Morning After a Rain

The morning after a rain, the sun shines different.

Rain clouds still stretch overhead. I stop and wonder at the colors: oranges, blues, silvers. They’re not hues I associate with rain’s grays.

My gaze drops to the animals. Skittles’ fur is damp. The sheep seem to rise out of the fog, their wool also wet.

At ground level, spider webs gleam with their spinners sitting in the center, and grass greens from the much needed water it received.

I hope this isn’t the last time the sun shines different the morning after a rain, rain that can break the drought, rain that can grow more grass that feeds sheep, goats, and llamas.

Thanks for Reading!

And I hope you feel refreshed and rejuvenated for the week ahead with this moment preserved in picture and prose. Consider:

• What are you looking forward to this week?

Share your answer and this newsletter with someone you like watching sunrises with.

If Sylvan Sundays was forwarded to you, welcome! To learn more about our farmers, check out “A New Year’s Introduction,” and to learn more about our name, visit “Being Sylvan.” Also, make sure to check out “This Week on the Farm” and “Farm Shop” below!

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This Week on the Farm

The livestock are still out on grass, which is unusual for November. By this time the last few years, we’ve started feeding hay. We’re glad to be able to use our cool-season grasses, which are growing thanks to the arrival of the rain I wished for last week (which was good for the Christmas trees, too!).

This means that chores are pretty easy right now. Once we start feeding hay with colder weather, chores will be more labor intensive with putting out hay, smashing holes in the ice, and driving through mud.

In the future, we could start stockpiling forage, which means applying nitrogen in early fall to a section of pasture where the animals will graze in November and December. For right now, we’ll stock up on hay and start feeding that before the end of this month.

Mia has been doing well in Sheepdog School! She helps move the Shetlands from one paddock to the next whenever I open up new paddocks. With deer season here, she now has a reflective safety vest:

Farm Shop

2024 fleeces from twins Elrond and Galadriel are available in our Etsy store! Here’s a review from Galadriel’s 2023 fleece:

“Thanks to USPS my order took a detour through Alaska before it was delivered to my doorstep. But Galadriel’s fleece was well worth the wait and I can’t wait to get started working with it. Her fleece more than exceeded my expectations.”

Visit our Etsy shop for these fleeces and more for your winter fiber arts projects!