Roosters and Artichokes

Baby is now the only rooster in the coop. The old rooster died. Elysian asked if she could have our Black Australorp rooster and I said yes, because having that much testosterone in a small enclosed space is asking for trouble. Also, he has always been the second-in-command rooster and I think it will be nice for him to have his own harem. He has been at her place since Saturday and it sounds like he’s settling in just fine.

Meanwhile, I have a rooster who follows me around like a puppy dog until I give him a handful of scratch grains. He does step up, though, when he is needed. One of the Barred Rock hens has gone broody. She had a fit when I went into the coop yesterday. (I was five feet away from her nesting box, but she wasn’t having it.) Two other hens came over to investigate, which made her really cranky, and the next thing I knew, Baby was over there hustling them away. It’s a regular soap opera in there.

I am going to see if this Barred Rock hen will accept a few extra eggs tucked underneath her.

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Last year, we planted a bunch of Jerusalem artichokes—AKA sunchokes—in the old vegetable garden here by the house. They were a donation from our neighbor. I didn’t get them dug up last fall, but everything I read said they would overwinter just fine, and if we didn’t dig them up in the spring, they would just keep spreading. I went out and dug down into the bed yesterday afternoon to see if I could find some. I thought I might bring them in and roast them.

There aren’t any.

I suspect they were eaten by the voles that have plagued that garden for years. Voles are nasty little creatures that tunnel underground and eat the roots of all the plants. The plants often seem okay, especially after a long winter, until you touch them and realize that there is nothing left but stalks. No doubt the voles thought they had hit the lottery when they found all those tubers.

I might have to find a different spot and try again.

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DD#2 finished the downstairs bathroom and had enough paint left over that she has moved on to the upstairs bathroom. If this keeps up, we might also get the spare bedroom painted.

I’m still working every day—and we have plenty of reports in the queue—so I am a bit envious of the people who are getting all sorts of miscellaneous projects done. I did clean the refrigerator last week and was proud of myself for crossing that off the list.

The husband got the lift operational and tried it out last weekend. It’s impressive.

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You know what I’d like? I’d like to see people responding to this crisis with a lot more grace and humility. I’d like to see more grace (and gratitude) for the people whose lives have been thrown into chaos by this event and who are scrambling to make it up as they go. (And I am talking real chaos, not “I can’t get my Starbucks latte every morning now” chaos.) I’d especially like to see a lot more humility. This is not the time to act superior and show off how much you think you know. If you’re not a medical doctor, I’m not terribly interested in your opinion. The situation might be different in your part of the country or the world. Perhaps you might also consider that things are different elsewhere from what you’re experiencing. It’s entirely possible that you don’t have all the answers. We’d all be a lot better off if we minded our own neighborhoods for a while, or even learned to do that long-term.

(Cranky libertarian this morning needs more coffee and fewer people telling her what to do.)

Amy, over at the Farmish Kind of Life, did a great podcast yesterday: Ten Lessons You Can Learn in Times of Crisis. And it’s not focused just on homesteaders, so don’t be afraid to give it a listen. (The second one on the list, interestingly, is “learning what you don’t know.”)

And just because we need a bit of levity and I like to laugh at myself periodically, I’m going to share this clip from the movie The Three Amigos (thank you, Elysian!):