Amy's Farm

Although Brad has this week off and is filling it with family-centered activities, he absolutely refused to visit Amy's Farm with me. I tried bribing him with lunch out or fresh kale, but it was a non-negotiable. I think his angst has something to do with spiders and fresh air and all the green organic vegetation. Whatever it was, the man would not go with me. He did, however, offer to stay home with a part or all of the children. So the girls and I left the boys at home to do guy stuff.

The farm is going through a transition period as they dig out old beds in favor of a special compost-layering technique. It's been a lot of work for the full-timers, but the technique is resulting in a bountiful harvest of rich leafy plants. It's simply beautiful!

It was a very quiet day on the farm as we were the only volunteers and the usual full-timer had the day off. The girls opted to eat their picnic lunch on the super high hay stack. I'm not going to lie, they made me nervous. But I did think at one point, at least they're not playing in the compost pile this time.

Never mind. 

My highlight of the entire day was feeding the chickens, which I've never done before as the door is latched with a STAFF ONLY sigh. I had felled a bed of spinach down to the nubs and was instructed to feed the leaves to the chickens. I nearly screamed, "I've made it! I've finally made it!" I then worked on two spinach beds for the next hour and a half!

Alynna followed me to the coupe, but right before I opened the door she timidly asked, "Do these things harm you?" Remembering the time that a mother hen flew at Nathan's face for encroaching too closely to her nest of babies, I answered, "I don't know, let's find out."

 Alynna chose to stay outside.

I entered cautiously, half expecting to be pecked to death by feathered beasts. As it turns out, chickens are rather scared of humans when they don't have nests to protect. While it was rather anti-climactic, it was still a highlight of my day.

In other news, Kaeley now knows the feeling of being attacked by a mother sheep. I think I must review the rules with the children when next we visit: leave the babies alone unless it's a baby rabbit! She didn't think the experience was too funny until bedtime when she decided to share the story with me. And it's a good thing she waited, too, because I might have turned that sheep into mutton stew.