We have 5 new ducklings that have survived the first day of their lives. The last batch of ducklings are slowly being absorbed into the flock. They are getting so big now as they begin to loose their fluff in exchange for feathers. Though the peeping is ongoing I know soon it will turn into quacking, but that's okay because I have new ducklings and I still have some eggs which have piped. As the autumnal sky greets us each day I can't imagine living anywhere else, heck, this place is even mentioned in Grease. The pink clouds dot the sky each evening which isn't full of a grey heaving sky. The life cycles are moving on at Pocket Canyon Farms.
Morning time is busy time at Pocket Canyon Farms. As the sun lifts into the sky ducks, chickens, and guinea hens salute the sky and yell at Mama for food, food, food! They leap, run, and flap out of their cozy beds as fast as they can to their favorite breakfast dishes. Black Swedish like their breakfast on an old cafeteria tray. Brown ducks prefer to eat straight away right outside their beds.
The chickens like an old dog bowl and plant saucer to start their day off right. To each his own I say! The fury of fowl resembles white sharks bursting with attack on a bevy of stellar sea lions basking on shore. The feeding frenzy is fast and furious. Everyone is running around like, dare I say, a chicken with its head cut off. As the excitement dies down the guineas are on clean up duty while the chickens hide in the fig tree and the ducks hunker down for a rest.
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| Buttercup and LuLu Bell |
As crisp air greets every morning I know it is time to start the winter garden in succession. This means constant seedlings and plantings to maintain a constant supply of tender baby greens. Now is the time for spicy arugula, red and green lettuce, curly kale, red cabbage, and chioggia beets. I love the rich dark greens and reds of winter produce contrasted by the bright yellows, oranges, and reds of deciduous leaves giving all they can back to their host tree. As these leaves make their way down to the earth Ginger, LuLu and Butters snatch them up and down the hatch they go. The girls eat anything their eyes fall on to build up their fat and winter coat. Fur is shaggy and faces are fatter as the temperature begins to drop. We are all getting ready for the season about to come.
