Of Carrots and Life

News

Earthfire Institute Yobo Member
March 19th, 2012

Credit: Clay Junell

Once a week we do a meditation on Earthfire’s vision which includes Hannah, a volunteer who lives in England. We start at 7:30 am our time and she at 2:30 her time. At the end of an hour she gives us a call and we discuss what arose for each us. This time she said a bit sheepishly, “What came up for me was carrots. Images of carrots.” At first I thought she said parrots and I thought of a remarkable one I knew but she said, “No, CARROTS. Does that make any sense?”

I told her what happened yesterday:

Robert, our farrier, had come to trim the feet of Jenny, the very ancient donkey we are honored to care for. She is very very ancient. When we first got her several years ago the vet came to examine her. We asked her age, he said “ She was born before Nixon’s first term.”

I came out to meet Robert who had been looking her over. He said, “Susan, you’ve got to put Jenny down. She’s depressed, moping, in pain. The wound on her back isn’t healing and her feet are falling apart.” I said, “Please do her feet. She still wants her carrots. If she wants her carrots, she still has a zest for life, and I’m not going to take that from her.” I described how, as we led her to the area where he was going to work on her, we passed the bag of carrots I always bring out in preparation for the event. They were several yards away but she started veering towards them, catching the scent even in the cold air and through the plastic bag. Food is a big part of her life.

Robert started working on her feet as we fed her the carrots. She took them with her usual grumpy acceptance.

We shared our thoughts about when, if ever, does one euthanize an animal? He had worked on big ranches where the animals were generally put down rather than nursed, especially if they were no longer “useful.” But Jenny is very useful; let me count the ways:

1. She certainly considers herself useful to herself. She thinks she is quite important and lets us know her rights and demands and opinions without any hesitation.

2. We love her.

3. She adds great character to Earthfire. She is the first to scream for food in the mornings, her raucous bray ricocheting around the ranch. She is the first to scream for food in the evenings, the loudest voice of all the animals. When we try to sneak extra treats to her she always gives us away as we approach, and the other donkeys and horses and buffalo come pounding from across the field. If we try to sneak by her to go to the yurt, she gives us away again.

4. She also is adorable with a great soft fuzzy gray forehead, hair covering most of her soft brown eyes and the very best longest donkey ears.

5. She has presence and dignity. No pushing HER around.

6. And she leans into us for petting. How can that not be useful?

But basically we are very reluctant to take an animal’s life under any but the most dire circumstances, and with Jenny, certainly not if she still lusted for carrots. Robert really loves animals and horses and donkeys. As we talked he softened and said “Yes, I can see that way of doing things. I’m just not used to it.”

Because we respected his opinion we called Summer, our vet, to look at Jenny again, see if she was in pain, and to re-dress the wound on her back which was actually healing. Very slowly, but healing. She was certainly old, slow, a bit hang-dog and not enjoying the winter cold and deep snow. But she loved her attention, her hay, and her carrots. As a wild donkey captured many years ago from the wild, in the Bureau of Land Management wild horse and burros round-ups, she did not have carrots. They loom large in her world.

Summer said she didn’t think it was time, so we left things as they were, her dainty hooves trimmed to Robert’s artistic and exacting specifications.

Back to Hannah and her images of carrots. Why did that come up for her? Was it a coincidence? If it was from Jenny and her will to live, how did Hannah pick that up? How did Jenny convey that? She never met Hannah, who lives across the Atlantic ocean. That was the only image Hannah “got” during that meditation and it was a strong one; it kept coming up for her.

I wonder at the implications of events like this. It hints at a reality much larger and richer than the one we normally inhabit, just waiting for us to tune in and enjoy. A reality in which we are all connected in unseen ways and sometimes can feel, if we are able to be quiet inside and attend to the softer knowings that come to us.

As always, comments, stories and personal experiences welcome.

PS – I read somewhere that carrots share 50% of our DNA

Story originated at Earthfire Institute

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