News Flash: Chicken Lays Egg on the Farmlet

July 29, 2010July 29, 20102 Comments

Recently science has discovered that the answer to that age old question, “Which came first? The chicken or the egg?” is…

the Chicken!

Well, of course it did! Just ask any hen and she’ll gladly set the record straight. It is also a fact that chickens will announce that they’ve laid an egg, and of course for the egg to have gotten laid there had to be a chicken doing the laying.

Are you following this?

And so it was on the Farmlet today that in the midst of my housework I heard the heralding of GRAYSON (?) telling the world that my Ameraucana hen had laid an egg. Not the hen, nor her friends in the hen house who would normally join in cackling about her accomplishment… no it was Grayson my roo letting the whole neighborhood in on the blessed event! What’a Roo!

The Little Red Hen is incredulous that Grayson’s upstaged the show.

Meanwhile, all the girls gather round in excitement to watch and wait…

while Grayson paces the chicken run like a new father in the hall at the hospital.

Bertha looks into the nest and can’t believe her eyes… “Oh my, it’s so BIG” she clucks!

Then I look, and there it is… Miss Ameraucana’s first egg!

I’m happy to know that all the girls will soon be laying… because that means that I will be solvent in my chicken endeavors again!

Thoughts on Grannies and lost skills

July 28, 2010July 28, 20102 Comments

When I was little most of my friends had a Granny who lived at home with them. It was great because Granny was always there to fix a boo-boo or tell stories about when she was a little girl. She was also a great cook. She knew how to bake the best bread, cakes and cookies. Why she even knew how to can and preserve, although those skills were in less demand living in the suburbs.

However, there was one skill that Granny knew that was always in demand. She knew how to mend. She could and would take the time to fix a shirt without a button, or put a patch on the knees of trousers that were ‘still serviceable.’ She washed and repaired, lowered and raised hemlines, and when it wasn’t ‘serviceable’ anymore she’d cut it up and use it for quilting or dusting. She never wasted anything and that included socks.

Now mending socks, well that was an art because you had to take very tiny stitches, placed very close together, in order for the mend to be smooth enough to wear comfortably. The tools for the job were a needle and thread, small scissors, and of course a burned out light bulb. The light bulb was pure genius because it was dropped down into the sock where it provided a curved and hard surface to deflect the needle, and thereby saved your fingers being stabbed. The bulb’s curved surface also allowed the new seam to follow the natural tube shape of the sock.

Yup, Grannies were indispensable! Or so I thought when I was young. Time has passed and few people know the luxury of having a knowledgeable and talented Granny living at home with them. Yet, after all this time I remember those borrowed moments with my playmates and their loving Grannies.

So today I sit here by the light of my dinning room window mending a sock. I look out the window and realize how much I learned from those borrowed moments… and I smile. Biting the thread to loosen it from the sock I feel some measure of pride at making it once again ‘serviceable.’

The Very Naughty Dog: or the re-education of Tucker

July 27, 2010July 27, 2010Leave a comment

Tucker was peacefully taking a nap when he suddenly jumped up and began to bark at the window. I, in another room, looked out the nearest window and see nothing as usual.

So I call out, “Quiet Tucker!”

Tucker’s response? “BARK, Bark, bark….”

So I repeated my request and he slowed down but didn’t stop. I called out, “Tucker come!” and still no response. So I called out my ultimate threat guaranteed to make little dogs quake in shame and come running, “TUCKER, DON’T MAKE ME COME GET YOU, GET IN HERE NOW!”

Tucker’s response? “BARK, Bark, bark….”

Now I’m irritated. I stop what I’m doing, walk down the hall into the living room and without even giving him a chance to catch on, I scoop him up in a sky-hook maneuver and move him to the bedroom with me… I set him down and command. “DON’T MOVE – STAY!”

So there he sat. Right where I put him, which was half on and half off the doggie bed… and he wasn’t moving, or barking, or twitching a whisker… Gasping with the effort not to break out laughing and confuse the issue I told him to “STAaaay” and walked to the other side of the house to retrieve my camera.

And here he is. My very naughty dog who is practicing his very sad doggie look on me and trying to make me feel guilty.

OK, it worked.

I tell him, “OK, you’re a good boy!” And now all is forgiven.

Mid July on the Farmlet

July 20, 2010July 20, 20102 Comments

Standing at the dining room window I look out to see that all of my chickens (and the geese too) have decided to take advantage of the neighbors property. It’s OK, the neighbors don’t mind. In fact, they even encouraged us when we replaced the fence to put in a gate for the critters access and enjoyment. And enjoy it they do! Just try to keep them out!

I grab my camera and venture outside into the heat of the moist 93 degree weather.

By the time I get to the back fence the chickens have moved to the far side of the acre to forage under the oaks. I could watch them all day if I didn’t have other things to do, but I give myself a break and watch for a while.

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While I’m out I decide that the Keets and the Baby Roos are ready for the big turning out party. With trepidation I open the gate of their little nursery and let them go… and OH-BOY, can those keets FLY! They’re only the size of doves at the moment and one has landed on the roof of the house! Now what? Well, apparently it scared her too, so she came back down and started foraging the morning glories with the rest of the gang!

Maybe they’ll find all the little ‘invisibles’ that have been chewing the leaves to Swiss cheese.

I hear the geese honking behind me and turn to see that they have become bored with the field scene and are heading to the gate to come back into the poultry yard. They are honking at me the whole way…

MOM, hot-hot-hot, MOM! They seem to say.

I yell back, “OK, I can take a hint! ” And grabbing the hose I fill their pool for them.

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OK, here’s just a bit more from yesterday…

I cleaned out the corn field because it was done. It was a little disappointing again this year, yet better than last because what little there was, was delicious! That’s when I discovered all the Butternuts that were hiding underneath! A whole twenty pounds of them! Now what will you do with that much butternut and more on the way. I ask you? No really, I want your suggestions please!

I also watered the cukes and potatoes and that’s when I found these!