Spring Chickens!

Greetings from Mellow Meadows!

Its been a crazy week.... at home,
at work,
around the world.

I think of Adrienne Rich's wonderful line

... a wild patience has taken me this far

and agree.

It is finally the weekend. I made it through the wildness of the week.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhmen.

Thoughts in the early morning on the first day of Spring.

Eating two eggs with buttered toast, gazing into the flickering flames of the fire. darkness still all around. (it is only 6:20 am after all.)
But, tasting those fresh eggs, I wondered.... can I even remember what life was like before chickens? It's only been a year since Rose and Lily came to us with their wonderful eggs, and yet, I can't remember....
Maybe, I'd just prefer not to.

I came home Friday afternoon to see them dancing about in the mud. Now that the weather has warmed, we open wide the doors each day and let them wander.
They love the freshness of wet earth and take such delight in exploring all the mucky mucky parts of the yard.
They've discovered how to sneak up on the sides of the compost bin for the 'all you can eat' buffet of worms and other juicy morsels that make most folks squeamish.
Steadfast, they are, too. They never fail to come home and take up positions on the roost at the right time. No need for curfews; they just DO IT!
I laugh to myself remembering how nervous I was at first. Having never raised chickens, I was concerned about.... well, how do they KNOW when to come home? How do they know WHERE to go???? Will they remember to lay their eggs IN the nest and not someplace else?
My husband would gently chuckle at all these concerns. "They are CHICKENS, honey. They just KNOW."
And sure enough, they do just know.

I am grateful each time I open an egg, and I smile to myself to think of the wonders of chickens!

Happy Spring!