Well June and July flew by with my work at Vermont Children's Theater and the usual work here. So I am catching up on the blog posts before two massive retreats arrive this month from a College Catholic fellowship group and later a work force of Franciscans from Boston.
The first thing that happened was the repainting of the sign by the end of the driveway. It took a little longer than I thought but the old sign needed some bullet holes repaired and was loosing it's color from the weather. So the sign came down for a few weeks and went back up looking brand new.
Next we embarked more wholeheartedly in our work to help rescue animals in the state. We learned long ago that part of the retreat into silence and prayer in a rural setting needed to involve animals. This was part of Fr. Von Faur's vision of this monastic center. As we are set up for farming naturally some of the animals will be used to feed us as well as retreaters and potential long term community members (if a community is God's plan). But some of the animals are here to simply live and provide that cerebral and spiritual bond with visitors who may participate in their care or just petting them. As Saint Francis demonstrated the moment one interacts with a docile and loving animal the disconnect with the "busy/noisy" world happens thus opening the mind and heart for God to enter.
On that theme of four legged residents we acquired two rescue horses that are eating grass happily in a section of our meadow.
This big girl is a Tennessee Walker named Molly,
And this Arabian eating grass faster than it grows is Abby.
Don't forget our other lawn mowers and walking brush hogs.
This small herd of five will soon increase to twelve as we prepare for another group of Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats that are soon to arrive. Brush clearing, milk making-soap, cream, yogurt, cheese and petting zoo; a truly multipurpose animal.
There is also a new brood of turkeys for meat and
laying hens.
There is also a rumor of Alpacas heading this way.
The garden has been in full swing this summer and many veggies have already headed out to the interfaith food shelves locally. It has been much easier as several youth groups have come to work the gardens this year.
Busy and blessed times, but now I at least feel the blog is almost caught up.
Stay tuned for more updates. But if there are anymore animals arriving I may only have pictures of me on a row boat in the lake pretending to fish but trying to escape!
Pax et Bonum
From
The Mary Theotokos Monastic Center
