This Barred Rock mother is watching over her chicks as she takes them along a garden path. They are 25 days old and are confident enough to venture a ways on their own. But, she is always watching out for them. With eyes on the sides of her head, she can see nearly all around her without moving her head. So she can see what chicks to the right, chicks to the left, and chicks behind her are doing.
Out of the Garden Today – June 10, 2014
So what should I make for supper tonight? It’s an answer we all answer day after day. For some it’s going to a restaurant. For others, it’s take out. For others, it’s what is in the fridge or in the cupboard. For others it’s what they picked up in the grocery on the way home from work. For me the answer is in the garden.
Tonight I found raspberries, Chrysanthemum greens, garlic scapes, shallot greens, arugula, choy, sage and rosemary. Everything but the rosemary is going into a stir fry. The rosemary is going into rosemary crackers.
After “grocery shopping” out of the garden and making meals with just-picked produce for years, I’m spoiled. It’s nearly impossible to find food so fresh when we eat out. Very few places have gardens full of produce, which the chefs can go into and gather the produce they need to make your meal.
After a Morning Shower
The Stewartia 夏椿 is opening its flowers this dewy morning. This is a tree that is beautiful year round. In the fall, the leaves are a dazzling red. In the winter, the silvery bark stands out.
The Styrax (Snowbell) エゴノキ is also opening up its fragrant flowers.
And the Iris are always spectacular, especially covered with drops of rain. It’s a great morning to do chores like scooping duckweed out of the pond for the chickens, planting beans and corn, weeding, and just being outdoors.
Eggs Are Art
I see eggs like this every day. Still, I have to stop and take pictures of them from time to time.
On the Roost Already
A blurry picture, but when I went to make sure the chickens were OK for the night, I saw that two little chicks, five weeks old, were on the roost. Their mother is still spending the night with two of the chicks. You can see her head peeking out to make sure the two chicks roosting above her are safe.
So what’s the big deal? As a rule, it’s the mothers who leave their chicks and go back to roosting with the rest of the flock. When she does this, sometimes the chicks follow her up to the roost. More often, the chicks huddle together where they used to sleep with their mother.
This is the first time that I’ve seen chicks take to roosting before their mother is done caring for her chicks. I’ve observed over the years that cach chicken family is unique. They tend to follow a general pattern, but within that pattern there is great variability. Each mother hen has her unique way of raising chicks. Some are strict. Some are lenient. Some spend a month. Others take two months or more to raise their chicks. Each chick has its own personality. Some are shy. Some are curious. Some are outgoing. As a result, there is an infinite variety of chicken families.
Each year, each month, each week, each day there are surprises in store. You just have to be open to experiencing them.
Upcoming Berry Season
Berry season is fast approaching. Salmon berries are starting to turn golden. Thimble berries are taking shape and will be turning red in a few weeks. Raspberries are just about ready to be picked. Berries make the long, wet winter worth enduring.
Chickens Travel …
The mother hen with the eight chicks, who are now forty-one days old, is walking them through lawn and brush some 250 to 300 feet from the little barn they roost in at night.
How far does she take them each day? Thinking about all the different places I see her and her chicks in the course of a day, one of the grand circuits she makes can run from a quarter to a third of a mile. It wouldn’t surprise me if she took her chicks up to a mile in a single day. For a animal that weighs one thirtieth what a human weighs, that is a long distance to travel every day.
Along the way they encounter all sorts of plants and bugs and animals. Sometimes they are out in the bright sunshine on grass. Other times they are in thick brush. At times they are in forest. Chickens are rarely still for long times. These are animals with a mission. Set them free to live surrounded by nature, and they will thrive.
40 Days of Love and Care
After forty days, the chicks are too big to all sleep under their mother. In the evening they crowd around her, but not for too much longer. She’s done a great job raising them. Another two to three weeks and they will be on their own. It’s fun looking back to see how they grew up.
It’s Hard to Have a Bad Day When …
A favorite saying of mine is Yunmen’s words, “Every day is a good day 是是良日.” It’s hard to have a bad day when it starts by discovering a nearly-ripe raspberry. More-than-we-can-eat supplies of raspberries are around the corner.
And it’s hard to have a bad day when your bicycle ride back from your post office is as beautiful as mine. The rest of the photos on this page are of places I pedal by on my way home from our post office. For a June day, a sky this blue is something people throw virgins into volcanoes for. Most years, June is a month to be endured under slate-colored, sodden skies. Usually we don’t see this amount of blue until mid July. About now, we are scraping the moss out of our hair and between our toes. Not this year.
The hay fields are ready for cutting. At this rate, the cows will be happy all winter long.
This afternoon, it is the bees who are gorging. I pass this climbing hydrangea nearly every day. It is in full bloom and buzzing with bees. Today I had to stop and enjoy it for a few minutes. May you live in even more beautiful surroundings than I do.
On the Board Today – June 5, 2014
Greens for this evening’s meal include young onions, chrysanthemum greens, lettuce, and arugula. Vegetables are best eaten as soon as they are picked, and yet few live in an environment where that is possible. If you can step outside your door and harvest the produce for your meal, consider yourself infinitely blessed.
