the farm when one day, there was a different kind of furry...uh...uh....flurry of excitement.
i was just finishing up on my dishes in the kitchen when i heard a commotion in the living room.
i turned to see the most startling of sights. a mob of bunnies, some i knew
and some i had yet to meet ,were forming on the pass through.
"miss omie! miss omie!" they all seemed to be saying at the same time.
"we have news, and a gift!"
"oh, my "i said back at them,"and what kind of news would it be?"
"well, it would be news of the best kind, one of our kin has arrived at her destination, and she has sent a gift to you and miss olivia from her destination."
.....and they were right, a box with the most charming pillow and a bag with the sweetest of smells had been sent to the farm.
i recognized right away the handiwork of a farmgirl galpal, miss nancy jo.
little olivia was here when the package arrived and she squealed with delight when she saw the beautiful handiwork and the picture of the beloved bonnybunny.
"well, i am so delighted to hear she has completed her journey, safely, " i replied,"and what beautiful handiwork nan...."
i was interrupted by bobbing of heads and chatter of how talented the bonnybunny was.
"well, but i think........",i tried to reply.
......but the bunnys were petting the little gifts and their ooohs and aaahs, were like a small chorus echoing throught the farm.
and then olivia responded as well, "omie, i never knew that bunnys could make such treasures."
and so i send a BIG thanks to bonnybunny #1, and her new friend nancy jo, and hope that no one will mind that here at the farm,
bunnys can embroider, and create little pillow,
and send them through the bunny mail to their
friends here at the farm.
Thank you bonnybunny. ..........................................and thank you nancy, jo.

and hugs and kisses to all from the bonnybunnies and their friends, omie and olivia here at the farm.

and so began many days of visits, tea times, gathering sessions with miss bonneybunnie. she let me know early that it was not her journey to stay here at the farm. she had a particular destination in mind where she felt she would fit in nicely. also that other bunnies were already here and would reveal themselves, or not as they saw fit, and that some might decide to stay here if in fact the farm was a good fit and a end of the journey destination for them.
right away, another bunny, a miss petunia showed up and she also let me know that her journey would take her elsewhere and that we were just a stop over for her. she was a much bossier....er....busier bunny than miss bonney who was slow, steady and methodical, but in spite of their differences they soon became fast friends.
one day miss bonney approached me to let me know i had work to do for the bunnies.
"we need little baskets," she said. a respectable bunny
would never travel without their basket, as you
see we are the originators of what you know
as recycling, and we are great members of the gatherers.
miss bonney let me know that she infact was a superlative gatherer and that was part of how she determined her destination. "i will be living with a human who is also a gatherer, and she needs my help to find treasures."
so i spent my days making baskets for miss bonney
and her friends, until i came upon just the right
basket and with her approval i started creating clothes,
baskets, accessories for her friends.
miss bonney on the other hand spent the days, with
miss petunia preparing for the departure from the
farm and the long journey they
would be taking.
although miss bonney assured me the woods
were full of bunnies that were camped out and
preparing for journeys.....and some preparing
to make the farm their home.
i had not seen any of the bunnies she was talking
about........yet!

...and so our journey begins

i did take the evening break with "bonneybunnie" and, though she was demure and reticent, i learned alot from her in that first visit....things i didnt think i would ever know, but i had never really opened myself up to the wisdom of animals before.

she told me that the farm was on the site of an ancient old animal trail, but that it had to be bypassed while the kitties had taken refuge here.
while some of my kitties had gone the way of the ciwoodies(aka, coyotes to all but olivia),
really most had escaped and set up a new encampment elsewhere."why did this happen?"
i asked her. "well", she said, "your keeper has attained higher wisdom and can no longer run and protect you. she is in the realm of dreaming and thinking and connecting thoughts to come up with reason." uh....what, who, i had many questions."well," she replied," you call her cosmo, the wonder dog, i think. she has moved beyond her domesticated job and has entered the realm of wisdom and will spend her days, dreaming, thinking, and establishing new wisdom for the world, but she does not guard the farm any longer, so the kitties moved on and that freed up this retreat for us, because we do not need guarding, we set up our homes in a briar patch which allows natural protection."
this made absolute sense to me, as i would soon learn that bonneybunnies knowledge usually did make sense.
lately we had all noticed that cosmos life had changed. so from the moment i opened my ears, to the bunnys ways i was to learn new things, some i expected and some unexpected.

bonney bunnie told me that day that the farm was to be a refuge now for bunnies, and a few other animals as was necessary, that a change had occurred , as is the way of nature, and that it would bring change, both good and bad, as it is also the way of nature.

a bunnys tale, the beginnings......

here at the farm, a strange thing started happening.
we had always lived with the comins and goins of many kitties. it seemed when humans tired of their kitties some of them thought it would be just fine to leave them on the side of the road...and, well, as i turned out, our 10 acrea woodlot just happened to be on the side of this road.
so for a long time, the farm was a reststop for wayward kitties. some more wayward than others, and some turned out to be on the extended stay plan.
and then a something started to happen. just as quickly as the
kitties showed up, they started disappearin,until there was just one, nada.
well, strange as that seems, it gets stranger still, cause we started noticin, here in the woods, little bits of "fluff". not like the kind we find from our angora goats, those are more like woolie curls, as angora goats have "naturally coily hair", as olivia likes to say.
so anyway, first we just noticed little bits of fluff, and things dartin around in the brush, and little bits of this and that disappearin from the barn, and yard and house.
and then one evening, just as the moon was risin, i had my first glimpse.
a bunny was in the castle yard, rootin around in the herb garden...........and she was puttin herbs, and acorns, and all kinda things in a ....basket!



"oh" i said, with just a touch of fear. i was just a little startled, you see to see a bunny in the garden , dressed in a dress, with a sweater, apron and a little basket.....and collecting herbs from the garden!
"oh,good evening," she said, without a trace of fear....why she didnt even look up at me , she just kept on with her job.
"i am almost finshed, she said and then you might join me in my evening break."
oh yes, i thought , i could do that............and that was how i came to learn about the bonneybunnies and how they had come to the farm.