A Day on the Farm

Category: Farm Doings | Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 4:08 pm

One thing is for sureâ€”you never have to worry about how you are going to fill your day!
Sometime between 6:45 and 7:00 a.m., the cat decides our (her) day needs to get started, and she kneads, purrs, and licks until my husband gets up. I follow and get dressed, make the bed, and go out to see to the chickens. Nothing like having fur and feathers start your day!
The girls are usually waiting for me, expecting their first treat of the day. I throw a handful of oyster crackers into the coop. Ever tried to get into a coop with 17 enthusiastic hens? The crackers get them away from the door so I don't step on anyone. Hens eat a lot, with the resulting addition to the compost pile. After cleaning the coop and adding to the compost pile, I fill their two watering stations if needed, fill the feeder, and tell the ladies to get with it and lay eggs!
By this time my husband has fed the cat, turned on the coffee, and filled the wild bird feeders. You will notice that much of our early morning involves feathered critters. When I get in we sit at the dining room table with our coffee and watch the birds at the feeder, and at the pond. Lately we have been having seven or eight ducks (Northern Shovelers, Grebes, and Mergansers) daily. Of course, the Great Blue Heron is out posing on the bank. Our bird watching and coffee sipping is a nice breather before the day really gets started.
There are several alternatives available to fill the morningâ€”shoveling sand into the old coop; pulling the spent annual herbs in the herb garden and digging it over; tossing compost; sifting compost; washing the truck (I feel dirty trucks are happy trucks but my husband likes clean vehicles for some unfathomable reason); or, shudder, cleaning house. I'll usually opt for an outside job, which explains the state of the inside of the house.
Lunch is usually a quiche, or an omelet, or a frittataâ€”all egg-based dishes. There are always left-overs or veggies in the freezer for quiche-omelet-frittata fillings. Fortunately, there is no shortage of eggs . . . .
Afternoon is a choice of one of the tasks I didn't do in the morning. I try to pick something that can be interrupted, because often there is a neighbor who stops by with cookies, or empty egg cartons, or just a bit of news. I try to send them home with a dozen eggs or more. Sometimes I have my husband distract them while I sneak out and put the eggs in their vehicle. My sneakiness has increased exponentially with the number of hens we have.
By 4 p.m. I am in need of a shower. After getting the major amount of dirt off (sometimes I resemble our truck) I do the prep for dinner. The local 5 o'clock news is always good for a laugh. I'm sure there are high-fives in the newsroom on the rare occasions they get a story right. Then dinner with a nice wine, and reading or listening to music or, on Sundays, watching Downton Abbey. To bed by 10 p.m., and falling asleep planning the next day, which will start with a purr and a lick. There are worse ways to wake up!

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Frank wrote on Mon Jan 13, 2014 4:18 pm:

How cool to live a day with you MG! I've entered a coop with 9 enthusiastic hens and a protective rooster. The ole diversion tactic to get them away from your feet works wonders. Won't they ever learn?