Ever eager to combine work and fun, beauty and usefulness, this week the cowgirls got started on another barbed-wire ball. Not many people know this, but Ekone Ranch is actually home to the biggest barbed-wire ball in the county...granted, it may well be the only barbed wire ball in the county...

Every barbed-wire ball begins the same way... by taking down some of the ancient wire that is no longer necessary, thus creating more open space and decreasing the risk that horses or wild animals will get tangled in it.

Then we begin to roll up the old barbed wire into a ball, steadily adding to it as more and more fence comes down. Hopefully the fence is at the top of the hill, so you can roll your barbed-wire ball down instead of the other way around!

In addition to being a very important activity, taking down barbed wire also allows us to spend some time thinking about taking down fences in a figurative as well as literal way. Before getting started on the ball, we each wrote down one thing we would like to change in the world, and then placed these intentions in the very center of the ball. Some of these included creating more opportunities for the homeless, making more places like Ekone, decreasing carbon emissions, ending animal abuse, and "getting rid of acne and cancer."

What a thoughtful crew!

And, of course, we always enjoy the chance to show off our Ekone muscles!