This week, I’m going to regale you with tales from the Brown Family Farm – specifically, goat stories presented in pictures. Buddy, our tan and white goat is a polled (naturally non-horned), neutered male, and Lily, is a tri-color, horned female. They are Myotonic goats, otherwise known as fainters. Buddy and Lily are sweet mischief-makers that provide us with an endless source of entertainment! So without further ado, let’s get to learning!
Lily uses Buddy’s back to get to the “good” stuff!
Lesson 1: Every now and then, we all need a little boost! Humans are not wired to be solitary creatures. We thrive in relationship with one another – sometimes we are the givers and sometimes, the receivers.
Buddy and Lily play “King of the Mountain.”
Lesson 2: Sometimes we will butt heads with one another. Conflict is inevitable, but it doesn’t have to negatively affect the relationship. Everyone has a unique perspective. Harmony prevails when we take time to understand our differences, focus on our similarities, and “agree to disagree” when necessary. Then, we can travel up the mountain together!
Lily and Buddy eating their hay from both sides of the fence.
Lesson 3: There are always at least two ways to approach any problem. When faced with conflict (see Lesson 2) or some other dilemma, try to brainstorm new possibilities. Think outside the box! While we’re on the subject of creative problem-solving, I highly recommend the book The Art of Possibility, by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander. The Zanders provide 12 highly effective tools for improving relationships and living a life of possibility.
Lily and Buddy go for the apple instead of the celery.
Lesson 4: Life’s short, eat the sweet stuff first! ‘Nuff said!
Lily and Buddy resting in the yard.
Lesson 5: Play hard, and rest hard! As Ferris Bueller quipped, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it!” In other words, don’t feel guilty about taking some well-deserved ME-TIME. My friend Michelle Griffin of Focus on Fabulous magazine wisely pronounced: “Taking time for yourself doesn’t mean ‘me first,’ it means ‘me, too!’” And, the best part? When we take time to rest or play, inspiration has a way of finding us!
What? Need more fainting goat fun? Check out the video below!
Written by : drallisonbrown
Goats are fun to watch. I don’t have any, but enjoy watching the ones on the small farms in our community. I enjoyed learning these lessons from their behavior.
I agree, Barbara! I absolutely love goats! Thanks for reading!
Great post…enjoyed analogy with the goats!
Thanks Sherry! They are definitely a hoot!
Well you learn something every day – who knew?
Haha! Thanks for reading, David!
I LOVE fainting goats! These little dudes are such cuties! They have taught us all some good lessons too. :)
Right, Josy? They are sweet and so much fun!
I’ miss so glad you liked the book! And worked it into a post about lessons from goats, that’s awesome. Also, how did you come to own goats? Do you have other animals too?
I particularly like the lesson to consider how conflict isn’t always bad. Never speaking up, or being willing to truly listen is bad. Conflict, if done constructively, can be transformative.
Thanks Angela! Actually, I’m getting ready to publish a blog post that was more specifically written on the lessons of that book. It was a fantastic read! Our mini-farm currently has the two goats plus four chickens, although we’ve had as many as twelve over the years. We also have three indoor cats. We are blessed, however, to live on a very small lake where we have tons of other wildlife and waterfowl that interact with us daily! Not sure how we came to acquire the goats, other than the fact that one day my husband came home and said he’d like to own some fainting goats because they’re quite unique, fun, and easier than dogs ?
Animals teach us so many important life lessons. People should ‘listen’ to them more often. :) I love all of your analogies, and they are relevant. We have 12 chickens and two dogs here that keep us on our toes. Just yesterday we had a very sick chicken who ended up passing away. The kids had to be vets along with me for about 12 hours, and then we had a hard lesson on death (Jazzy was one of our most friendly chickens). We were all exhausted at the end of the day, but we had learned much. Thanks for a fun post. Buddy and Lily sure look like a lot of fun! I wouldn’t mind having goats sometime in the near future. :)
Thanks for reading, Erin! We’ve had as many as 12 chickens over the years. And, as you described, they have provided valuable life lessons for our two children growing up. So sorry to hear about Jazzy! It’s never easy! Our goats are getting older and don’t have too many years left. Our main concern is when one or the other passes, how the remaining one is going to react. They are best friends and never far apart.
I adore goats! Lovely post.
Thank you, Haley!