Stories featuring strawberry patches and free roaming hens don’t often have a happy ending. Chickens love ripe strawberries. They will leave unripe ones alone. They can be incredibly efficient, wiping out a patch in minutes, They can be persistent, dropping by the patch a few times a day, even on the way back to the barn at night. After losing a few of the early berries we finally covered the plants with row cover. There aren’t many blossoms left, and most of the fruit has set. Evil birds.
Strange. When you google “strawberries” and “chicken” you get lots of recipes.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: chickens, row cover, strawberries
We really aren’t livestock people. The farm is all about the lettuce, heirloom tomatoes and other veggies. The fruit trees and berry plants take up whatever time is leftover.
We do have is three little hens. They don’t have names. Only one is presently laying. The economics of eggs to feed is probably a toss up. But in the summer when they are free they really don’t eat much commercial feed. We aren’t selling the eggs anyways and they produce just the right amount of eggs for us. It is also amazing how much manure 3 little hens can produce.
Why do we keep them? It is hard to explain, but it is now impossible to imagine life WITHOUT chickens. Their presence, roaming the grounds, taking a run at the crows, making cooing noises as they roost at night and lining up on our porch (and the neighbour’s) to demand bread are as much a part of the farm as the gardens and orchard. It is hard to explain this idea to people who haven’t kept chickens.
I came across this article on Energy Bulletin and is summed up my thoughts perfectly:
Oil, Food & Agrotherapy http://www.energybulletin.net/44334.html
“…Chicken Wisdom and Agrotherapy
This year I returned to teaching psychology, part-time, at Sonoma State University. I sometimes take chickens as Teaching Assistants (TAs). For example, I took two sweet silkies on Valentine’s Day; they modeled being love birds as they cooed and cuddled, one even feeling safe enough to lay an egg.
Chickens can teach many things, such as surrender to what is, joy at the dawn, transformation of throwaways into jewels, and love of the Earth within which chickens take their dust baths to help them get rid of parasites. Chickens offer incredible eggs, humor, joy, and beauty. That other two-legged can teach chicken wisdom, that of a prey, to humans, who are predators. It includes, but is not limited to, the following: delight in simple things (like worms), keep dancing, recycle, snuggle into the earth, slow down, combine vulnerability and hardiness…”
-J-
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: chickens, why?
Stories featuring strawberry patches and free roaming hens don’t often have a happy ending. Chickens love ripe strawberries. They will leave unripe ones alone. They can be incredibly efficient, wiping out a patch in minutes, They can be persistent, dropping by the patch a few times a day, even on the way back to the barn at night. After losing a few of the early berries we finally covered the plants with row cover. There aren’t many blossoms left, and most of the fruit has set. Evil birds.
