As chickens get older they lay fewer eggs. That’s why about a month ago, I blogged about the new chicks we were raising. However, recently a couple of our older hens have laid some tiny eggs.
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It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
I love a white Christmas, but this is April. Yesterday I awoke to a cold, dark, house. The power had failed, and several inches of snow covered the ground. My wife had a fire roaring in the woodstove by the time I stumbled from the bedroom. After a cup of hot chocolate, heated on the woodstove, I stepped onto the back porch and measured the snow at almost six inches deep.
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And chickens at the back.
During the winter the deer come by our house almost daily. Sometimes when snow-covered every bit of pasture, there would be five or six deer waiting near our door in the morning. My wife would talk to them like friends as she tossed out apples for them to eat.
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My wife is not a fan of roosters.
They can be aggressive with people, and they have sharp talons. Also, they crow, often in the middle of the night. Years ago we had a rooster that I named Colonel. He was never aggressive with me, and I easily slept through his predawn crowing. My wife never liked him. I still think she had him killed.
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This morning I woke to the croak and ribbit of hundreds of frogs. We have a small pond near the back of our house. On one side of the pond, the grass is high and the ground is marshy, perfect for these amphibians.
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On the last day of February, the temperature rose to about 54 degrees. That meant I could open the one active hive I had and perform a quick inspection of the bee colony. I knew this colony had survived, but I didn’t know how healthy they were. Dead bees littered the main entrance of the hive.
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When you live on a farm, work changes with the seasons.
Winter is a time of rest, for the soil, animals, and people, but not for bees. They collect together and vibrate to keep the queen and brood warm, but all too often, they don’t survive the cold and damp of winter. Despite my efforts in the fall, my two colonies didn’t endure the harsh short days of winter.
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Every year we lose a few hens to illness, hawks, or raccoons and need replacements. In years past we had a rooster named Colonel and he took care of that for me. I slept right through Colonel’s predawn crowing, but it drove my wife to distraction. One day she told me that the rooster had disappeared. Yeah, sure, Colonel just decided to move. I think she had him killed.
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The deer spend less time in our backyard now.
Sometimes during the winter, when snow covered every bit of pasture, there would be five or six deer waiting near our backdoor in the morning. My wife would talk to them like friends as she tossed out apples for them to eat. That happens less often during the summer, but they still know that this is a safe and welcome place to come. They often spend the night in the forest just beyond our yard.
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My bees have survived winter – at least so far.
A few days ago the temperature rose into the low fifties. Between rain showers, I hurried out to inspect both of my hives. I didn’t have to open them to know the most important news, as of that day in late January both colonies had survived the winter.
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The days are getting longer now, but it seems to me that this is the coldest time of the year in the northwest. While it doesn’t always snow in western Washington State it has this year and that brings more wildlife to the house and barnyard area.
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I confirmed my position on the farm pecking order one morning a couple of years ago.
For my city readers, pecking order refers to birds, often chickens. They establish their rank in the flock by pecking on another bird, lower in the social order without fear of retaliation. The pecking order rank establishes who is boss and who gets what food and when.
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What is it about an eclipse that brings out the child in us?
I know it was a rare event, the last one like it occurred in 1918, but several of my friends traveled hundreds of miles and camped out in farm fields just to experience the eclipse totality.
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I put on a new chain on the saw, filled the gas and oil tanks, and went to tackle a large pile of logs and limbs in the backyard. My tendency to procrastinate had allowed the pile to grow all summer, but my son James had offered to help and this needed to be done.
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I decided to build a patio on a shady knoll beside my home. However, due to my writing schedule and other commitments, it took a couple of months to gather all the materials and find the time to construct it. Finally, on the evening of July 2nd, I had everything I needed.
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There is a saying that people in the northwest don’t tan—they rust.
The coastal region of Washington is well known for ample precipitation. However, most of the rain falls in late autumn and winter. By the time the crops, garden, and orchard are really growing in the late spring and summer the rains have faded to a trickle. That means we irrigate and water.
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