Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Chase the Chickens and Laugh


Today went something like this:

Take the chicks out to their little play pen. Water and feed the chicks. Feed the goats (this is done out of bottles during which time they bow down and wag their cute little tails like crazy, clearly enjoying themselves). Chase the chicks around because they've managed to escape. Giggle a lot. Learn how to trim baby goat hooves. Snuggle the baby goats and let them suck your fingers. Shave half of the dog (yes, I do plan on finishing the job...maybe tomorrow) while Cat tells him the sweetest stories to keep him company. Run around the yard with the dogs and goats and kids. Laugh a lot at how cute all of the above are. Work out while trying not to hit any curious animals. Do a burpee in something wet, most likely fresh goat pee. Find this pretty darn funny. Eat breakfast of fresh farm eggs...literally laid yesterday by our happy chickens. Work on our awesome Sweet Peeps logo (Marissa is so creative!!). Go to Sweet Peeps Farm and make fun little houses for the chicks and of course, feed and water them. Chase the chicks around. Rearrange all the chicks houses. Visit our friends at their farm and get all kinds of great ideas from them, along with an incubator and some turkey and duck eggs. Go back to Sweet Peeps Farm and realize that our new chick houses aren't so great for cold, stormy nights and re-rearrange all the chicks houses. Chase the chicks around. Giggle a lot. Come home to a bunch of rouge chickies and you guessed it, chase them around for a while too. Eat a delicious home-made dinner by Gaga (Grandma Lynne). Sit on the porch, catching up, making plans, watching the animals do silly animal things, and just enjoying good company. What a great day!!!

There was one point today when Marissa and I, each with our entire upper bodies squeezed through the chicken door in the coop, surrounded by chicken poop and tiny peeping chicks, still sticky from our workout and probably covered in a fair amount of chicken poop ourselves, looked at each other and cracking up decided we could officially call ourselves farmers.


Today's Vocab Words (a.k.a. I, as a new farmer pretty much just figured these out...seriously!)

Clutch: a bunch of eggs in a nest. These are the ones that might hatch.
Flake of Hay: a slice of a bale of hay. 
Hay: dried grasses that include the grains and seeds. Food for animals. (OK, I knew what hay was but     did not know what it was in relation to straw)
Straw: hay minus the grains and seeds. The stuff for animals to snuggle into. 
Peep: baby chicks, newly hatched (and super cute). Not just the yummy Easter candies...who knew!?
Pullet: a young domestic hen, usually less than a year old. 
Broiler: type of chicken raised for meat (the ones you probably don't want to name).
Layer: type of chicken raised for laying eggs (the pretty ones you get to name).

4 comments:

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  2. So fun. I loved the video and vocab. I am learning so much hopefully one day I can have my own chicks. Just need to work on convincing Adam.

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  3. First I smiled at the video and then I laughed out loud. You all look so happy and I am happy for you. I love the blog and really got a lift from watching it on a stressful and hectic day. The world is a better place because you all are in it. We are rooting for you and I know you will succeed.

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  4. I grew up on a farm, and it took me until I was 16 years old to realize that straw was basically the grain stalk. For some reason, until then, I thought straw was it's own type of field.

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