Daily chores

Here's my day at the acre:
1. let chickens out of coop
2. coax tammy out of the coop with treats and some swear words
3. hand feed chickens raspberries
4. worry about the carrots
5. mound dirt over the potato patch
6. water the trying-to-be-vegetables
7. yell at birds in the cherry tree
8. eat all the snap peas
9. let the chickens back into the coop
10. shoo Jacky out of the beds
11. let the chickens out again
12.  think about weeding
13. feel bad about the gai lan
14. eat the rest of the ripe raspberries
15. let the chickens back into the coop (for the last time, damn it!)

Unusual Livestock

Can you see my hens all in a row? Loretta is on the last rung down, almost invisible. And Tammy is on the cold hard ground because she is the outsider (sad face). They like to sit on that ladder and talk shop.
Also please admire Jacky's obscene attractiveness and Tammy's under-appreciated gorgeous feathers.

Ladies Who Lunch

These bitches spent their morning protecting the yard from little sparrows who wanted to collect a bit of dog fur for their nests! Every time one of the tiny birds would land in the yard, Patsy Cline would dive bomb them. She knows we are tying to hold onto every bit of dog fur that we have around here. Thank god for these chickens.

PS Tammy was sitting on a post in the coop and didn't notice everyone else had gone out for breakfast, so she stayed in today.

:56 Seconds of Pure Passion And For What???

This is my first chicken film, and has all those horrible hand-held sounds that I despise so much in home videos. But anyway, the real story here is what happened after this was filmed. I became so excited about this rare and beautiful footage that I gave not a thought to my worldly responsibilities and focused only on my art. I went back into the house and forgot all about the farm and all of it's little boarders. Kevin came home from work, and we went outside to admire our feathered daughters. We were gazing at Loretta when all of the sudden a tiny bird shot right out from under a fern behind her.
"A quail" Kevin observed.
He was correct. In the heat of cinematography, I had forgotten all about the quail and left the coop door open! En Vogue escaped! They were peeping around, sticking close by the chickens. They were pecking at the earth, seeing the blue sky for the first time in what felt like decades, and letting the breeze stir their feathers. They did not fly for the nearest eagle claw or into the highest branch as I would have imagined they would. Instead, they stuck around like diva's at a music video shoot. Kevin thought we could just heard them into the coop like we usually do with the chickens, but in my mind I was already on the phone with Topher, apologizing for essentially ushering his favorite band to their death beds. However, I stayed calm, followed Kevin's lead, and together we walked them right into the coop!
Clearly, they love it there. It is their home, they feel safe there, and they want to stay. But I wish we could let them out more often now that I have seen them in the wild. Never have they looked as noble and free, never before have their little plume's stood so tall. The risk is too great, even though I know the rewards are big.

PS. No, don't worry about it chickens, we didn't like that cardoon anyway.

Love is on the Farm

I'm in love with Tammy but Tammy's in love with Jacky and Jacky's in love with chicken food. Lot's of cracked corn induced tummy aches for that dog lately. 

I think that Tammy is cuddly only because she can't see me coming, so I can catch her and force her into my loving arms. The other chickens run like hell when they see me approaching. Unless, of course, I am shaking a tin cup full of chicken treats. Then they gather around like the chickens do in Cinderella when she is not a princess yet and talks to mice all day (anyone? anyone?). All I want to do is rub under their chicken wings and dress them in pinafores! 

Please admire our coop art made by nationally acclaimed artist Lynne Robertson. We are one lucky acre.