So I Can't Sing Well!

My Mom has told me over and over throughout the years that if you have animals, you need to talk to them.  They will trust you, like you and get used to you.  They won't fear you.  So when I end up in charge of 20+ chickens, what's a gal to do but sing a few songs?

Every morning, I put some animal bread from the bread store (that's another post!) in a pan outside in "the bread zone", add table scraps (truly - these chickens are like piggies and they eat everything but fowl because that's cannibalism and gross!) and liquids from everything that we cooked the day before (German weiner water and kielbasa water seems to be some of their favorites as well as ground beef grease) and make them some good ol' slop.  They can't wait to get outside to hit the buffet!

I really only sing them one song.  In the morning.  I'm not even sure I have the words right, but then I usually take the words to songs and make up my own anyway.  So here's my morning routine:

Good morning, good morning!  It's time to wake up and start your day! 

Good morning, good morning!  It's time to go out and eat the buffet!

Enjoy the video (not so much my singing).  You'll see what the naughty roosters do.  They don't listen.  And they are very rough with the poor hens.  You'll see one who just can't wait and chases a hen while I'm singing.  Pig.

Yes, I am weird.  But the chickens are beginning to love me.  And that makes my Dad feel good that his chickens are well taken care of while he's recovering.  And he can watch videos of his chickens I take on my cell phone.  ;)

Chicken Chores

My parents have a 5-acre hobby farm which, when we were growing up, was home to cows, pigs and chickens.  Now that my parents are retired, there's only chickens.  But those are the creatures we must now feed!

Oreo!  A Dutch Lakenvelder that was a free "exotic chicken" in Dad's chicky order.

I love the way I was raised and I love the way my parents farmed.  We were and still remain an organic farm.  Nature knows best.  That's why the chickens are cage free, free range chickens.  We do lock them in the coop at night because of predators (there's owls, coyotes, raccoons, skunks - a lot of creatures who enjoy a good chicken dinner!) but as soon as I wake up, I run down to the barn and let them out for the day.

This is what free-range chickens should look like:

The chickens spend the day outside scratching and eating and grazing.  We have never had to worry about ticks or other bugs in the ground because our chickens go from the back of the house to the front to the far back of the property.  They cover the entire farm from North to South and East to West and back over and over and over again daily.  The results are not only bug-free fields but we get the best, dark yellow (almost orange) yolk eggs that have lower cholesterol and better taste than the ones purchased at the store.  Yes, I know.  We are very lucky and I never take that for granted. 

Graze, Chickies, graze!

To Flush or Not to Flush?!

When you've lived away from your parents for 23 years and have a way of managing your home your own way, it's a little different coming back home to live with your folks and follow their methods once again!

Since I was married, I have lived in homes in suburbs where we have always had sewer systems with water service.  Now, we live in a home with a private well and septic tank.  My wonderful father is one of my most favorite people in this world, but that doesn't change the fact that he's a pessimist.  It's usually the glass is "half empty" as versus "half full".  Well, we added 3 new people to this house and of course, my Dad thinks we are going to ruin the septic system by flushing too much.  In this case, it's not "the septic tank is half empty, it's already full and busting out!"   

He told me, my husband, my son and my daughter the same story:  he watched a movie once called "Meet the Fockers".  They had water scarcity issues on the island and Dustin Hoffman (who played Bernie Focker) said the following in the video link here:

Water Scarcity Rules

Yes, we now live by my Dad's "Septic Tank Overflow Rule":  If it's yellow, let it mellow.  If it's brown, flush it down.  I don't think my family can create enough waste to ruin the septic tank, but sometimes we just simply forget and flush out of habit.  My daughter will sometimes ask if it's okay to "flush".  Yes, yes it is.  ;)

Moving back in with your parents is wonderful, don't get me wrong.  I am spending quality time with them, my children are spending quality time with them, we are doing the kind of hard work on the farm that's good, honest, productive and character building.  But there are sometimes little "bumps" in the road, and ours happens to involve toilet flushing.

Hey, if this is as bad as it gets, then we are lucky and blessed because if this is what makes Dad happy, then we'll be happy to oblige! 

My Return to the Farm

God has a plan for us.  I try to never question His ultimate plan, but sometimes I shake my head and wonder, "Why?"

It all started in January of 2015 when my Dad called with a bloody nose.  Yup.  That's what started it all.  LONG story.  But fast forward to April and the call about my Mom not being able to walk.  Dad has heart problems (but not for much longer as his surgery is scheduled for June 1st!) and Mom has back problems and hip issues preventing her from walking normal.  That's when we moved in with Mom and Dad back at the farm and left my husband home at our house to prepare for our big move.

Now the kids and I are living back on the farm and it's been tough and wonderful and tiring and rewarding and it has brought back so many wonderful memories of my childhood.  But I won't share them all at one time....

For now, I will simply share a picture of my childhood home and the surrounding farm.  Here's the picture of our garden. I have a whole story to tell about preparing this piece of land. ;)  Each post, I will slowly bring you with me down on the farm and you can experience farm life first hand!

Our large garden

We Moved!

I have moved in very suddenly with my parents.  That's kind of weird, because I'm 44 years old and have a 16-year-old and 12-year-old.  The first night, I went by myself and left the kids home with my husband.  The kids packed their bags the next day and came over to the farm, too (there's something about Dad taking care of them - it's just not the same!).

Mom had to go to the hospital by ambulance yesterday, Saturday morning, because she couldn't walk and was in tremendous pain in her hip and back.  They didn't help (x-rays didn't show a fracture so GO HOME! they told her) but sent her home with enough pain meds to last until 3:00 a.m. Monday morning.  Seriously.  Only until 3:00 a.m. and she was told to follow up with her primary care physician.  Am I thinking I'm the only one who gets this right now? How can she follow up with her doc when they aren't even IN until at least 8:00 a.m. Monday morning?  3:00 a.m. versus 8:00 a.m.?  I called the E.R. and asked for more pain meds for her.  They said the only way she can get them is by coming back to the E.R.  I explained the only way she can get there is by ambulance and they said, "Well, if that's the only way then you have to do it."  Seriously?

Pain Meds are the norm now!

I called in a favor with a couple friends:  a chiropractor and a PCP who's in the same office as my Mom's PCP.  He prescribed more pain meds and shared the info with her PCP.  Dr. Marc, the chiropractor, came over to her house and put his adjustment bed right next to her bed and helped her out of bed to flop right on his table.  She did get an adjustment and that made an amazing difference for 3 - 4 hours (she was actually walking again!) but the results didn't last.  That's to be expected.

In any event, the lesson of this story?  If you have to go to the E.R. and they give you pain meds, make DARN sure they prescribe enough to get you through until after you get in to see your primary care physician.  You'll be glad you did.