Llama-Poo Tea and Rose-Colored Glasses

Calamity Jane up front; Rosie in the background

One reason my gardens are bursting with flowers and berries and veggies this year is because I'm treating them to a regular dose of llama-poo tea. Yep, you read right...llama-poo tea! We have three llamas; Calamity Jane (who fell out of a moving trailer when she was young...thus her name), Rosie (Calamity's daughter), and Zoe (who sometimes feels like the third wheel...I can tell). The girls aren't particularly personable, unless it's the middle of winter and you have a pocket full of alfalfa pellets, but they keep some of the fields mowed down with their grazing, they're fun to watch, and they keep our sheep (Ben & Jerry) safe from coyotes (llamas hate dogs they don't know).

Llamas (and alpacas) are unique among grazing animals in that they dedicate a spot or two in the fields as their bathroom. As time marches on, lovely, black piles of fertilizer begin to mound up in the fields, making collection very, very easy!  Thank you, girls, for being so accommodating!

Rather than sprinkling the pellets directly on the garden beds (where they take a surprisingly long time to decompose), I've discovered that using llama-poo tea to water my plants gets the good stuff to the roots much quicker.

Llama-poo tea is made pretty much like any other tea. My "cup" is a five-gallon bucket and my tea is a shovelful of llama poo. It steeps for a day or two and is ready to use on the next watering day. I guess the difference between real tea and llama-poo tea is here...I would strain out loose-leaf tea before using, but I want all the llama poo in my garden tea, so I just use a stick to stir it really good, dip a pitcher in to fill it and pour the liquid gold (okay, dark brown) at the base of a plant. I repeat the whole stir-dip-pour until the bucket's nearly out of water. I refill the bucket and carry on until I've used up all the llama poo. Then I just throw another shovelful in the bucket, add water and let it sit a day or two until I'm ready to water again!

It's hard to be glamorous standing over a bucket of poo, trying not to breathe while stirring, but it's worth it when I see how the fertilizer is making my soil richer. The other day, while I was stirring, I realized that my llama-poo-to-liquid-gold is a good analogy for life. Crap happens; there's no getting around it. It's what we do with the bad/negative things that matter.

My glass is pretty much always half full. I feel guilty admitting it because I know plenty of people who live in a world littered with half-empty or empty glasses and I just don't get it! Why choose to see things in a negative light if there is any possibility of turning it around? My prayers always begin with thanks but sometimes all I can muster is to thank Him that things aren't worse. That's okay though, because just that glimmer of positivity helps me see things in a different light.

A life full of possibilities is so much more meaningful and joyous than a life full of limitations. I hope the next time you're faced with a pile of crap (be it a bad day, lost job, or broken heart) you take a moment, thank Him that things aren't worse and then consider the possibility that the pile of crap dumped at your feet might be just the fertilizer you need to make your life richer!

I challenge you to see everything through rose-colored glasses today! What have you got to lose?

Peace,
Chris