Lessons

Thursday, April 15, 2021 (12 days until April’s full “Pink Moon”)

I’m about to go outside and feed the large animals and my last remaining chicken, Welsummer. Today’s header photo from several years ago shows an earlier flock hen and not Welsummer. It’s a pleasing capture.

Welsummer is on my mind because she seems amazing. She’s just turning eleven years old, looks thrifty and is energetic. Still occasionally she lays an egg. Mornings, I prepare chopped salad for Welsummer and my Cockatoo Peaches. They get mixed greens, and kale aplenty, with peas, beans, and shredded carrots.

You never know what’s on Peaches’ mind. His foot reaches into the bowl and he tosses pieces least interesting onto his cage floor. I don’t worry because the cage floor becomes a storehouse for his eats through the day.

But I’m outside and carrying a food bucket. Welsummer races to greet me unable to contain her excitement over the food container. She leaps and pecks at it, follows me to a feeding spot, and begins eating the instant salad bits hit the ground.

From yesterday, here’s Welsummer diving in.

My African Dwarf twins who share space with Welsummer are interested in what she’s eating. For some reason, probably because they’re untrained, aren’t into veggies. I’ll start working and teach them.

Some years ago my neighbor, Frank, allowed these goats onto his pasture. To my surprise, the animals didn’t seem to know what to do. They didn’t nibble grass, just followed me around with their heads up. I recognized that pasture grazing was new and they needed an introduction to it. Well, now I will work on introducing the goats to salads.

Dear Friends: After years and now down to my final hen and last goats, I’m still learning from them. Diana