A Wild Mother’s Little Ones
One of our Maine Farmers shared the following experience with us:
Many times on our farm we would hear coyotes and often see them hunting mice in the hayfield, when we were haying. They never threatened us but with two young sons, we were cautious. One evening my young boys and I went to our family’s blueberry field to check the crop and monitor for insect damage. I left the truck at the top of the hill and walked down to its other side. At the foot of the hill, about 800 feet from the truck, I saw movement in the tall grass. It is not uncommon to see deer in the field, so I motioned the boys closer to watch. Then only to realize they were Coyotes …six Coyote pups and their mother!
What happened next answered many questions I had of Coyotes. I instructed my boys to walk slowly back to the truck. And I would remain near the coyotes as a distraction until the boys were safe.
A Mother’s instinct is very strong, and not just in humans! Mama Coyote was doing the same thing as I. She began yipping at her pups. Listening to her calls, her pups circled around and headed for the refuge of the woods. Mama Coyote and I stood about 500 feet apart…just watching each other, and willing to do whatever to protect our babies.
When my boys were safe in the truck and her pups safe in the woods, we each backed up slowly and parted ways peacefully. I will never forget that evening; just two mothers feeling the same…..regardless in the difference in species.
Allowing experiences like this to enfold brings one into a whole new world, one that we didn’t even know existed….inside of us. But it is that willingness to let it unfold which makes it happen.
This woman farmer came to deeply understand that this mother Coyote felt just like her….when it came to her protectiveness of her little ones. But something even more was happening here…the restraint, the trust. For the mother Coyote she knew well the violence of humans. It had been passed down in her culture over the past 200 years, ever since the Europeans arrived. And for the farmer, only the fear of powerful carnivores had been passed down to her own species. Yet the two of them trusted each other, and used restraint.
And when this happens….you are never the same.
When we speak about Farming of the Future …..THIS is what we are speaking about.