The Blog Is Back

Regardless of how hard one tries there are some things that it is impossible to turn one's back on. For over a decade this blog has been the main way that people around the world have learned about the unique learning experiences in our program.  We simply have too much going on to put it all on face book.

Yesterday involved a lengthy conference call whose aim was to facilitate the breeding of more Corollas. I have yet to announce our exciting plans for "Choctaw Summer--2019." Our Ossabaw hog heritage pork program is bursting at the seams. Matt Thomas has turned the clearing of land into beautiful, functional performance art. Significant water retention programs have begun on the New Land. Construction of Native American structures to honor those who bred the little Spanish Horses into perhaps the best family and trial horses available on the planet today have begun. My Highland ox, Seven Leagues, has been promoted to Vice-President in Charge of Keeping My Blood Pressure Down and Reducing the Chance of Me Going Up Side Someone's Head. And a fine job he is doing in that role.

We will begin to offer vermicompost for sale and will be expanding our permaculture and soil and water conservation educational programs. We are looking to raise scores of heritage  turkeys in 2019 and expand our educational programs to include sheep shearing and wool and fiber  use. Our Americana and Roots music educational program, "Pasture #3" will have its first solo show on February 23, 7:00 pm at the Moonlight Hunt Club. We have a bumper crop of December born Colonial Spanish Goats and have had a beautiful pair of lambs born to our pure Hog Island Ram and a modern ewe (She will be replaced this spring with a Hog Island Ewe or two.)

Our most popular program innovation is Jackie Teeter's 8:00 am class on conditioning horse for significant mileage which will get us set quite well for our upcoming 60 Mile Ride. Renovations have begun on the Settlers Farm and countless hours have gone into repair of the path back to the tack shed.

Several tons of wood chips lay waiting  to be used in hugelkulture projects. In March we will have our first public educational program on developing hugelkulture mounds. We have several new, very enthusiastic participants in our program who not only want to learn to ride, they want to learn to do everything that it takes to make our program bigger and better.

We will begin planting trees from individual contributions marked for those purchases. Horse training continues to go well. Sally has become a wonderful trail horse and Long Knife will be in the woods soon. Washani is becoming a student favorite.

Beginning in April we will have a series of special programs every Saturday afternoon, weather permitting.

And we are getting our bills paid. That part is not easy but it is happening. I have been entirely too dilatorias in working on 501 (c) 3 status application. Always seems like too many other thing come up first before I get around to getting that done. However, flu is running rampant in our area and if I get laid out with the flu that will give me time  to get that paper work done.

So, you see, facebook is a wonderful tool for distribution of pictures and very short posts on what is going on at the horse lot. But to fully explain what is going on as we grow, this blog is a necessity.

Oh yea, one other thing, I am beginning to work up a testing instrument to be used to measure program participant's views on the proper role of leadership, control, use of power, horse on horse violence, fear of injury, fear of having a horse not "like" the participant, self assessment as a leader, projection of human traits onto horses and everything else that prevents a horse from feeling secure around humans. The results will be used to focus training on the emotional baggage that makes it very difficult to become a safe rider on a happy horse.

You see, it just won't all fit on facebook.