Raven's Place on the Farm

The World of Caprenity has a feature called "Raven's Tree." I just wanted to give you all a bit of backstory as to why it's mentioned. Grousing Day and the Knights of the Round Bale is based upon this farm, and the magic that happens here. People may think I'm nuts, but I know I'm not. Raven has looked out for our farm since before we moved here. He has been the guardian for the whole forest around us, and he took up residence in a tree behind our barn. How did we know? Partly because for the first seven years of this farm, NOTHING bad happened here. While other people were dealing with wildlife issues and disease concerns, our little farm was boringly safe. People told me I should write a book about goat keeping (which I eventually did,) but I was reluctant to do it back then because I hadn't had to face any major health issues with the herd. To me, that was critical to telling people that I knew what I was doing. When we built the house and barn, EVERYTHING that could go wrong, did. The first tree we felled landed next me, with its soft pine branches laying gently on my legs. The last tree we dropped before declaring "clearing" done, missed my car by inches. It's not that my husband is a bad forester, he's not. I said at one point, "It's like we had to pass some sort of test to live here," and we did. Raven was making sure that we weren't going to ravage the land, as the previous landholder did. Raven had lived in an old oak tree, sometimes referred to as a "pasture oak." This grand old tree was several hundred years old, but it was gone before we bought the land. The previous owners had authorized a pine harvest but specifically told the logger to leave the old oak alone. Well, greed won out. He couldn't resist all that board footage and he harvested it. He was evicted from the job, but the damage was done. When I looked at the land the first time, it was a mess. The logger had left ruts, tree stumps, debris and more. It wasn't until I got to the place where our barn now stands that I felt anything but pity for this land. But once I got to that little knoll, I suddenly felt at home. There was a huge branch laying in the middle of a clearing. It was the last of the Grandfather Oak. The branch itself was nearly 15" in diameter, so I can only guess how huge the tree had been. Building the house was a test itself, but that's not what matters here. Raven took up residence in the oak behind our barn. It grew along the back wall, and its branches provided shade and protection for more than 20 years. But the trauma of the house build finally caught up with it, and it had to come down last week. My husband and I both apologized to the tree, and to Raven, and asked that he move to the next oldest oak on the land, which is on the edge of our pasture, and it appears he has. But Raven will always protect our herd and farm. I won't tell you all the times we've felt his presence, but believe me, he lets himself be known if we step out of line. So we now have a soap named Ravenwood, which is a woodsy bar that appeals to a lot of people, and Raven's tree is mentioned in Caprenity World, much like the Toad Stump is. I'll tell you more about the farm's magic later, but I wanted to let you know, and let Raven know, he's not forgotten. We're working on a soap mold to represent him, too.