My Guardian Chicken

The more time that I spend with the chickens, the more I begin to appreciate the diversity of their personalities.  Since I get to spend about two and a half hours a day in their midst, It has been quite an enlightening experience and one that I am sure would amaze most people who only experience chickens in their supermarket aisle.  I really enjoy their company, but there is one of the roosters who has not decided to join the "Brian Fan-Club".

How do you describe Elton to people who have never met him and who may never met him?  Elton's most distinguishing characteristic is a long flowing mane of blond feathers which strongly resemble a mullet.  Picture Hulk Hogan in his glory days or Matthew McConaughey's character from "Dazed and Confused" and you will be in the ball-park.  Let's just say, if chickens could drive, Elton would be the one cruising in the primer gray El Camino with a spoiler bolted to the tail-gate and asymmetrical hand painted flames down the sides.  Before you saw him, though, you would hear his Kraco stereo blasting "Freebird" through a couple of 6"x9"s.  I love this image of Elton because it's not too far removed from me.

Whenever I am cleaning in the yard, Elton likes to stalk me.  Now, let me say up front that I do not believe that Elton is mean or malicious.  He is just doing what his biological imperative tells him to do which is to guard his hens against unknown intruders.  For anyone who believes that animals are incapable of premeditation, watching Elton would probably change their mind.  He will follow me at a short distance as I go back and forth raking.  When I look his way, his eyes will dart to the side as he tries to be very nonchalant about his pursuit.  The instant that the rake is no longer between us, however, he will strike at my ankles with his claws and beak.  This doesn't hurt when he connects (I let him have at it one day to see if I really needed to be afraid of him or not), but it does make you jump a bit.

This daily routine continued for my first week and a half and it was one of the more predictable elements.  Then one day one of the other roosters, a beautiful red rooster named Russet, began to intervene.  Whenever I was in the yard, he would emerge from the Chicken Barn and get between me and Elton.  He would chase him off if he tried to get too close to me.  I will never know what his motivations for this are, and I know that it is dangerous to ascribe human characteristics in some cases, but I have decided that Russet is my Guardian Chicken, even if I don't understand exactly why.  Thank you Russet for having my back - when I learn feeds, I will make sure you get an extra ration!

A Farm Sanctuary Blessing

This was created as a "going-away" message to some of the interns who are going to be leaving the Farm soon.  I think it is good for people who have visited the farm, who want to visit the Farm, or who are just animal lovers.

A Farm Sanctuary Blessing

As you continue on your journey, and the gates, they fade from view

Take heed of all the lessons that the animals have taught to you

Like the cow, may you need only the sun on your face to be content

Like the goat, may you use your head to get through life's obstacles

Like the chicken, may you find joy in the simple things that most never see

Like the sheep, may you always have a flock at your sides

Like the pig, may you rejoice when life hurls mud at you

Like the turkey, may you never fail to shatter stereotypes and preconceptions

Like the duck, may you find happiness in life's many storms

Like the donkey, may you never be afraid to be stubborn in your convictions

Like the goose, may you never fear to strike when the "ankles of injustice" are exposed

Like all your animal friends, may you always remember that you have a home here.

Third Week Hump Day

Well, I am half way through my third week and my body is starting to adapt to the fact that I am actually using it during the day (What a novel concept!).  My brain is also having to adapt to a lower stress, lower intensity environment.  Unfortunately, when the level of stimulation is suddenly decreased, it seems to have a weird effect.  If you were to place yourself in a situation where you couldn't see and where you only had white noise as a background, it has been proven that our brain will start to construct hallucinations, sometimes in a matter of minutes, in order to keep itself occupied.  In my case, my brain was creating things to worry about and this combined with working alone most of the day posed a challenge.  I have been taking a two pronged approach to addressing this unforeseen issue: 1) I try to take in the beauty that I find myself constantly surrounded by, and 2) I listen to audiobooks on the way to and from work and ponder these when the anxious part of my brain kicks into gear.  My third week has been going much better than my first week so I think my solution is working.

Anyway, this minor issue aside, I am loving it.  My days are very similar in terms of work load and tasks, but the details are where the magic lies.  The pauses to pet a chicken or having a sheep rest its head on your shoulder make it all worth it. 

As I was driving to work today, I was trying to get a weather report, but the station that I was listening to was getting interference from another station.  After spending a couple minutes trying to parse the information from the station I wanted to listen to, I realized that this was somewhat of a metaphor for my last life.  So often it was a case of too much information coming in and I find my new simplicity to be a welcome change.  When I am at work, my purpose is pretty singular and I would recommend that more people try out the experience.

Well, I am sure that anyone who actually comes to this page probably does so for the pictures more than my ramblings, so here are some of my favorites from this past week.  Wish you were here!




This is Blossom.  Some of my old co-workers may recognize her as the piglet that was on my lap in the picture where I was wearing the red jumpsuit (Convict suit).

 


The pigs and geese both love the pool, although the pigs prefer working on their tans to swimming.




My favorite juvenile "cow-boys", Oliver and Elliot.  Oh, they grow up so fast!




Oliver is ready for his close-up.




My first cow-buddy Whitaker.




A real California Happy Cow, Whitaker.



A Wonderous Thing

Today, at 11:45 I ate my sandwich and chips for lunch.  Not much exciting there, I grant you, but this was only the first fifteen minutes of my one hour lunch break.  It was the last forty-five minutes that were notable.  Let me try to paint the picture for you since I was not smart enough to have brought a camera; even if I had, chances are it would have precluded this moment from happening in the first place).  The temperature was in the low seventies (Based on my calibrated brow-sweat-ometer), the sun was shining on my shoulders and there was just enough of a breeze to cool me down without messing up my hair.  I sat at the west edge of the pig pond and listened to the sound of sparrows in the trees, duck feet paddling in the water, and a couple of geese - fortunately for me they were on the other side of the pond - foraging for whatever geese forage for in the water.  As I closed my eyes for a moment to take in the peaceful sounds, my left hand rested on the side of a really cool pig named Lucas (In more ways than one since he is both cool in the slang sense and he was lying on his side in sizable mud-hole at the time) while my right hand stroked his furry ear.  It was what I would call a pure moment and one that is harder to put into words than I thought it would be.  You kind of had to be there and it sums it all up to say that I am forever grateful that I was.

My first two days of my new job have been filled with these moments.  Yesterday I spent my lunch watching the "calves" (I don't know when they technically become cows, but in my mind they will always be the "cow-boys") on a grassy hill and watched the wind part the grass and reveal the purple clover flowers nested within.  This wind was a little stronger and did mess up my now red hair, but it didn't matter.  It was serene and wonderful. 

In other news, our move went smooth and we are about 94.7% un-boxed (Some engineering traits die harder than others), but who really cares about that?  All is good in my world today.