It is a beautiful, sunny Monday on the farm!  This past week has been a flurry of activity and excitement as new programs began, new volunteers started working here and we get ever closer to the arrival of the new additions to the SRM herd.  Babies are due to arrive Friday which means I am on full alert mode where my two moms to be are concerned.  SRM My Precious is fit to burst and I suspect she has twins on board, but she may surprise me with triplets.  SRM Mystique seems right on track to give birth, but I am still skeptical as to whether or not any babies will come out of her, as she has fooled me many times before.  I am admittedly eager and excited though, as she has never been THIS pregnant before.  We will know soon without a doubt.  Several of my team are also in the same state while we watch Mysti, like a kettle that never boils.  As birth announcements are amongst my favourite things to post, news will be sent out quickly when all blessed new arrivals happen.  <3

With much news to announce, I am going to just get right to it.  We began running Goat Yoga classes in partnership with Muskoka Hot Yoga this past week.  Two classes have run so far, with lots of playful magic added from the goats, to Trinity's already great yoga class.  I was bummed to discover that if I try to join in and do yoga with the class, my herd will basically stick around me and be less likely to interact with the other participants.  So my sole role during Goat Yoga is now poo patrol!  They are goats, and yes, they do poop.  The goats are amazingly respectful of where they go though so rarely do they poop on anyone's yoga mats.  Trinity also brings her sound bowls to her yoga practice and the goats seem fascinated with the tone and energy held within each bowl.  No matter which goats join the class, they all seem to go and stick their heads in Trinity's bowls, and generally make a mess of her belongings.  With each class, I learn more about which herd members are best suited to which activities.  The yoga goats tend to be the younger, more outgoing goats.  Muskoka Hot Yoga will be offering classes 3 times a week, through to the end of July.  If you are interested in joining a class, you can find all the information and sign up here: https://muskokahotyoga.com/  Trinity is also offering other programs on select days here at the farm through to the end of July.

This past Saturday we had the privilege of taking part in Episode 2 of GOAT: Talent Search.  I can't even describe how much fun it is to be a part of this great show.  Mark Twang was the brave second contestant to come and preform live in front of the SRM judges.  He brought his folk vibes, humour and even introduced the herd to the kazoo!  It was a great afternoon, and luckily the rain held off as they were calling for severe thunderstorms.  The herd was hungry, the song was fun and lively, and Mark was able to record several takes for his entry into GOAT: Talent Search.  You can follow Mark @MarkTwangMusic on Instagram.  I am eagerly anticipating watching the second episode of GOAT and will share it to my social media as soon as it become available.
It is not too late to apply to be on GOAT!  Check out all the information on this fun, entertaining and talent filled competition at The Snow Lake Initiative.

https://www.thesnowlakeinitiative.ca/goat-2020

Who is going to be next?  What are you waiting for?  The judges are eager to see you preform your talent for them!

​

Another new development/collaboration begins this week with Muskoka Barefoot Inc.  https://www.muskokabarefoot.com/  Owner/Practitioner Agatha Farmer, will be offering two ongoing programs here at Sky River Meadows.  Beginning tomorrow, we will host the first Barefoot Goat Walk with the herd.  Beginning this Thursday and running every Thursday until October will be the Barn Burner Bootcamp fitness program for ladies.  To get more information on either of these programs, and also to register, please contact Agatha directly at [email protected] 

This past week has been incredible, full of many great connections here at the farm.  I am continuing to meet with individuals who are interested in running their own programs here, and will update as things are in place.  I was blessed to experience my very first reiki healing session on Saturday by a dear friend, and was beyond blown away by the experience.  The experiment was to see what the herd would do during a reiki session, and the results were remarkable.  Not only did they take interest, several of them got involved!  I can't wait to make the announcements about the upcoming services that will be offered here by this amazing and beautiful individual.  I have it on good authority that my herd is also excited to begin this work with her.  Is it odd to be proud of your goat herd and the skills that they are learning and adding to their own resumes?  Honestly it feels like the same pride I have for my sons many accomplishments.  :)

We expanded our herd recently by adding 6 goats that I have had an ongoing relationship with for many years.  The plan to add these goats has been more than a year in the making.  As if adding 6 new goats wouldn't be challenging enough, these 6 don't even all get along with each other!  They are divided into two herds of 3, making it even more difficult to integrate them into my herd.  This ragtag posse of non conformists are determined to make each and every day here a bigger challenge.  Normally I would never add to my numbers, but under special and unusual circumstances, and with health statures assured, I can bring in new members.  These particular goats belonged to a family that I have mentored for many years and as a result they have become family.  Life changes mean sometimes we have to make difficult choices, and so these 6 will hopefully integrate fully into my herd in due time.  So far, each attempt to take these guys for a walk with my herd has had the same results - they head out the gate, in the opposite direction the herd just went, to head up my driveway as if headed for home!  This may take some time, but I am confident that at least a few of these guys will become active members of my therapy herd.  Those that don't at least try to follow the rules........well, they'll join the large group of retired animals I already have.

The biggest anticipatory news of each year on the farm is when babies arrive!  July 3 is the first due date for both SRM My Precious and SRM Mystique.  Expect announcements, news, pictures and videos of all the exciting new arrivals soon!  It is suddenly a flurry of activity as my team of volunteers and I prepare the barn for birthing and baby goat snuggling.  I am always seeking reliable, loving volunteers to help out with the hands on raising, training and socializing of the herd.  If you've ever thought about joining my team, reach out!  I'd love to hear from you.
Until next time my friends, stay well, be kind, and remember to fiercely love yourself daily.  ~ Angee

Hello dear friends.  What a glorious day it is, here on the farm.  Summer has arrived and a slower pace to the daily chore routine is a very welcome relief to me.  Hotter days mean the goats eat less hay and browse more.  It also means they sleep more and are less demanding on my time.  I actually managed to finally finish getting my garden in over the last couple of weeks and I am happy to say it is flourishing!  Guess my thumbs aren't as black as I had originally thought.  With a bit more time to myself I have been able to continue actively pursuing my new passion of trying to spark inspiration in others.  The more energy I seem to commit to this venture, the more exciting it becomes each day..  I am actively planning with several individuals who will begin offering new programming here at Sky River Meadows in the coming weeks.  I am stoked and I am pretty sure the herd is as well!  Each new idea we are exploring, the more ideas we seem to spark.  The goats are very curious about all of the new activities and I am excited to see how each new skill they learn will enhance their abilities.  For the time being it makes sense to continue to hold my Goat of the Week stories and instead focus on sharing updates about farm happenings.  These are busy and exciting times!   I am so grateful that I am able to have the help of my volunteers here again.  Even I have to admit that I am tired and can't continue to sustain this pace for much longer.  Having other avenues to bring in new revenue streams will ensure we survive through these unstable times.  As I am always seeking the positive in every situation, I can think of no better way than that of a mutually beneficial collaboration with other practitioners who can offer their services here.  Or even better, for them to team up with my herd and I in new and creative ways.  I am bursting to share some of the news, but it is too soon yet.  One collaboration is ready to begin though, and the first event is this upcoming Wednesday evening, and is completely sold out!

I am so honoured and excited to be partnering up with Trinity O'Brien of Muskoka Hot Yoga!  Trinity will be partnering with the SRM herd to begin offering Goat Yoga here at the farm 3 times a week through to the end of July.  Trinity will also be offering some her own programs here at the property, which will allow her to reach her clients in a safe, socially distanced environment.  Through the coming weeks, the herd and I will be blessed not only with Trinity's offerings here, and connections it will bring, but we will also receive the healing benefits of Trinity's singing bowls, as well as her wealth of experience and knowledge, as she guides her participants through some amazing experiences here this summer.  You can read all about Trinity, and the amazing work she does on her Muskoka Hot Yoga website.  https://muskokahotyoga.com/

You'll also find a schedule of events, and information on how to register, what to expect, and what to bring for any of the programs she will be running here.   


Trinity had this to say about offering her programs here at SRM:

"I have loved goats since I was a little girl.  Combining yoga with goats was a no brainer.  You can not be in a great mood when around them.  They are playful, friendly, oh so cute and personality to spare!  The goats bring a playfulness of yoga to a whole new level.  If you love to laugh, and feel good, you will benefit from joining me on your may to breathe, move and play with these adorable therapy goats at Sky River Meadows.  I look forward to seeing you soon!"

​
To say I am excited about these collaborations is an understatement.  I know that by supporting each other through these challenging times, we can all come out better and stronger than ever on the other side of this crazy year.   By aligning with like minded individuals to continue to try to help support our communities, we can't lose.   It is also a huge comfort to me to know that I am not struggling through these times alone, but others are struggling too and we can help each other by working together where we can.  If you  have an idea, like Trinity, on how you can bring something to help support our community in partnership with the herd or the farm, please reach out!  I would love to hear from you!

Normally at this time of year I would already be in the midst of the newest generation of the herd arriving.  My breeding plans for the year were thrown off with the unexpected death of one of my main bucks, and then COVID.  For this reason, kidding season hasn't even begun here, but we are fast approaching the first births of 2020!  SRM My Precious, and SRM Mystique are both due to give birth on July 3rd, and SRM Hermione is due August 2nd.  In the meantime, young Romeo is receiving all the baby snuggles (even though he is getting stinky) at the moment.   He won't look so little when the new arrivals come and then he will have to compete for attention again.  I took this beautiful picture of Sharon, one of my lovely volunteers, cuddling Romeo while we were visiting with seniors at their windows last week.  These two have formed a special bond and Romeo was sound asleep in this picture.  You can't see in the photo for privacy's sake, but right beside Sharon is a window lined with smiling faces of the seniors at Muskoka Landing in Huntsville.  For anyone who asks, "What is it like to volunteer at Sky River Meadows?"  I think Sharon's face says it all right here.  If you've ever thought about reaching out to offer some time or skills you have to offer, now is the best time to reach out.  The benefits of volunteering here are innumerable, and possibly even immeasurable for all of us, as the work we do is so fun and far reaching.  Now more than ever I think my farm, and others like it, will become powerful places of healing, and that means we will need all the help and support we can get.  I think if anything, COVID has taught me why resilience is so important.  Life is ever changing and we need to be able to adapt with those changes.  I refuse to allow this virus complication to slow down my work or how I want to help my community.  With each new challenge in life, we are invited to discover new ideas and inspiration we hadn't previously considered.   Working with others and dreaming new innovative ideas is creating a life force of it's own here at the farm.  Volunteers can also get in on the excitement, and be involved in some pretty magical moments.  Reach out to me to find out how you can get involved :)

For the closing of my blog for this week, I want to take some time to sing praises to my herd, and to my team of volunteers and friends who continue to help out around the farm, with the herd or with my work.  The past few weeks since reopening my barn doors, my herd has surprised and astounded me daily with their open, willing hearts, and abilities to always, ALWAYS know exactly what to do, and with whom.  If anything I think the time the herd and I had in isolation together, gave us all a long needed rest.  Being back in action it is almost like the herd is inspired alongside me to work harder to help more people every day.  Goats who previously would never come forward to interact with guests have since come out from the shadows and are beginning to shine with their own gifts.  Oddly enough, even my herd Queen Bonnie, who is wild and unfriendly, has been allowing several people to pet her.  I am shocked each time it happens and then try to touch her myself, but NOPE!  I know my place with her and it doesn't include unwanted touching!  It could be that both my herd and needed those many weeks in isolation for a much needed rest and reflection period to see where we are needed most.   Some have asked me how the herd faired through the quarantine and I won't lie, it has been challenging.  For twelve years these goats have interacted with, been loved by and created bonds with many volunteers and guests.  Many of those relationships are just as important to my animals as they are to the people who've fallen in love with them.  My entire herd became depressed for weeks after being cut off from their sense of "normal" as well.  I think since reopening we've all been given a new sense of purpose.  Emotions have been really high from each and every person that has visited in recent weeks.  Everyone has been through a lot and the stories and experiences being shared are amazing to listen to.  We've all endured much in a few short months.  Often as in the case of in my line of work, things are not easy to put into words.  Even for me who has spent every day with this gang for twelve years, I find it impossible to put some things into words.  The photos I have shared in this post are some of the magical moments I've managed to capture here recently.  If any of these photos speak to you, reach out and book a visit.  Now might be the perfect time to hear the wisdom of some pretty remarkable little goats :)  Until next time, with love Angee

Good morning beautiful friends.  I hope that you are all well, and that you're finding ways to stay grounded, present and aware through all of the chaos swirling around the world.  I am choosing to continue to postpone further Goat of the Week stories, and for the time being think it makes the most sense to write a GotW post when it is fitting to do so, and write about other stuff when I have other stuff to write about.  (I do so enjoy putting ridiculous amounts of pressure on myself for no apparent reason - something I am working to change, hence the shift from weekly GotW stories)

As energetic beings, humans are very sensitive to energy, and that includes the emotional energy of others.  I do not recall a time in my life where there was more turmoil, chaos and confusion, on a global scale.  During these times I think it is more important than ever for us individually to make conscious choices in how we each choose to react and respond to the new world we now live in.  Each day we embark on our journeys, we never know what we will see, hear, or be subjected to. We are never able to choose what happens to us in life, but we are absolutely able to choose how we respond to it!  My personal choice is to choose LOVE, always.  I will also choose COMPASSION, COMMUNICATION, COMMUNITY, CONNECTION, and POSITIVITY.  I am finding the most peace in my own life when I remain focused on my individual mission and goals.  Lately I have become shocked at how easily I can get sidetracked, or distracted from these goals, just by spending a few moments reading the news, or if I'm feeling particularly silly, by venturing onto Facebook to see the vitriol that people are choosing to throw at each other for this particular day.  Previously I've only really ever experienced this level of open hatred, judgement and turning on each other within my own family tree, for which I am grateful to be the black sheep.  I do my thing, and they can all go do theirs.  Here at the farm in the two weeks since I've reopened, this has been the most frequently discussed topic.  Why is everyone turning against each other?  My take at this point is that now that these very sensitive issues are coming to light, people are choosing a side.  Once you choose a side, you'll realize who in your life sits on the other side of the very same issue.  Hence division, anger, frustration, etc, etc.    There is literally an overabundance of negative energy in the world right now, and I will do everything I can to combat it.

A couple of weeks ago I was given a gentle reminder by a mentor and teacher of mine, which inspired me to put a call out to anyone who had a great idea for partnering with my goat herd to spread a positive message or healing in some way.  Let me tell you what an incredible amount of ideas have come forth already and all of them exciting.  Some are now in the beginning stages of being developed and everyone will learn about them as they become reality.  One idea in particular though has already become a reality, and is seriously something I am so excited to be a part of.   The GOAT (Greatest Of All Time): Talent Search, created by local musician/song writer, and founder of The Snow Lake Initiative, J'aime Payne.   Sky River Meadows, the SRM goats, and I have the honour, and privilege to be hosting and participating in this amazing new event.   

J'aime Payne is a singer-songwriter who grew up in the rural haven of Huntsville, Ontario. She relocated to Toronto in 2013 where she gained critical behind-the-scenes work experience with a number of high-profile creative businesses specializing in the music industry. Her ventures have included television commercial work (Visa, Audible, Hyundai) , successful applications for provincial grants (grossing more than $500K), business management for some of Canada’s multi-million dollar export artists and a cherished stint with CIRAA (The Canadian Independent Recording Artists' Association) as their Director of Member Services before the association sadly dissolved in 2016. In 2020, J’aime will focus her creative energies on assisting members of The Snow Lake Initiative through The Snow Lake Advantage, and will continue to pursue a professional career as a songwriter.
https://www.thesnowlakeinitiative.ca/jaimemusic


J'aime had these words to share about what inspired her vision -  GOAT: Talent Search.

As someone needed to go first to show how it would work, and all come together, J'aime  bravely took the plunge, grabbed her guitar and headed out amongst the judges to try her best to impress them with her amazing talent.  I love how willing J'aime was to be her very own guinea pig, being the first contestant.  I assure you, this was a TON of fun to record and to be a part of.  Watching as my beloved herd were moved by her beautiful song, I too was moved to tears more than once.  The day was perfect, the setting incredible, with my only complaint being it was REALLY windy making it hard for recording the audio.  Here is GOAT: Episode 1

Now that the first contestant has set the bar for the competition to begin. we are welcoming others to apply to be a contestant on GOAT.  You can find all the information on this contest and how to apply here:
https://www.thesnowlakeinitiative.ca/goat-2020

I can't think of a better way to spend the summer than having live entertainment come to us!  I am so proud to be hosting this amazing event and competition here at the farm, with the help of my goat friends.  Thank you to J'aime for being so creative and coming up with an amazing, inspiring, and uplifting way to partner with the SRM herd. 

This is EXACTLY the kind of creativity that I am hoping to continue to inspire with others here at the farm.  If reading about GOAT and how J'aime was inspired to create this fun competition has inspired you, in your own way, then please reach out!   Let's not stop here with GOAT: Talent Search.  Who else has an inspiring idea to spread the message of love, community and positivity?  There has honestly never been a better time than right now to tap into your creative energy.  The world needs it now more than ever.  We all know for a fact that there is plenty of ugly, dark, negativity, fear etc. all around us.  I want to hear from you if you have an idea on how think you may also partner with my herd to create and chase your own dreams.  I truly believe that we all have a unique gift that when combined with passion, and creativity, it creates a power all on it's own and can affect great change.  J'aime reached out and look at what her idea became!  Who's next? 
​With love,  ~ Angee 

Hello dear friends.   I don't know about you, but I am feeling pretty RAW these days.  Six months into 2020 and amongst everything else, we are now in a new civil rights movement.  Due to world events and my own need to say something about them, I have decided to not write a Goat of the Week post, but instead just allow myself to write freely with less pressure.  To be honest with you all, I was losing sleep over how to intertwine a goat story with everything I need and want to say this week. These are serious days and times for serious discussions to be had, about the especially sensitive issues, such as racism and how certain individuals are being targeted specifically because of the colour of the skin they were born with.  I am literally becoming disgusted with the number of times I have had to attempt to educate white people this week for countering "BLACK LIVES MATTER" with the statement of "ALL LIVES MATTER".  As a white privileged woman, I am guilty of having an advantage in life due to the colour of my skin.  As a matter of fact, I am guilty of worse.  I am guilty of staying silent in the face of racism.  I have witnessed situations in my past where I should have intervened, but instead remained silent.  For the first time in my life I am really examining the ways that I contribute to racism, even by staying silent.  Through a lens of white privilege I can see so many ways in which I have not done enough, and how I can do better..  When it comes to those who choose to say the offensive words "ALL LIVES MATTER", I searched the interwebs for a meme that I think explains it in a gentle and kind manner - which at this point might in fact be beyond my ability to find kind words to use. 

I need to get this off my chest....                           

                            I am a white privileged woman. 

*   I have white privilege because I have never feared for my safety at any time while dealing with law enforcement.
**  I have white privilege because I had to LEARN about racism, but have never personally EXPERIENCED it.
***  I have white privilege because I can go out alone and not be watched or followed based on the colour of my skin.
****  I have white privilege because I can freely choose to do many things that others can't, only based on skin colour.

I know I could go on, but think you get the point.  This is not to say that I have ever had it easy in life , because I haven't.  I've faced trauma, challenges and stigma in many areas of my own life.  None of those challenges had anything to do with my skin colour.  I am not completely free from racism in my life though.  Those of you who know me personally will know my son and that he is mixed race.  He has the dark skin, dark hair and dark eyes of his Indigenous ancestors.  For the 28 years of my son's life I have stood beside him and supported him through his own experiences with racism within his hometown of Huntsville, ON.  He was born here, and has lived here for his entire life, but he has always had to face the additional challenges of racism in his daily life.  He has been bullied, abused, taunted, ridiculed, ostracized, judged and blamed unfairly.  He has lost friends, jobs, missed out on school trips "in case of any potential issue", and he even had to change schools once.  In that particular situation he was abused by other students, in a long term situation.  I was personally told by that school principal that it was my son's own fault, and that he wouldn't be bullied or beat up if he wasn't "flaunting his heritage."  For the record - my son was 8 at the time.  He was beaten and had his medicine bag ripped from his neck.  A medicine bag is a small pouch worn around the neck to keep sacred items in.  It is commonly worn under the clothes and next to the skin.  Regardless, my son changed school within weeks.  Now as an adult he will still tell you that racism is alive and very active in Muskoka.  Something that I have not shared with many, perhaps no one other than my immediate family.  Although I was a mother at a very young age, I was always well aware of the Indian Act that exists in Canada and the registry that the Canadian government put in place.  I knew from the very beginning that there was no way I was going to add my son's name to any government registry just based on his ancestry.  Instead, I filed the important information he would need to make his own choice as an adult.  Do you know why the Canadian government created the Indian Act?  Yes, the term is still active and used to this day, and in fact as an adult, my son is now registered with the Indian Act.  Do you know I wouldn't register him as an infant because there were still active residential schools still running.  Do you know that the last residential school in Canada closed in 1996?  My son was 4 years old at that time - school aged.  It honestly sickens me when I think about it.  I am so grateful that I was born questioning EVERYTHING.  It got me in a lot of trouble when I was young but it sure has payed off as an adult. 

OK, so normally I talk about a particular emotion each week, and I had originally intended to.  Oddly enough after 10 hours of work on this blog today, I lost the entire post!  It reverted to where I had saved it last night before bed, and an entire days work was lost.  Perhaps the universe was saving me from an insane rant, or perhaps it was divine intervention.  Either way, what has happened for me during the process of writing my thoughts out twice, is that I feel 2x better than when I started!   I don't know if anyone will get anything out of this post, but for me it has been incredibly eye opening to challenge myself,  to challenge my views, and to challenge my own actions.  If any of my readers out there feel inspired to take a good hard look at themselves and grow from it, then it wasn't just for me.  I think no matter what colour our skin is, we all can find ways to make ourselves better people moving forward.  Let's embrace our fellow humans and stand in solidarity with each other.  Our exterior is not what makes us, anymore than the clothing we choose to cover our bodies with.  It is our hearts and souls that determine our individuality that really matters.  Don't mind me while I burn with determination to make this world  a more loving and more accepting place.  So many bright lights are dimmed due to ignorance and hate.  It is time to embrace and support each other for the amazing beings of creativity we all are.  What if we all tried to spark a light in someone else for a change?  Create a positive movement through love?  My mantra for the last month has been to "plant a seed to inspire" and I think it is more relevant now than a month ago when I put it up on my motivational message board.  I won't promise that next week will see a return of my GotW posts yet.  At this point I think the entire world is spinning one day at a time.  I do promise to return to attempting to break down emotions, and to continue examining and learning about all emotions and how they relate to my herd.  For the time being though, I will choose instead to flow through each day and make my decisions based on the energy of each moment.  So for the time being. try to be kind to each other.  If you can, love each other.  There is so much hate in the world right now.  Let's spread as much love, acceptance and positivity as we each can.  Challenge yourself to choose love instead of judgement and see what difference it can make in your own communities.  I know I am judged for always choosing the path of love.  I honestly don't care and welcome the judgement.  
Please stay well and be kind to one another.  With love ~ Angee

First. let me take a moment to acknowledge each and every one of you who take the time to read my words.  Knowing some of you do read these posts helps to keep me on track, and dedicated to my own commitment to write these posts, but most importantly it helps me to stay true to my commitment to myself.  Thank you for that, I need the push right now. Some days daily.  For that I thank you, and send my loving gratitiude to you all <3
Lately it has been getting a bit more challenging for me in choosing a theme for my blog.  The world is spinning in such chaotic circles at the moment, defining ONE theme when so much is happening.... when so much can be said....  so much confusion, pain, anger, hate, division....  Looking around the world, in the news and in our own home communities, I am seeing widespread FEAR.  An emotion that most of us would rather not face or ever feel.  This is something that we, in white priveldged western society, have been very privledged to be protected from due to the service men and women willing to stand up to protect us.  Fear itself is in fact an emotion, and like all emotions, they exist to give us information that is vital to our survival, and overall well-being.  I will definitely get into that much more later on in this post.  For now, let me introduce my GotW.  This absolute darling, sweet, young man is SRM Remus.  I chose him to go along with this week's theme due to his own struggles with processing his own fear, and how he has worked through so many of those issues.  Young Remus was born sensitive to the energy and emotions of others, and was also a bit delayed in developing when compared to his peers, which added some additional challenges to his early months.  

Remus and his beautiful twin sister Nymphadora, were born on May 17, 2018.  They were the first kids born during my "Harry Potter" naming theme.  Remus originally started out as being called "Newt", but I eventually settled on naming him Remus - the decision always comes down to the personality having to fit the character name from my theme (nerdy, I know).  They were born just a few weeks prior to our major farm move to the Woodfield True Nature Campus property, and at a very exciting and rather unstable time.  This unfortunately for Remus, added to the challenges he was already facing.  When Remus was born, his umbilical cord was caught up with his sister, and as she was born first, he became oxygen deprived for a brief time during the birthing process.  This may have caused some lasting damage to Remus's cognitive abilities.  I don't think many visitors ever notice anything different about him.  For me, it often just appears that Remus takes longer to process information than the rest of the herd.  Therefore it often looks like Remus behaves with a bit of a delayed reaction - or in some cases, a VERY delayed reaction.  Often when he was quite young, by the time Remus would react to a situation, his herd has already fled, leaving him behind and running frantic to catch up.  I do believe that during the first few months of his life, these delays caused undue fear stress to be more active in his life than his herdmates.  When we moved, the entire herd had to adjust to a completely knew and unknown environment.  We moved from a forest setting to a vast open sky.  It was a pretty hard transition for my gang and for the first few weeks they were quite afraid to venture out into the open.  Herd animals, like goats, have horizontal pupils that give them an amazing 350 degree visual range.  However the downside to this is no vision above their heads, making them very vulnerable from above.  This change was hard on them all and it took weeks before I could walk my herd out in the open after the move.  For weeks every time a large bird flew overhead and cast a shadow while we were out on a walk, the entire herd would all flee back to the safety of the barn - leaving Remus behind of course.  Each time this happened, I think poor Remus was traumatized a bit.  I was there so he was never in any actual danger, but I don't think he felt that way about it, and besides, nature doesn't agree with us silly humans anyways.  :)

Due to the potential brain injury he suffered, Remus took a lot longer to learn things such as the simple routine of where he was fed twice a day, and how we generally worked with the herd.  Most goats can learn something with three repitions if they are willing and curious - which almost all are.  With Remus however, due to no fault of his own, there are parts of our routine that I am not sure he will EVER learn.  For example, something I witness him do OFTEN.  At feeding time, we put all the grain bowls down in a seperate area and then let the herd in to eat.  This happens almost every time unless I specifically intervene.  Remus will be facing the opposite direction the herd is, so he won't notice the gate open, or the herd leave.  He will continue to just stand there while everyone else has left, and is eating.  Eventually he will turn around, and panic because everyone is gone!  He has missed out on meals because of this, so I try to be diligent to make sure he is paying attention before opening the gate.  This is not so much an issue for Remus now that he is 2, but when he was smaller the other kids his age bullied him relentlessly.  It seemed to me that he was an easy target.  I don't stand for bullying of any kind and that includes within my herd.  I do have a few bullies and Remus's own mom Maisie is the biggest and meanest bully I have in the herd.  Part of the training the herd gets is also in being kind to each other - which they are happy to oblige with as long as I am within eyesight for the most part.  You can't blame a goat for being it's true nature, and goats do enjoy a good fight afterall!

For weeks now, due to the pandemic, as well as a multitude of other issues, we have been inundated with  the emotion of fear.  Fear of a virus.  Fear of recession.  Fear of more lockdowns, more restrictions, etc.  For some, there is even worse fear of racism or even being murdered by the very people paid to protect us.  Currently there is violence and unrest across the entire globe, as well as a plethora of things in our daily lives that will cause us all to feel fear.  So what does fear want us to know?  What is the messge in fear?  The messge in fear is: There is an imminent threat to one's physical, mental, emotional or spiritual well being.  So how do you honour your fear when you feel it?  You ask the questions: "What is the threat?", "What must I do to move to a position of safety in relation to that threat?"  We all have had to make adjustments in our lives to deal with the new threats facing us in 2020.  We know there is a virus that threatens us, so we take precautions, we socially distance, we wear a meask etc.  Once we take actionable steps to reduce the risk to ourselves, we need to allow the emotion (fear in this case) to move through us.  When we hang on to the emotion it will intensify.  In the case of fear, it will intensify into anxiety, confusion, sleeplessness, dulling of the senses, panic, terror, dissassociation and other physical and emotional effects.  Animals are amazing teachers in that they can give us perspective in order to normalize so much for us.  Humans are funny in how we over analyze or even make assumptions instead of just asking questions, seeking information and making necessary decisions based on that information.  When learning about emotions with animals as our teachers, we open ourselves to wonderful opportunities of observing how they deal with situations and compare it to our own lives.  As I was saying earlier, emotions are there to give us vital information about the world around us.  Each emotion has a message to give us, and we honour our emotions when we receive that messge, and then make decisions and sometimes changes based on that information.  A very wise teacher of mine explained it to me this way, that emtions are E Motions. E = ENERGY, in motion.  In other words, emotions are like water, and therefore they flow.  When we hold onto them instead of moving through them, we become stuck in them and then those emotions can, will and do intensify.  Those emotional intensifications  can lead us to illness, and ultimately immune deficiency which is not something any of us need during the a pandemic.