When we lived near Patmos, we knew there were small, wild animals that lived in the nearby woods. One morning when we awoke, we heard a strange noise outside the house. My Dad went to investigate. He found a fox at the side of the house, which, of course, didn't live too much longer after that. It's not clear how my Dad killed it, but very quickly it was no longer a threat to us or anyone else. Sorry, animal rights' activists, but I guess Dad felt he just couldn't let that one off the hook.

We also knew there were bobcats in the forest. One day when we were on our way out of state (via the back, bottom woods), a small bobcat crossed the highway. That was my first and last time seeing one. I'm not even sure what they're kin too. They may be a large, undomesticated version of a house cat.

I don't think there were deer or bears in that part of the country then, but there are now - along with wolves, coyotes, and foxes and all kinds of rodents and other small, creepy-crawly things.

But panthers were our biggest scare. When we were kids, it was rumored that these ferocious beasts lived in the woods, but no one ever saw them until at night. Why? I don't know, but they were the dreaded "king" of the Arkansas jungle. One bright, sunny, happy day, my Mother announced these blood-chilling words, "Y'all children better stay out of them woods....Bob Palmour and some of his hunting buddies 'jumped' a panther last night." 

Now, keep in mind, we kids, nor anyone else that we knew had ever seen a black panther, but the mere mention of that word made us freeze in our tracks and made our hearts race in our chests. As I look back on it, I'm convinced that wild animals seldom roamed outside of the woods during the day. Then again, we spent a lot of time in the woods, but thankfully, we never saw any wild animals. However, we knew that if we ever met a panther (or any other animal for that matter), that would be the end of us. So, when my Mother mentioned to us about the panther, we kids stayed close to home - at least for a while. I guess it's hard to really scare hard-boiled, country kids.

It's funny how after a "cooling-off" spell, our panther fears dissipated and life went back to normal - until the next scare. Those on-off scares continued until we left that area and moved closer to town. Then, we felt we were out of danger. Perhaps not, but at least, we never heard the word "panther out" again.

Fast forward a decade or so. When I was a young adult living in a large Southern city, I heard someone say, "Those are "Black Panthers." As I stared at the TV, I wasn't sure what was being spoken of, but I soon learned that those "panthers" were young, black men who had formed what they called the "Black Panther Party." I always found that name interesting especially in light of what I knew about panthers - the animals. But as I gazed at those handsome, young guys on the screen, I certainly didn't have the same fear of them that I did of that Arkansas panther - the one that would tear me apart if I ever "crossed" it. Thank God that today, those scary memories are safely stored in the back of my mind.

My plans for self-food reliance will involve animals and gardens. We are not vegetarians- though I do make many dishes that are but we love our healthy meat as well. Each year I want to incorporate new ideas, gardens, by products such as wool and meat. This year will be three large vegetable gardens, a berry/fruit patch, egg chickens, meat chickens in the fall, two to three pigs and honey bees. Every year I plan to add additional animals and/or re-arrangements of gardens.

ANIMALS 

This year the focus will be getting pastures and buildings ready for larger animals while also incorporating some animals that will do well with smaller pasture such as pigs and chickens. I am quite ecstatic for honey bees this spring. Just the research behind bees is amazing. They are truly magnificent little buggers with food, medicinal and cosmetic value! And to think, they basically take care of themselves is astonishing.

I do not plan to winter any animals besides my egg chickens and bees this year.
Next year I plan to have a Jersey cow, a crucial part of my mini farm for milk, butter, buttermilk, yogurt, and cheeses. It will take me this year to plan and research enough for my Jersey to be comfortable at her new property.

Animals I would like to incorporate into Modern Roots Homestead within the next five years are milking cow, sheep (for high-end wool), angora rabbits (for angora wool), meat cow, and lambs for meat. Though small in operation, my focus is on best quality and free range. Therefore, with my space (5 acres), small quantity for each type is best.

GARDENS  

This past fall, we planted three apple trees, several stick pines, lots of flowering trees, a peach tree (please winter be nice), and a plum tree. Those will be ready for picking in, oh- three years. This is when I tell myself "patience is a virtue" over and over and over. This spring we plan to plant many more trees for windbreaks and a pear tree as well as a Bing cherry tree. I live in agricultural planting Zone 4b, so apparently I should be able to get away with some zone 5 plants. Here's hoping.

I have ordered my seeds for spring and am patiently waiting to plant them....still waiting... Spring time this year is going to be very exciting as I have many projects that need to be accomplished in just the gardens alone. I have a fenced garden 25 X 50 but need to make planter boxes for it. I want to have ten planter boxes 4 X 10 feet- 4 feet across so I can easily manuever weeding, planting, etc.
I also need to add a squash, pumpkin, and gourd garden. In addition, the last garden I need to develop is the sweet corn, grapes and berry patch. I will be adding to the raspberry patch, adding a strawberry tier, rowing out sweet corn, and creating a mini vineyard for table grapes.

I also need to have my husband (Kris) help me, ok um...have him build me my garden shed and chicken coop so they are ready for spring chicks and all of my valuable garden crap. I think he wants his garage back.

Speaking of Kristopher - he asked me last night about which projects I have chosen to pursue this year. I believe he now realizes how crazy busy it is going to be. By the time I got done telling him all the things that will need to be completed spring, summer and fall...he was snoring. But I didn't care, it just felt good to talk to someone older than four even if they were sleeping.

Besides vegetable gardens, I am re-designing a couple flower beds and will be filling those up with pretty plants to add some beauty around the property.

Well, today is such a tease- it is 40 degrees here in central Minnesota (which is warm for January) and reminds me of spring. Yet, I know there are colder days ahead so planning and 'arm chair' gardening is holding my appetite for now.

*Find more about the finance and costs at www.modernroots.org.  

Meg working on Modern Roots Homestead. 

Prepare to insert a candy corn joke here:

I caught this story yesterday (thanks to Judith from the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance for putting this out there) and I couldn't help myself. Feeding candy to cows? For one man in Kentucky, that's his solution to providing calories in the face of skyrocketing corn prices. Perhaps because corn is already an unnatural part of a cow's diet, candy can't be much worse? At any rate, here's the original article in full:

Kentucky Feedlot Manager Feeds Candy to Cows

While my initial reaction is just this side of horrified, feeding candy to cows brings up a host of questions in my mind:

- What's the difference between a rancher and someone who operates a feedlot? The article describes the latter by the former's title, is that accurate?

- Is corn expensive only because of drought? Or is it more complicated? What about the effect of land speculation?

- It's said another factor in the price of corn is ethanol production. What regulations are in place that makes this happen? How can they be changed?

- In the price of corn, what is the role of government subsidy programs? What do we want to see in the new Farm Bill regarding these subsidies?

- What is our role as consumers? It's easy to blame someone for feeding candy to their cows, but isn't he merely trying to produce a cheap product? Because we demand cheap meat (and lots of it!) aren't we equally culpable for the means to which that end is achieved?

- Finally, how common is this practice? Although it seems shocking, I'm curious if this occurs in pork production as well?

I'll hop off my little soap box but I'd love to hear others' thoughts. Feeding candy to cows: yay or nay?

My husband took the rest of the July 4^th week off for vacation. We decided to go to the zoo to see the much advertised Penguin
exhibit. I was so disappointed. It was 91 degrees at 10 in the morning, but the Penguin exhibit would be cold, right? It wasn’t. Penguins live on snow and ice, right? Not necessarily.  Admittedly I was expecting something a lot different than what I found.

The exhibit was a small glass window peering into a black box of rock, a small pool of water against the glass to see them swim, and five bored Penguins who appeared to be as confused as I was. I felt so sorry for them. Children were gathered around the window watching, waiting, hoping to see something they have never seen before, but the Penguins did not get the memo saying entertain above all costs.  They looked scared. The hesitation to jump into the water was evident in their approach and retreat from the edge of the rocks. They could see those faces peering at them and they just weren’t sure it was safe. Finally one brave soul ventured out far enough that he either took the plunge or slipped in, but there he was swimming around to the children’s ahs. Then it was over. The magic was complete and the crowd moved on. 

My husband complained about the cost of admission just to watch a swim routine, so we decided to give a once around the park walk. I became more and more depressed with each animal exhibit.

They looked miserable lying in their spaces. The attempt to create a natural environment is a nice thought but is it enough?  They
still looked like convicted prisoners to me. Eagles sitting on perches instead of flying to the top of trees and soaring across vast open fields in search of their prey.  A beautifully manned lion lay alone in a corner instead of stalking in high grass on an African plane.

I guess I’m confused as to why we still have zoos? It’s not like we can’t look them up on the internet and watch video’s in their real natural habitats or tune into National Geographic or Animal Planet to watch. The world is too open and available to necessitate the need for a zoo.  What benefit is there to capturing animals and condemning them to a life of confinement?  We can’t touch them; we rarely catch them doing anything other than sleeping or walking to a new spot to sleep.

I think it’s time for zoos to go the route of the drive-in theater and the scarecrow. We could use the money for research in protecting and helping the endangered species of the world.  

Happenings at home and at work with the animals.

Since we live on a major highway, our yard is fenced to keep the dogs safe. They love swimming in the ponds when it's hot, but that means someone has to take them, and we don't always have time. So, a couple of weeks ago, when the temperature hit 90 degrees, we went to the local hardware store and bought them a baby pool.

They couldn't wait for it to fill. They were in it before we even got the hose in and turned on.

This is our 9-year-old Lab, Maggie. She looks old, with lots of gray hair, but she doesn't act any older than our 2-year-old, Boone. Her favorite thing to do is dig in the pool and splash water all over herself. Then she takes her nose and dips it in the water like she's retrieving something, even though she's not.

Here's Boone digging at the bottom of the pool. I wonder where he learned to do that!

They were enjoying the pool so much, even though it's not really big enough for two big ol' Labrador Retrievers (Maggie weighs 109, Boone 118). Since we didn't have much planned for the day, we decided to really make their day, so we took them down to the pond. When Maggie hits the pond, she loses herself in her own world. She sees nothing and nobody, and she hears nothing and nobody. She would swim for days if we'd let her. Once she gets in, she is in until we manage to trick her into getting out, which normally takes about 30 minutes. We've timed her swimming adventures, and her longest swim was just shy of an hour. Now, when I say she swam for almost an hour, I mean she swam. She didn't get out once. She absolutely loves swimming, and since she has arthritis now, the vet says swimming is the best exercise for her - and she is more than happy to exercise.

Boone, on the other hand, loves to swim, but he also loves to run in the pasture. One of his favorite things to do is run around for a few minutes, then run full speed and splash into the pond. Once he's in the pond, he swims over to where Maggie is and asks her to play. However, she turns tail and swims away. He's finally (after two years) realizing that when Maggie is swimming, he is on his own.

In other animal news, we have three geese at work that have been making regular appearances for the past few weeks. Our back parking lot slopes, so when it rains, it creates a nice pool for them. They started out just bathing in the pool after a rain, and within a few days, they began making themselves at home. They seem friendly and will walk right up to you.

Here is one of them standing tall on the company truck in the back parking lot. It looks like he's checking out our shipping department through the dock door. Maybe he's planning a trip to tour the building in the near future.

A few days later, our visitors helped themselves to some goodies in the community garden in front of the building. Provided with food for the taking, as well as a nice watering hole for bathing, I think they just might be here to stay.

Springtime has come early to Sunny Hill Farm in the high tunnel.  When the weather is sunny, the tunnel is usually 10-15 degrees warmer than outside, especially when it's windy.  The green things have already begun growing for the season and the smell is wonderfully warm and verdant.  My daughter likes to go in there and take off her shoes, enjoying the feel of grass between her toes a few weeks early. 

Spinach, arugula, mustard and lettuces are waking up and growing again from last Fall's sowing.  Other green things are growing in there, too: clover, purslane and especially chickweed.  These weeds need to be removed before we plant the space anew for the Summer season.  I know that many of the plants we consider "weeds" are actually perfectly edible, nutritious, and quite yummy.  Back in the past, many of these cold-hardy greens were a welcome addition to the diet in the earliest days of Spring, when folks were living off their winter store of starchy roots and rich meats and were ready for a fresh change.  Chickweed, in particular, is especially sweet and nutritious, and it grows abundantly in a low spreading carpet. 

Even though discarded weeds are composted to return their nutrients to the soil, I still look for ways to capture even more of the nutrition and resources available on-farm, to minimize our off-farm inputs, reduce costs, and keep our ecosystem as healthy and diverse as possible.  One way we do this is to harvest plants such as grasses and weeds to feed to our animals, especially those who cannot always be out on pasture.  Feeding the animals grasses and weeds is closer to their natural diet than grain, and provides the myriad of vitamins and minerals often needed to be supplemented else-wise. 

So my daughter and I have been going out to the high tunnel daily and harvesting this abundant chickweed to feed to our pigs and poultry.  I was unable to find definitive evidence that it was suitable daily for our other animals, so I only feed it to them, not the sheep, cows or horse.  Many of these weeds are good for one species of animal but not others, so always do your homework and check first, being sure you have a positive identification.  In order to keep the horse from getting jealous, we also grab a few handfuls of clover to give to her, too.

This time together is very enjoyable for my Gwee and me, and we are doing two jobs at once, weeding in preparation for this coming season, and giving our animals a little nutrition boost.  Fun, easy, and cost-effective recycling!

One of the more amusing aspects of raising kids on the farm is the age-old question (mostly from “city people”): “How can your kids raise these animals as pets and then eat them?” A reasonable question, certainly, and one I did have to ponder for myself a number of years ago, when the children were first coming along. The simplest answer is that the kids do not regard all the animals on the farm as pets. We have 2 dogs, a number of cats, and a peacock as pets. Yes, the kids do own some of the animals as 4H projects, but even these they regard as “livestock,” not “pets.”
 

Livestock are not pets. Many people, myself included, remember watching “Charlotte’s Web” as a child, how sad they felt when there seemed no hope for Wilbur, and how relieved we all were when he was saved with his trust fund set-up. Few recall early on in the film, when Fern’s parents declared that it was time for Wilbur to move outside because he was trashing the house. Young animals raised in the house often develop more aggressive personalities along with expectations, and more than not become unmanageable when older (and much bigger and smellier). They also may not learn to compete with the herd for their food ration, and therefore remain dependant upon the handler to feed them.

The question has been asked of me how anybody in the family can eat animals after raising them from babies? Again, cows, pigs and chickens do not behave like dogs and cats. Often, by the time the animal has reached its time of butcher, it has broken through fences, rummaged through the garden or greenhouse, chewed up tools and clothing, possibly even eaten my favorite flowers. It can sometimes be challenging to tolerate the animal until its date of departure. Not in every case, but often enough to keep the situation in perspective.

The children do help with the chores as well. A stall that yesterday held a large pooping animal and today is now empty means chores will be done all the sooner.

When it all comes down to it, probably the most compelling reason why the children are at peace with raising their own food is the very obvious difference in the taste and physical effect of the meats. Long ago, the children noticed the superior quality of our products like bacon, ham and sausage. They have felt, also, the very different feeling in their stomachs after a meal at a restaurant. There are a number of items they will not even consider eating unless it is comes from our farm. Even with food from other farms, they report a difference in the taste and quality from ours.

This, I believe, is because we do respect and appreciate our animals. The children have learned to strike a balance with how they relate to the animals in the barn. The animals are all given names, all spoken to and even played with, but always with the understanding that this animal is going for food. But this interaction while with us is what gives the animal the positive energy that we are hoping to get back from the food we eat. The saying, “You are what you eat,” is true in so many ways. In my opinion, the delight we take in savoring the steak is the ultimate respect for the animal.

The enthusiasm that we as the adults feel toward our food is very contagious to the children. After all, the reason I came to the farm was to raise the best and freshest ingredients to cook with. The fabulous meals, and the obvious pride and delight I take in preparing them, all lead to understanding for the children as to what we are doing and why, with very tangible results they can see and taste time and again.

Others may find it unusual, but to our kids, it seems perfectly natural to ask at the dinner table, “Who is this?”

Thinking about adding some guineas to your homestead?  I've been interested in guineas ever since I moved to Kansas in 2008.  My friend has a few, and every time I visited her I enjoyed watching her guineas free-range on her property.  In addition, I had heard they were excellent at tick control, and I was tired of picking ticks off our dogs or employing chemical means to keep them free of ticks and fleas!

But our chicken coop had been severely damaged in a pasture fire, so before we could get any birds at all, it needed renovated from the ground up.  Guineas and chickens were on hold for now, until we had more time to fix-up the coop... or so I thought.

On September 2nd we walked into Orscheln's for a few farm supplies, and lo and behold, they had new guinea keets and chicks in stock!  There were only 5 lavender guineas, which I wanted oh-so-badly.  Finally, hubby conceded and told me to go ahead and get them – he even bought them for me.  I was in guinea heaven.  I told Orscheln's staff I would return on Saturday to pick up the keets.  Sadly, one of the lavenders drowned himself before then, so I took a pearl guinea keet to replace him.  FYI – drowning is a common occurrence with young keets – to prevent this, I put rocks in their waterer for the first few weeks.

 1 week old guinea keets 

Hubby spent all Saturday afternoon building a large brooder for the keets.  This worked out well, since I had decided I wanted to keep them on our enclosed back porch. And now this brooder will be handy when we get our first chickens this spring.

My goal was to tame them, but alas, I found out you really need to start this process from the day they hatch.  They were already a week old and sadly, quite skittish!  To this day, they squawk up quite a commotion when we enter the coop, but if I'm patient, and sit still with some millet, they will eventually peck it from my hand.

Next on hubby's agenda:  the chicken coop renovation.  This was no small task, since the coop was severely damaged in our 2009 spring pasture burn.  Even before the burn, the coop was not a very sturdy structure.

Needless to say, it took quite a few weeks before the coop was ready to house the guinea keets.

In fact, we released them to the coop on their 6 week birthday!  My advice:  have your coop ready if you get new birds.  At 6 weeks old, they were too big for the brooder and we were anxious to get them off our enclosed back porch.

 6 week old guineas 

It took the guineas 2 days to come off the edges of their brooder and explore the coop.  We continued working on the coop -- insulating the inside, painting the exterior, and building a temporary outdoor run.  This spring hubby will construct an outside enclosure, not necessarily for the guineas, but for the chickens we hope to add. The guineas will be allowed to free-range once spring arrives.

 We still need to build a separate nursery area for future new chicks and a ladder roost inside the coop.  In the meantime, an old saw horse seems to work just fine for the guineas.

 9 week old guineas 

One word of caution: young juvenile guineas DO make a lot of noise.  They squawk at almost everything.  I've been assured this is a "teeenage" phase they are going through, and they will quiet down as they mature and realize that not everything is a threat.

Our chicken coop has come a long way - before winter weather arrived, hubby finished stripping off the old roof and installing used metal panels, adding a vent on one side, and installing electric.

Old roof tear-off  

 New roof with salvaged metal panels 

The internet proved to be a valuable resource for guinea information, as did Jeannette Ferguson's book, Gardening with Guineas.  Do you have guineas, or are you thinking about adding them to your homestead?  I'd love to hear your thoughts on this subject!

I thought I'd share something on the lighter side today.

Ah, the weekend is here and endless possibilities stretch before us.  What do you do?

 Do you decide to sleep late and catch up on some extra zsss?

Do you enjoy a leisurely morning with breakfast in bed perhaps?

Or do you prefer to wake up early and stretch and then perhaps some yoga to perfect your balance?

Perhaps you cherish your alone time and try to avoid crowds?

Or maybe a sporting event is more to your liking?

Do you get together with your girlfriends for a day of beauty and grooming?

Or perhaps you enjoy gazing into the mirror pretending you are America's Next Top Model?

Maybe a relaxing soak in the tub is more to your liking as you prepare for the night ahead?

When you share a tender kiss with your beloved.

And that my friends is the end.

However you spend your weekends, remember to enjoy yourself and give thanks. 

Mountain Man, Mountain Woman and their clicker trained zoo can be found at http://redpinemountain.com. 

I’ve fought flies around the farm for a good chunk of my life, and even though I first heard of Big Stinky fly traps more than 30 years ago, it wasn’t until about a week ago that my first set of Big Stinky fly traps went to work. Big Stinky fly traps use proven science, and a fantastically elegant design, to capture and kill all manner of flies.  That these fly traps are see-through only adds to my fascination – that the Big Stinky fly traps are reusable makes me wince at the thought of the day I need to empty them.

According to the Big Stinky fly traps website, the device was the brainchild of an inventor and scientist by the name of Bill Brown. Mr. Brown created a trap that relied on attracting flies with lean meat – particularly female flies – and a chemical solution that makes the flies that enter the trap release more female fly pheromones. Essentially, the raw meat or fish gets the ball rolling and then the flies do all the rest – to their own demise.

Courtesy Big Stinky

I followed the directions provided with my Big Stinky fly traps more or less to a T. Since I didn’t want to waste any of my good grassfed meat on the traps, I bought some ground beef at the local market (Big Stinky advocates not using ground meat) that wasn’t too fatty and used it to “bait” my traps. Essentially, you drop the meat into a clear bottle, add some water and a capful of the Big Stinky formula and set the traps away from places where you will be annoyed by the smell or convergence of flies. Most notable among the instructions was to place the traps as close to the ground as you dared – considering the local dog pack and the like. I placed one trap at the far end of the pig pen and one on a corral panel. Both are about 2 feet from the ground and thankfully our Border Collies, Gus and Clover, have left the fly traps alone.

Courtesy Karen Keb

The Big Stinky instructions noted that the fly traps would take a while to become active and that heat would help speed the process. We had our first week of high 80s and low 90s the first week the fly traps were out. We had flies in the trap within 12 hours of setting them. The photos that accompany this post show the efficacy of the traps after 5 days. What do you do with all those flies, you ask? According the Big Stinky web site, dead flies make great fertilizer. I guess I will just bury them in the garden, while holding my breath.

Courtesy Karen Keb

Not often have I found myself getting excited about something as seemingly mundane as fly traps. The Big Stinky has changed that. So, your bottom line question should be: Can you tell there are fewer flies around? YES you certainly can. We placed the traps away from the house and notice only a very small fraction of the pests buzzing around the door. One or two flies still manage to make it inside each day, but that’s a far cry from the scores that used to come in uninvited in the past.

It looks like the Farmers’ Almanac was right on the money with its prediction of an ice-cold winter in the middle of the country. On my farm in Osage County, we’ve not experienced temperatures above freezing for a couple of weeks running. And today, the high is predicted to be around 6 degrees. Brrr … this North Dakota boy isn’t used to that kind of cold down here in Kansas. Neither is the plumbing in the barn. I have my fingers crossed that the frozen pipe in question won’t actually burst – it is PEX after all.

What’s amazing about this cold day in Kansas is that our animals take it in stride. From the Mulefoot pigs snuggled in their huts or buried in their haystacks, to the Katahdin sheep boldly bedded down in the open (but out of the wind), to the chickens and goats hanging together in the old Butler grain bin, to the Highland cattle who prefer the woods, these barnyard animals have the metabolic and physiological wherewithal to handle cold days – and nights – without a pellet stove glowing in the corner. Wow! Impressive isn’t it? All they require is a bit more feed and hay and they are good to go.

The folks who grew up around here tell me that this is one of the longest cold spells they can remember. I believe them. I have a vested interest in believing them. As much as I like snow, I don’t like bitter cold. I had my fill of frostbitten cheeks as a kid in North Dakota and struggled with sufficient icy implements as an adult in South Dakota. So, I eagerly await the end to this cold day in Kansas, and the one predicted for tomorrow. With any luck, daytime temperatures will be back above freezing sometime next week. In the meantime, I’ve got my Dickies insulated coveralls and silk long johns with the camo pattern handy.

Photos courtesy Karen Keb.

We got started a little late with this year’s laying flock … I don’t remember the exact date, but it was at the end of spring. We needed to start over this year because our independent minded chickens took to roosting in the pine grove last year, much to the coyotes' delight. Actually, they were safe in the trees, but they were easily startled, which caused them to fly to the ground at the sight of a coyote and into the waiting jaws of the trickster himself.

It would be accurate to say that we were bummed about that chain of events, but we also know that coyotes need to eat too. So this year, we enclosed the flock in a portable electric net. They roosted in the mobile pen (I built as a modification of this plan), which was located inside the net. Surprisingly enough, we didn’t lose one chicken to anything, and the netting helped the dogs get used to watching chickens rather than chasing them.

Now that we have staked a firm claim on this formerly uninhabited farm, the coyotes give us wider berth. Our dogs taunt them some, but so far they have agreed to keep a healthy distance. I recently moved the chickens into a semi-permanent pen that’s about an acre in size. We surrounded it with welded wire that’s 4-feet high and topped that with a single strand of electric. When we installed the welded wire, we took care to give it good ground contact … not even Woodrow the Cairn Terrier has been able to squirm under the fence.

As winter approached, we were just a little blue that we hadn’t had any fresh eggs from the flock yet. And then it happened. Last week, one of the Welsummer hens began delivering some of the most beautiful and delicious eggs we have had all year. Kate says that they poach perfectly. I just marvel at the bright orange yolks, firm whites and yummy flavor. I also think the copper-colored shells are absolutely beautiful. For more on the joys and benefits of home-grown eggs, check out this article.

Now that it is dark when I get home after work, I try to do all my animal bonding and light-requiring chores in the pre-dawn glow before heading off to town. The Highlands are on their third small pasture paddock, and they still have a couple of days of good grass left before I open up the next break. These animals are pretty serious foragers and have cleaned up the brush in the pine grove very nicely. They also have made efficient use of a small creek for drinking, even though I keep a stock tank filled with fresh clean water in the corral.

I really enjoy working with cattle on foot using a combination of the Bud Williams approach and a bit of common sense. In keeping with that low-stress approach, I like to be able to call the cattle into the corral … rather than whooping it up and driving them in. It worked with our Angus herd, so I figured it would work with the Highlands. In this case, I call once or twice (hey bos) and rattle some 100-percent-natural, 20-percent-protein cattle cake in a small plastic bucket. The stuff smells like molasses … I have been tempted to taste it myself.

This morning, even though I was out of town last weekend and part of last week, the cattle heard me feeding the Mulefoot pigs, headed to the corral and were waiting quietly for a couple of cake cubes apiece and a chuck on the chin. When the ritual was completed, they turned one by one and headed back out to the pasture. What fun. Jack the donkey, who lives with the cattle, lingered to get his treat. His rank is pretty well in the basement of that little herd. Valentine, who lives in the adjacent paddock, waited to get her cube until Jack was finished. She also got her ears rubbed.

I can’t really think of a better way to open up each day than with a glorious sunrise and some quality time with the animals whose lives so enrich ours. I cannot wait for the winter solstice to arrive … I am already anticipating longer days and more daylight on the beginning and end of the work day. I like the seasons well enough, but I thrive on daylight.

Highland cattle photo by Kate Will.