the hen has taken up residence on our carport steps at night with her four chicks.

She is the matriarch of our wild chicken flock and has hatched out three to five broods of chicks a year for the last three years.

She schools them, teaches them how to hunt for food and protects them for about five weeks. Then she abandons them to their own devices and seeks out a rooster to start her next brood with.

She is picky about the rooster she selects. Not just some crower – she seems to hook up with a rooster that finds food, calls in the hens and chicks and stands back while they eat while maintaining vigilance for hawks and foxes. the rooster she chooses eats after everyone else is fed.

Thank goodness for rain

We had been missing all the rain the last few weeks. We had around 1/10 inch in the latter part of July. Monday night, we got 3.8 inches.

We are extremely thankful for the rain. the soil sucked up most with only moderate erosion on a few sections. Jenifer said a lot of tomatoes started splitting from so much water and had to be tossed.

Hmm, what did that mean?

Monday, the farm I manage hosted 25 to 30 Japanese university researchers, teachers and students involved with autism research.

I was tasked with explaining farm activities via an interpreter.

As I was explaining the rolling hen coops and the electrified netting around them to deter predators such as foxes and coyotes, the interpreter cut me off and started speaking in Japanese.

He embellished the word “coyote” and the entire tour group went “oooh … coyote.” I don’t know what the hell that was about.