Bee Tree Farm

(Early morning donkey roll.)

At precisely 6:23 a.m. on Saturday morning, approximately 2 hours after having finally gotten to sleep inside a sweltering metal trailer that had absorbed the rays of a 100 degree sun the previous day….I woke up to donkeys. The dogs were already outside. They tend to wake us up early at the land. All of the morning noises are entirely too exciting to keep them calmly inside and sometime between 4am and 6:23 a.m. – one of us let them out. Groggy and disoriented I awoke to Jer ushering the dogs back inside, cursing loudly, a slamming door, and the image of donkey ears moving past the bedroom window. Since the donkeys were securely behind the fence the night before, it was a little jarring to see them munching sunflowers outside the trailer. A moment later Jer came back inside and announced that they’d pushed through one of the gates, and he saw them marching down the gravel road into the front pasture in just enough time to shoo the dogs into the trailer. See, if a dog goes head-to-head with a donkey, the dog loses – every time. Our donkeys have a particularly malicious curiosity about dogs, and Jer’s quick work definitely saved lives.

What followed is pretty much a blur almost entirely because it occurred before I could stick contacts into my eyeballs. Jer grabbed my hand and forced me, against my will, out into the front pasture in order to watch the sunrise and the happy farm animals during their jailbreak. For approximately 30 minutes the air felt bearable for the first time in over a month. The ladies quietly chewed their sunflowers while Boo walked excitedly back and forth, tail swishing mischievously. He sampled the picnic table, a plastic bowl, my toes, Jer’s toes, and only stopped when he discovered the three dogs staring gloomily out of the trailer.

It’s hard to tell here, but this situation really tested the bounds of Winston’s comfort level. He was growling in that high pitched, barely audible way he does that sounds too comical to ever be intimidating. Luckily, Boo quickly grew bored with this pointless endeavor and walked away, taking a bite of my shorts as he sauntered by.

In a way, it was peaceful to be startled awake in the early hours of what became a HOT day. When the air still blows a little cool and damp, it makes you feel hopeful that today the stifling heat will subside. Makes you remember back when there was a chill in the air. Makes you wish so desperately for a cold breeze to blow away the oppressive heat for just one moment. From approximately 6:23 a.m. – 6:51 a.m. on Saturday morning, it was quiet and cool.

What follows are pictures that embody the idea of perseverance. There’s been no measurable rain in almost 9 months and still these beauties shoot out of the parched earth, three and four feet into the air. A few morning glories have managed to creep over piles of downed trees, and they open feebly in the morning sun. Every day.