Grousing Day - Chapter 1

It looks like the First Chapter of Grousing Day has been lost, so if you're wondering what Chapter Two is talking about, here is that first Chapter. This story is inspired by the Surfing Goat Soaps that we create here at Hames & Axle Farm. Caprenity is that sense of peace that we strive for our for our customers, so it's also the name of the farm in thestory. There will be more chapters each month until the story is finished. I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter One – The Veil and the Farm

 Driving by the long lane, drivers had no idea what lay beyond their view. If they knew, the place would no longer be safe for its inhabitants, so it’s best that people not know specifically where this spot is.  There are places on the Earth where different worlds overlap. One is the world people live in; they go to work, they take care of each other, and they build a life. 

Another world is a magical one. There, fairies and elves can be found, animals talk to each other directly, and a different life is lived.  But the two worlds share the same land, so what happens in one place affects the lives of the other world. There is a magical veil that only some humans can see, but nature senses its presence and the world of magic knows it very well.        

If there were a giant dragon attacking the magical realm, the human world may experience a fire.  If an explosion happens in the “real world,” then creatures that usually sleep away their life, get really animated, working to keep their world safe.        

The lane is a long, winding driveway, flanked on either side by trees, shrubs and native plants. It can be a bit muddy, which deters those who might endanger this special place. But those who do come all the way up enter an opening in an oak wood, with a small barn, a couple of sheds and a modest house, sitting on a high spot, so they can see the land all around. This is Caprenity Farm.

When the house was being built, the humans were unaware how special their land was and is.  They cut down trees, but they were careful not to take more trees down than necessary. They worked around wet spots, so the frogs and salamanders were safe.  They tried to be reasonable in the damage they made. They recognized that they were but a part of the natural world and used kind hearts in their choices. Though they knew the nature that surrounded them, they were unaware of the magical portal that they lived among.  The only thing they noticed immediately was the number of “butterflies,” flitting around them.    

Cutting that first tree down resulted it landing on the farmer’s legs. No need to worry, it was a pine tree, and the branches that fell on her were thin and soft.  But it was a sign of things to come.    When the last tree was cut to clear the driveway, the tree fell just inches away from the farmer’s car.  It’s not that they were careless, or clueless. It was a warning that this place was special and protected.

There was a day when a particular hemlock tree had to come down. The humans had built a farm, and the horse and donkey shared a pasture with a huge hemlock.  This wonderful tree had provided a great deal of shade for the pasture, but it was dying due to the damage done by the animals and the house construction.

The farmers had some idea that something was special about their land, but they didn’t know exactly what. There were places where their hearts sung, just by standing there. There were times when things disappeared and reappeared without any reason. They were learning to live with all the lives there, but they didn’t know how wide that population was.

One day, they finally had to remove the old hemlock. It had become a danger, and to protect the horse and burro, cutting it down was a necessity. They couldn’t leave it to nature to make that decision.  They were careful, moving the animals to safer spaces. They put guide ropes on the trunk so they could somewhat control the direction it fell.  But they forgot one thing, to explain to the wild  why the tree had to come down.

There were many bugs living in that tree, but there were also sleepy elves who enjoyed its shade and the safety of the height of the branches.  Things might have gone differently if the people knew about that magical population, but they found out that day, for sure.

The first cut on the trunk went as expected. It was cut so that the tree would fall in the direction they wanted.  Then a second cut would be made on the back side of the trunk, so the tree would topple over.  It seemed to be going well.  The tree was leaning the way they wanted. Everyone was safe, and the tree began to lean.  The air was still, as if nature was holding its breath. But the farmer noticed something odd. There was something dashing among the branches. She couldn’t see them directly, but she definitely got the sense of a shadowy something scurrying up and down the trunk.  Then, without any wind at all, the tree stopped falling. Instead. it leaned back on the cut, directly on the saw that was cutting the trunk.  Whatever those shadows were, they had saved the tree from falling. 

The chain saw was trapped inside the tree’s trunk. Nothing else could be cut that day. But the tree was a very real danger. Should the wind pick up, or the horse decided to scratch her back, the tree could fall without control. It might land on another tree, or the shed, or the horse, or the fence line.  This was a very precarious situation, and it needed to be solved.

 Eventually they borrowed another saw, and the tree fell safely, and the branches were cut into usable lengths to be burned in the woodstove, or used to build brush piles for wildlife to live in.  Why did it happen so easily this time? Nothing seemed different about the approach to the cut, but the tree fell with no additional problems.

 But the humans had been talking aloud to each other about the dangers, of keeping the tree up after the cut, or the danger of leaving it alone.  The elves and other magical creatures overheard their conversations, had time to find new homes, and began to understand the reasoning for the treefall.  But the farmer had seen them. They were sure of it.  What would she do?

 “It’s like we have to prove we can live here,” she had said when they first started clearing the land. She was right. Others had tried to build there, but they did so with no thought to those who already lived there. They had found rock where they wanted water.  Water where they wanted to find soil. And frustration at every turn.   But this family had shown that they were careful in what they were doing.  They had passed all the tests, which were many, and still they wanted to live on the land, and take care of it. 

So the magic world and nature decided that the veil could stay. These people would keep them safe, and together they could co-exist. No one else knew of this new community, and that was the way the regular folk and the magical ones wanted it.

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