I'm working up a post on all we've done in the garden, but worked in amongst pics of the quack grass, plantings, trellises and plant coverings are the chickens. We like having them around but, as the title suggests, sometimes they can be a little TOO much help...
A few times a year I have an opportunity to work the "day job" from home. With the work laptop home and the magic of "virtual private networks", it's almost like being at my desk. It was a nice day and I decided to work outside for an hour or so, mostly to demonstrate to my co-workers I could ;-) and I sent them this pic to prove it . One of the 'girls' apparently decided I needed help. I wouldn't let her, but she was itching to try her hand (or claws) at the keyboard. (I blurred out the screen at bit so the day-job legal folks wouldn't get cranky.)
Garden work always means the 'helpers' are close. When I was cleaning the quack grass out the beds (again), they were right there to lend a "claw". A lot of "claw"...
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| The worms are directly under my fork, so that is where they want to be. |
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| The "girls" and I (mostly "I") pulling out the quack grass roots. |
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| I'm never alone in the garden. Even if I would like to be. |
We did manage to get into a bit (a weeeee bit) of helpful rhythm when we planting. The 'girls' are always in the bed I'm working on, or the last one. As long as I stayed two beds ahead of De planting it worked out OK. I would have the "main" help in the bed I was digging, Ivan and the girls would be "leveling out" the last one I worked on, and De was (relatively) free to plant.
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| The production line at work! |
We have one hen, a white Easter-Egger named Esther, that has been something of an outcast since her last hard molt. She gets picked on a bit and lately goes running for a safe-haven.
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| De got first 'dibs'. Tank Top! OUCH! |
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| I got my turn. At least the claws weren't an issue. |
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| Funny, and I'm flattered I suppose, but it did slow down the work a bit. |
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Garden work is not the only thing that draws an audience. This time it was replacing a headlamp bulb (accessed, on my Equinox, via the wheel well. Grrr! What genius thought that was good idea?).
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| "Yes, I know the light is over there, but you get to the bulbs through here!" |
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| "Hey!! He's right!! You really can't get to the bulbs from up here!" |
You gotta see the fun in life where you can. Hope you enjoy!
Col. 1:9-12,
Mark
Its lovely to have help in the garden if thats what you can call it, our chooks dont come into the veggie garden its not near them and they havent yet discovered it, but the flower garden they love to scratch around in :-)
ReplyDeleteTheir company is kind of fun when we are working up the soil or putting in plants, but we need to leave them in the run when we are planting seeds. Given the opportunity they will dig them up and chow down!
DeleteOh dear Mark--I LAUGHED so much with this post. What utterly charming pics of your helpers. The caption on the light being "over there" was a hoot. Thanks for starting a day off on such a bright note. And poor De --I think tank tops might be a mistake with such industrious helpers!
ReplyDeleteSue - I'm so glad you enjoyed it. They are a lot of fun and just seem to be interested in everything. De was fortunate enough the claws didn't break the skin, but there were some welts.
DeleteMark, you all take "free range" to the extreme, LOL. I love the photos because they are so what chickens do. I'm amazed you can get anything planted and to grow!
ReplyDeleteHi Leigh. We do have to take some extra steps to keep them from digging up seeds and damaging young plants. I'll cover that in my next post. We've so busy getting the garden in before my Friday deadline I've not taken time to put together a post on the what we've been doing. Early next week I should be recovered enough to get a post up.
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