Monday, June 30, 2014

of mornings and neighbors

A truth of my life: I'm not much of a morning person.  Waking up is just so hard.  Give me some time to adjust, though, and the rest of the morning is wonderful, full of newness and all the promise of a new day.

Chickens are morning fowl.  They love first light just as much as any bird.  Thankfully my chickens seem okay with my relaxed morning style. 

Coffee first, then I'll prepare them a little breakfast.  Nothing fancy, just a morning offering to buy their adoration.  Sometimes cooked oatmeal, or yogurt with fresh blueberries, or even just a piece of bread crumbled into small pieces.  Still in my pj's (chickens don't mind) and most often barefoot I venture out to see the girls.  I open up their coop door and bribe, coerce, herd them into their trampoline playpen.  Sometimes it's easy and they go willingly.  Sometimes I have to wrangle them.

This morning was no different. 

Later this morning my kind neighbor, Sharon was in her backyard weeding very near my garden.   Who doesn't love a neighborly chat over a garden fence? I couldn't resist. 

Now, Sharon has one room in her house that looks directly into our backyard.  It is her crafting room.  You just have to know what comes next.

Sharon says, "I saw you this morning with your chickens."

I say, "......oh.  Yeah?  Pretty funny, huh?"  Because, what else can you say?

Some fun details: I was wearing my striped pajama pants and my husband's t-shirt and I was indeed barefoot.  Egads, the woman probably thinks I'm a loon!

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It is quiet around here today.  Blake has gone over to Caleb's to help with some work around their place.  Caleb's mom, Anna, is golden.  She makes you want to be a better person just in the way she breathes.  Her words are encouraging and her actions are unassuming, without airs.  I just get so self-conscious around her for whatever reason.  I'm guessing she doesn't go out and tend to her chickens in her pajamas.

At this moment I'm sitting on the patio.  Charlie dog is sleeping at my feet and Silas is close by too (neither one is feeling well today).  I'm seeing goldfinch, sparrow, downy woodpecker, flicker, crow, chickadee, hummingbird.  Just yesterday there were four (4!!) Flickers in our yard at once.  Two of them were dust bathing and one was feeding her baby.  I was pleased.

Later on I'm going to make Jamaican pork for dinner.  Here's the recipe:

Brown 1 1/2 pounds of pork.  Add one sliced onion, one diced acorn squash, and one bell pepper.  Add 1 inch finely chopped gingerroot, a 15 oz can of chopped tomatoes (or fresh), fresh or frozen corn,  1 1/4 cups of chicken stock, and 1/4 cup of lentils.  Season with salt and pepper as desired.  Transfer to a casserole dish, cover, and bake at 375 for 1 hour.

Served with a store bought loaf of French bread this ought to be a pretty good dinner!

 

2 comments:

  1. If I had chickens to feed I'd probably do it in my pj's too. :D

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  2. I miss our chickens. Our two banny roosters didn't make it back into the pen one evening and we think a coon got them. Kids cried for days b/c they have became beloved pets. I think it is awesome you have breakfast with your chickens.

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