Chickmas In July!

Your being here makes the whole world a little bit brighter. Thank you for being a little ray of sunshine.

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Here’s What’s Happening At Good Spirits Farm

It’s new chick day! Ten laying hens and 15 guinea hens arrived this morning. Some of you may remember that there used to be guineas on the farm—they’re funny little birds that eat ticks and are great at warning the chickens about hawks and other predators. But: They warn the chickens by….screaming…loudly…kind of all the time.

Chris, my now ex-husband, loathed our original guineas. It was a constant point of friction between us. Hoping to keep the peace, I caved and gave them away. I always missed having them around, and shortly after filing for divorce, I thought, well, I guess one upside is that I can now have more guineas.

15 screamers reporting for scream duty!

The hens are replacements for my original laying flock, which will turn five next spring. Chickens only live for about seven years, and they lay fewer eggs as they age. All my gals will stay on the farm for the rest of their days, but we could use some youngins to keep the egg supply flowing.

That first sip of water after two days in transit just hits different.

The next few days will be spent making sure everyone is warm enough, well-fed, and not being trampled by their siblings. This year, they are growing up in my bathtub (another benefit of not being married, there’s no one to tell you no when you move chickens into the house!), which makes keeping a careful eye on them a little easier—even if my house is starting to smell a bit like a barnyard.

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Here’s What I Loved This Week

I had a last minute work trip to Seattle, and on my flight home yesterday, I sat next to a nine-year-old boy flying alone from spending the summer with his dad. We chatted for a couple minutes about his summer. When the conversation trailed off, I tucked into working on a crochet project. About 20 minutes later, I heard a little voice from my left say, “I just wanted to tell you, you are doing a really good job on your knitting.”

Thank you, Jackson, for reminding me that we should all be telling more strangers that they’re doing absolutely great.