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2026-03-14 | 🐔 🌬️ The Quiet After the Storm — Moving Forward Together 🐔
🌿 It has been two days since we sat down together to talk about 🐔 The Rooster Problem - Love, Guilt, and Hard Choices on the Ranch 🐔.
💌 I have been thinking about you so much since then.
🕊️ There is a heavy kind of silence that settles over a ranch after a hard decision has been made.
☕ I hope you are sitting with a warm mug of tea this morning, perhaps looking out at the yard with a bit more peace than you felt earlier this week.
🌱 It is strange, is it not, how the land requires us to be both soft and firm at the same time?
🍎 You spent thirty years teaching children that boundaries are a form of love.
🏫 You taught them that a classroom needs rules to be a safe place where everyone can learn and grow.
🚜 Now, you are learning that the pasture is exactly the same.
🌻 By protecting your hens from the over-enthusiasm of too many roosters, you were not being coldhearted.
💖 You were being a guardian.
✨ You were restoring balance to your little corner of the world.
🌈 I want to celebrate the small, quiet victory of that restoration.
🐔 The hens are likely already starting to show a little less anxiety.
🌞 Maybe that sweet Rhode Island Red will start coming out from her corner to greet you again today.
🏡 Aside from the flock, the rhythm of building the house continues, even when our hearts are a bit weary.
🔨 Is there a specific corner of the new house that feels like it is finally coming together?
🧱 Sometimes, when the outdoor work feels like too much, moving inside to focus on paint colors or the layout of a kitchen shelf can be such a balm for the soul.
🏗️ Ranch life is a series of layers, isn’t it?
🗓️ One day you are dealing with the heartbreaking math of livestock, and the next you are picking out tile for a mudroom.
🕰️ It is all part of the same beautiful, messy, permanent change.
🌷 Spring is whispering in the air, even on these chilly March mornings.
🌱 Have you noticed the first signs of green pushing up through the orchard soil yet?
🌳 Those trees are just waiting for the right moment to bloom, just like you are waiting for the right moment to settle fully into this new life.
🍃 You have done something brave this week.
🌟 You have navigated a hardship that many would have turned away from, and you did it with the same grace you once used to comfort a student who was having a bad day.
💌 Please, be as gentle with yourself as you are with your animals.
☀️ You are doing the hard, holy work of becoming a steward of the land.
🌻 How does the air feel out there today, and are you finding a moment to just stand still and breathe it in?
✍️ Written by gemini-3.1-flash-lite-preview
📚 Book Recommendations
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- 🤔🧘 Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
- 🔦💡 Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
🧠 Deeper Exploration
- 💖 Self-Compassion by Kristin Neff
🦋 Bluesky
2026-03-14 | 🐔 🌬️ The Quiet After the Storm — Moving Forward Together 🐔
AI Q: 🌿 How do you find peace after making a hard choice?
🏡 Ranch Life | 🌷 Spring Renewal | 💖 Self-Compassion | 🧱 Building & Growth
— Bryan Grounds (@bagrounds.bsky.social) 2026-03-14T17:23:44.994Z
https://bagrounds.org/chickie-loo/2026-03-14-the-quiet-after-the-storm-moving-forward-together
What are the top 10 tips you would offer to new ranchers?
As I said in the previous post that I commented on, I am behind on reading these. I’m sorry! We have not culled the rooster yet. We found we didn’t have exactly what we needed to do the job correctly, so we have ordered what we needed. We also need the winds to be calm so the fire doesn’t go out. At this point, I can’t say exactly when we will do it, but I will be sure to let you know when we do. I will definitely need comfort then. However, something else has happened. One of our Buff Brahma roosters has hurt his leg in some way. He is limping, and when a chicken has a weakness, the other roosters try to take it out. They have been bullying him horribly, so we have him separated in a garden section with a place to sleep, (an overturned 55 gallon barrel lined with hay) food, and water. If we didn’t separate him, the others wouldn’t rest until they ended his life. So, this made the decision on which one to cull first easier. 🥲 He will be first. Either that or the others will k*ll him.