So much happens in one day, it’s hard to keep track. Pepper has moved to laying her eggs in a nest in the chicken yard instead of in the nests near the garden.

The eggplants are coming along. In a week or two, I should have some ready for Bow Little Market. Ena 枝那 is exhausted watching me weeding.

The Roma tomatoes are turning red. Hopefully, enough will be red to have some for Thursday, the 21st’s Bow Little Market. And why is Sven resting in a nest in the middle of the afternoon?

Now both of the dogs are exhausted from watching me weed. I should be more tired than them. Some days I think I would rather be a dog, as long as I had an owner like me.

Old Billy enjoys a quiet moment with one of the older hens, Daisy. While Miasa-Hime 美朝姫 has taken to laying eggs in the nests near the garden where Pepper used to lay eggs.

And King Richard and his hens are going through what is left of the last compost pile. Just a few of thing things that happened today. I don’t have pictures of the bald eagle which flew low overhead and flew off when I yelled at it, nor pictures of the great blue heron who flew in to go fishing at the pond. There is never a boring moment here.

Raise chickens and from time to time they surprise you. Today I discovered that one of the chickens had deposited a dropping perfectly on a fallen leave. Did she do this intentionally? What are the chances of a chicken dropping landing perfectly in the middle of a leaf? If she did it intentionally, what is the message? Was it just for art’s sake, or to make it easier to clean up?

If you don’t like pausing to think, seeing wondrous things, or being surprised, don’t raise chickens.

Peace, it’s all we want.

What could possibly be as busy as a bee? Two dogs helping me weed a bed to plant potatoes, that’s who.

Takuma 拓真 and Ena 枝那 spent hours yesterday, and much of the morning today helping me prep a potato bed. What are they looking for? Gophers? Moles? I’m not sure. I did hear an occasional crunch when they found something worth eating. They don’t show any interest in the countless earthworms, but they are finding something to eat down there. Whatever it is, they aren’t sharing it with me.

Svenda has better things to do than help me plant potatoes. She’s looking for that special herb, that striking bug, to give her eggs a flavor all their own. With late spring’s verdant foliage, there is no shortage of good things to eat.

They are diggers. We found that out yesterday and today. Moles and gophers be forewarned, Takuma and Ena are here.

In the woods and in the garden, Takuma and Ena dug deep, trying to find whatever it is that they are smelling. All that digging is so tiring.