I just had to show y'all a picture of this incredible dog. Notice anything different about her? Or does she appear to be just a normal, healthy lab? She looks pretty happy to me. Amazingly, this cute girl was run over by a truck the day before. She even has the tire marks over her back to prove it! The truck hit her and sped off. She got up and walked away! You know, sometimes it's animals that are my heroes.

Goodness, where has the time gone? I apologize to all my dedicated readers for slipping. Here is a picture of Matthew with our new(ish) chicken, Saphira. Our neighbors gave her to us when they realized she was a bit too difficult to care for. They lose that baby chick cuteness fast. Anyway, she is as tame as a parrot and will sit on your shoulder anytime. Watch out though, she likes to peck at things and she's pecked at my tooth a couple of times.
Unbelievably, all our chickens our safe even though a racoon lives somewhere nearby. I can hear him at night, his eerie chatter wakes me at about three in the morning. I send our dog out for a quick sniff which seems to deter him. One night the racoon caught our chicken Tina, who preferred roosting outside of the coop at night. I yelled out the window, "Stop that, stop!" (as if he understood me) and ran outside. He had let go of her and she just lay on the ground, a still heap of feathers. I thought for sure she was a goner, but then we noticed that she was still breathing! Almost half of her feathers had been pulled off and I wasn't sure whether she would make it through the night. I put her in our shed in a little box and anxiously awaited morning. By morning she was out of her box and wandering around the shed. She had even laid an egg! When she saw that I had opened the door to the shed for her, she ran out and miraculously wasn't the worse for wear. You can bet she roosts in the coop every night now!
Oh, and as a little side note, our neighbor got some chickens this spring. And guess what? One is a rooster!! Now I'll hear the wonderful crowing of a rooster every day and not feel guilty. Now, as he's still trying out his teenager voice, he sounds pretty bad. Good thing he doesn't have to endure acne as well.

My New Babies

One of our chickens just hatched four cute, fluffy baby chicks. It is nothing short of a miracle. I am always amazed at birth. I remember when I was training to be a midwife I would marvel at the miracle of birth, this tiny newborn human wiggling in my hands as it takes its first breath. It is a sacred moment and I was always humbled. Seeing these newborn chicks I feel the same way. I'm used to going to the feed store and stuffing six or eight chicks in a box, hearing their peeps as I drive home. But I didn't marvel. The feed store baby chicks were hatched in an incubator, removed from any maternal nurturing. These new chicks were patiently cared for by their mother who forgo food and water and her favorite dust bath to sit on the eggs. She sat on them for endless weeks and I often wondered if they would ever hatch. We wondered how long a chicken would lay on eggs before she realized they would never hatch, if they had not been fertilized or if somehow all the embryos had died. Then suddenly, there she was with her little fluffy brood behind her one morning last week, proudly strutting around the backyard. Because I am maternal by nature, I couldn't help becoming their second mother and cooing over them and worrying about them. Where should I keep them so they will be safe? What if a hawk flies down and snatches one up? What will the other hens do to these babies? What will they eat? I was so used to taking over all mothering duties that I didn't trust the one mother who instinctively knows what's best - their chicken mother. She is a wonderful mother. She hides them under her at the least provocation and fluffs out and hisses if you get to close. At night they are safely tucked away in a hole she has made. During the day they follow her around the pasture, watching her and learning how to be chickens. It's so cute to see these little chicken miniatures following her lead and scratching and pecking at this and that on the ground.
Since we needed to give away our rooster, I'm hoping that we have at least one rooster from the four. Then, if a neighbor is bothered by the rooster and asks us if we have a rooster we can innocently say, "No, we gave our rooster away and we haven't bought any new ones this year." And then, to shift blame I'll say (trying not to smile) "You know, my neighbor next door has chickens, maybe it's one of hers..."

New Endangered Species: The Rooster

I just found out that a neighbor of mine isn't happy with our rooster. Never mind that he didn't come to me and tell me and that I had to learn this "through the grape vine." He was probably just being polite. He claims that our rooster wakes him up at 5 in the morning with his crowing. I have to admit, Felix does start crowing at 5 in the morning and doesn't really stop until evening. There's a few breaks here and there and frankly, I love to hear him crowing. But unfortunately, most people do not. Which is why the rooster is soon to become an endangered species. After all, you don't need a rooster to get eggs, just chicks.
For me perhaps the crowing of a rooster is wrapped up in nostalgia. The farms I have known all had roosters. Or perhaps for me it is an inherited memory of a time long ago when my ancestors raised chickens. Our Swiss side (my ancestory is sort of octagonal so this side is 1/8) were chicken people. I know that because their last name was Hunerwadel and their family crest was a rooster on a crescent moon. "Huner" or "huhner" is the possessive form of chicken as in "chicken's"...... I can't find a translation for "wadel" although "wade" means a "calf" so perhaps "Hunderwadel" means "chicken leg." Kind of loses it's beauty in the translation, doesn't it?
I come by this chicken thing honestly. But honestly, why are there so many people that are bothered by a rooster crowing? Is it because it's so early? Is my neighbor really awoken by the rooster, or does he wake up as we quite naturally do toward morning and then hear it? What am I to do with my poor rooster that no one wants? Can you surgically remove a rooster's voice box? What is it in his programming that tells him it's morning even when it is not yet light out? Is there some way to fool him into thinking it's still the dead of night? Most of you probably won't have answers. Just sympathy and that is enough for me.

Food Prices Soaring in Utah

The picture to the left is in Tuscany. We were staying in a bed and breakfast called Astieto not too far from Florence. Across from the 40 acre B&B was a farm. In fact, there are all sort of beautiful farms dotting the countryside. One farm I really wanted to visit but didn't have enough time was a sheep farm where they produce sheep cheese called pecorino. One day we noticed horses running around their paddock, whinnying nervously. I looked up to see a wild pig running about. He was squealing, desperately trying to find his way out and the horses kept snorting and chasing him. I loved Tuscany so much. I loved seeing the old stone farmhouses with red tile roofs. The countryside was breathtaking. I long to have a farm in a place like this.

I read in the paper a few days ago that food prices in Utah are soaring. This isn't unlike other states I'm sure. You know what the big irony of this is?? Every day huge developers are bulldozing away good farmland. Farmland that could support and sustain our communities here in Salt Lake and Davis Counties. Farmers could barely make a living off of the land, developers are making millions. Where are our priorities? Not only is our valuable land being made into McMansions and pavement, but we are creating a rising population of people who demand the resources we are losing. It doesn't make sense! More developments mean more needs; more water being used to water huge lawns, more energy being used to heat and cool the huge homes, more people using more cars and more gas to get from here to there. Utahns need to be more responsible for their land. We need to value agriculture and farmland. No farmers no food. Period. If we insist on buying locally instead of buying food at the store that was shipped an average of 1,500 miles we won't have the problem of rising costs. Each community needs to learn how to sustain itself. CSA's are a great way to go. (This stands for Community Supported Agriculture.) CSA's are a partnership made between community members and a particular local farm. (In our case, East Farms.) In this arrangement, members buy "shares" which entail a weekly allowance of produce and sometimes milk or meat. There are certain times that members can even go and help out on the farm. This is a type of farm that I'm interested in someday having. In this way we support the family farm and help them with costs. Another way to buy locally is to support farmer's markets in the summer time. We have a few in our area. What's wonderful about this is that you are buying fresh, ripe produce grown in your own area, supporting small farmers and garden hobbyists. Co-ops are another great way to go. I belong to a milk co-op. Our members take turns going down to the farm to pick up wonderfully delicious raw milk from grass-fed cows. Also, we have the chance to buy grass-fed beef at a good, affordable price. And of course, another great way to sustain a community agriculturally is to encourage people to have their own gardens. (Another terrible thing about "developments" is that it is all house and no land. Land is sooooo important! In "Far and Away" as Joseph's "Da" is dying, he looks at his son and says something like, "Land Joseph, it's a man's very heart and soul." It's a woman's very heart and soul too. At least mine.

Matthew's 9th birthday was on Friday and for his party he wanted to have the theme of "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." We had a blast! The image you see is his cake, it's supposed to be a compost pile like the one we have in the garden. I used five round chocolate cakes, layering them with frosting, shredded coconut dyed yellow for straw and green for grass, chinese chow mein noodles for dried out plants, fruit chews, "malt ball" robin's eggs, and of course a gummy worm here and there. I wrapped chicken wire around it to make the compost heap more complete.
In addition, we had some fun activities that related to the theme. Each child was instructed to bring a plastic bag, a tin can, and an empty plastic milk jug. The first thing we did was go out and pick up litter. (You'd be surprised at how much litter there was in a square block!) Each child filled up their plastic bag they had brought with litter - each bag was very full! We then separated each bag into what can be recycled and what has to be thrown away.
Next, we talked about compost piles. I had each child take out their tin can (now with a hole at the bottom) and we filled them with nice soil from my old compost pile. (The chickens had nicely aerated it for me.) We talked about what you can put in a compost pile. We then planted a pansy in each can.
After eating the compost pile cake (I kept teasing them that I couldn't believe they would want to eat dirt!!) using disposable forks made from potato, we played a game of toss, using the plastic milk jugs. I had cut the bottom off of each one, leaving the top with the handle. They could then play catch with a "recycled" aluminum ball. While one group was playing outside, I had another group inside reusing scrap paper to make new paper!
The door prizes were the most popular. The first door prize was a recycled, reusable bag from Target using old plastic Target bags. The second was a set of colored pencils made from a certified forest where they replant trees. (If you ever wondered how a pencil was made, check out their website at www.forestchoice.com- it's quite interesting.)
I think the children had a good time and learned some important things about caring for the earth as well. :)

Border collies are good for more than just herding sheep too. They also herd chickens. Or if you need to stay on task--just have a border collie stare at you. Those intense eyes say 'get it done or else buster'.