a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

Six Short Weeks

Written by

theMan

in

ducklings at tank six short weeks after hatching

Six short weeks is all it takes for a duck to grow. It’s hard to believe that the “ducklings” at the edge of the tank were but little puffs paddling with their mother in mid August. I miss their whistles and chirps. They have full throated quacks now.

Until I had ducks, I had no idea how loud ducks can be. They aren’t as loud as parrots, but not far behind.

ducklings in august - in six short weeks they will be almost grown
ducklings with mother

In late September, the ducklings are nearly as large as their mother. Ducklings are so cute, but if you want to enjoy them, you have to stop what you are doing. Otherwise by the time you pause to enjoy them, they will be grown.

So if you plan on raising ducks, scratch out plenty of free days during the first few weeks after they hatch. You’ll only have a short time to enjoy the wee things. They grow so fast you can practically see them growing with your bare eyes.

mint blossoms

Mint is one of the last flowers to keep blooming well into fall. Their delicate flowers fed many a bee through the summer months.

The apples are ripe. There is a special juiciness to apples still on the tree. Pluck one and eat it right away. That special fresh-off-the-tree taste goes quickly.

ripe apples on the tree
young rooster in the feed

I was filling the feed bins today. While I went to fetch another sack of scratch, one of the Bielevelder roosters decided to go for the mother lode. Why bother with a feeder when you can have the whole bin to yourself?

Comments

7 responses to “Six Short Weeks”

  1. veronica

    this is lovely, time really flies. things change so fast – i just watched my caterpillars turn into chrysalis, now i wish i could see them wiggling around again.

    This blog brings me and many others a log of joy, what you do is amazing!

  2. amanandhishoe

    Thank you.

  3. AbbyLark

    This blog is amazing, I love it. I wish I could live my life as mindfully as you live yours. 🙂

  4. Mads Norman

    I don’t recall what post it’s on, as I found the quote somewhere else that brought me to you, but I wanted to let you know how important this blog immediately is to me and how much the words “A mother hen’s devotion to her chicks is evidence that given sufficient billions of years, star dust will turn to kindness” mean to me. My mother is so much like you, and taught me young about the joy of the little things- how funny and angry chickens can be, how beautiful spring flowers are against grey skies. To look around and find the world waiting to unfurl before you.

    Things are so hard right now for everyone but reading this blog has reminded me of how beautiful life is. As a fellow LGBTQA person it means even more to find happiness in the community. I hope your ducks are extra fat and happy today, and the apples extra lustrous.

  5. amanandhishoe

    That post is All the Good There Is. Thank you for your kind words.

  6. eden

    What kind of apples do you grow? I love your blog!

  7. amanandhishoe

    I’m not sure what kind of apples we have. There was an apple tree here when we moved, a red crisp, small apple. Though this year I culled the little apples, leaving just one in five, and they are a good size apple this year. We purchased several more trees, one with five varieties grafted to it. There were labels on each branch of that tree telling what variety of apple it was, but after a summer in the sun, the labels bleached. So I have mystery apples. Some are red, tart apples. There is a golden variety, and a green one. I’m glad you enjoy the site.

Leave a Reply

More posts