ceresone, I grew up on the seashore north of Boston and later went to college, lived, and worked in the city itself. I moved to the Ozarks in 1990 at the age of 33; the culture shock still hasn't completely worn off. I lived in Salem, Mass. for a few years too, it's a hub of witchcraft activity, schooling, and shopping. Maiming animals was never a part of their rituals, and the 'new agers' were always about the most peaceful and harmless people I ever met. Coincidentally, my next-door neighbor goes to some sort of annual gathering for wiccans, and you couldn't ask for a better neighbor. He'd no more cut the teats off a cow than .... I don't know what. Heck, when his dog hurt one of my goats he was in tears. I hear about cult activity harming animals a lot and I always suspect law enforcement and others are wrong about the source. The people doing it are just nuts. Within the past couple weeks someone found a dead cat in a refrigerator in their home, and nearby a pile of dead domestic animals was found. People started whispering about 'black magic', but there's not a shred of evidence to back it up. Drugs, alcohol, or sociopathy are simpler explanations. Yes, we have spotlighters, roadside hunters, poachers, trespassers, and just-plain thieves who'll butcher a sheep, goat, or calf right where they shot it. I had a guy I actually know come to the door, well before deer season opened, and claim he was quail hunting (with a 30.06?!) and he thinks he may have accidentally knicked a buck that then jumped my fence and ran into my pasture, could he go look for the poor little injured beast? He must think I'm deaf, I knew it must be right behind the house. His problem was that it was a trophy-sized buck too big to drag a half-mile. What an idiot - it never occured to him that if he shot a buck it might drop in its tracks? Since he's absolutely incorrigible, I let him load it up rather than risk the lives of my livestock, and he came back later with some nice venison steaks. I've told him a dozen times that if he wants to hunt, just tell me so I can lock up the stock- but he won't- he'd rather be sneaky. Yup, I've seen that drug-induced midnight target practice too, accompanied by cases of beer and revving truck engines making 'donuts' in the road. The people I'm thinking of used to have contests to see who could chop down a tree with a gun the fastest. Thank goodness the guy was such a loser that he managed to burn down his own house, then moved away. I do keep the livestock locked up under a high-intensity sodium vapor security light every night, and 24 hours a day during deer season. It's the only reasonable thing to do.

Hi Spiderwoman and Bulldinkie, Thanks for responding to my post. I was wondering whether to send you each an individual e-mail but figured I would post on the main forum first. The place that we bought is in Aspers right near the orchard areas and is a farmhouse with need of major TLC. We are trying to get the plumbing to work properly at the moment in the bathrooms. Incredible amounts of water damage! Once we have either external spigots to attach a hose to (None! Can you imagine???) or a second well dug, I plan on putting in both a farm garden and flower gardens in spots. We'd also like to fix up a shed and have some chickens again. I note one of you had standard cochins--nice birds. I also like the mini cochins and silkies for setting purposes. We also have a huge "barn"--sort of a one story affair with a roof over the old bank barn that burned years ago--but it isn't ready for anything except clean out. We have what used to be a meadow, but is overgrown with trees and needs clearing. Much work ahead in other words. What on-line resources do you use where people advertise their goods and services? What do you like/dislike about Adams County and Gettysburg?

We have a storey and a half stone house near Guelph, Ontario built by Scottish settlers before 1860. They added a stone tail section 25 years later, followed by a wooden summer kitchen and woodshed, which was removed before we purchased. Except for the woodwork, the main part of the house has never been painted, Each time a new layer of wallpaper was added, the previous one was stripped off. The living room wall has a number of signatures and dates on the plaster. We added ours 24 years ago. We resurrected the upper story of the addition to make a master suite, adding dormers so that the windows could be above waist level. We also enclosed the back porch with glass. The kitchen and family room were our latest restoration/renovation projects. We are the third family to own the house. The previous family bought when the original 100 acre farm was divided into 5-15 acre parcels. When we bought, only one other lot had been built on. 25 years later, there is only one parcel that does not have a house. The local farm dealers finally know this as our farm, not the "old Freeman Wilson place." We own 11 acres. The second barn (finished June 20, 1889) and outbuildings are still well maintained. We raise a flock of about 60 purebred Rideau sheep. They are a very prolific breed. Our first set of quintuplets was born this spring. We have 2 llamas and a donkey standing guard against coyotes and wandering dogs. We cut hay on 75 acres owned by various neighbours. I stack while my husband, son and son-in-law cut rake, bale and deliver. So far this year I have stacked 1500 bales, only 300 with help. Later this morming there are another 170 bales waiting in the barn to be stacked and the same number waiting for delivery. The field crew were racing rain storms to get the hay up yesterday.

I love those experiences! A few weeks ago I sat next to an good friend at a poetry reading--an event about as quiet as church. Something too long to explain here set us off, and she and I spent the next five or ten long minutes hunched over in our chairs, hands to our faces, shoulders shaking, trying to keep the laughter in. The poet must have thought we were profoundly moved by his reading.