Little piggy games.
Funny dog Games.
Yesterday we sowed all the high summer vegetables all over again. The secret to growing lots of food across a whole summer is successive plantings. Already we are eating like kings. Last night we had lamb burgers flavoured with mint and fresh garlic, slathered with a chimichurri made from two different kinds of basil and cilantro and parsley and topped with fat slices of beetroot and freshly lifted onion and lettuce. All on home made, straight from the oven buns. Divine.
The apple tree is a favourite chicken hang-out now.
Look at this bedraggled chicken (below) on the right. I found her yesterday afternoon floating in a deep stock water tank. All I could see was her head and a slowly blinking eye. She had been in there so long that her entire body was below the water line like a fat iceberg. Her terror had gone all the way past desperation to defeat. As I reached her she was listing heavily. Almost gone.
Her whole body was inert and still and heavy. So soaked was she. Even her legs would not work anymore. So I popped her into a warm hay manger and covered her with old hay to soak up all the water, moving her to a dry spot in the hay every once in a while. She flopped with her head down, closed her eyes and shivered in the hot sun as I fluffed her feathers to dry. I honestly thought she would die. But a couple of hours later she climbed out and made her way back to the chookhouse. Tough old bird. She is a layer too. Look at her big healthy comb.
It was hot and still all day. Soaked in deep humidity.
Boo is being taught to climb into this chair and sit there. He gets over-excited when visitors come so I need to be able to command him out of the action quickly and then he has to sit and wait for the command to get back down. Hence the chair. He is doing very well though it is not his favourite trick so far.
Good morning. All round it was a lovely day on the farmy yesterday. The country rhythm was easily recovered. We took out the broken door from the piglets pen with Charlotte barking her encouragement. I am thinking of turning it into a harvest table for the verandah. It is lovely heavy wood. I need to talk to my men.
Today the painter comes, and the roofers come to work on the gutters. I am hoping they will hang the kiwi weather vane that Senior Son gave me for my birthday last year as their last job.
Have a lovely day.
Your friend, celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
64 responses to “I can’t see you, so you can’t see me and a floating chook!”
Poor old chook, I’m so glad you rescued her, Celi! Tough bird too, to recover so well! Lovely to see you home where you belong, in the sunshine eating all your fresh produce! xx
Sash that feels good, a dose of farm life.
I’ve often wondered how your cows and dogs get along as all my experience – admittedly little – is they don’t really get along well ?
Wow you must have posted really early this am, I dont usually get to read your posts before bed but it has just gone past nine pm here and here you are already with a new post when I was checking back on a question I asked yesterday.
The farm looks lovely and bucolic, such warm summer days (we are in the middle of our half assed winter, sometimes I long for proper seasons) and the lamb burgers sound so good and what satisfaction knowing you grew it all yourselves. You seem to have quite the flock of sheep there at the moment.
Oh poor old bird, so glad she has recovered so well. I love happy endings. 😀
I love the idea of turning the pen door into a table – can’t wait to see it.
Have a beautiful happy farmy day.
🙂 Mandy xo
It will be nice to see that lovely weather vane up – and don’t I recognise that plant marker? Poor old chicken, thank goodness you found her and took such good care of her.
my daughter gave me 15 of these plant markers, they last forever.. which I like.. we actually have an old slate blackboard in the basement and john is going to make some more – he loves them, (and is a consistent plant labeler!) we just write on them with white crayon pencil… c
me thinks maybe a piece of netting secured over the water tank would save another chook from a soaking! Bless her little sodden socks …she must have been real scared…until loving hand plucked her from certain death…
Clever Celi…have a great day
The sheep drink out of the trough so no good covering it, there are water troughs al over the property, if they are kept quite full it is not such a worry, but keeping them full in this heat leads to green icky water so when I am home I have lots of little water containers scattered about so they don’t go for the big ones, and I had not got to refilling all those yet, The best thing is to be vigilant and i am home now! c
a chicken rescue! how wonderful!!! at least you didn’t have to perform CPR. that would have been an interesting picture!
So glad you rescued her! I hope she learned her lesson and recovers fully.
So glad you found that chook before it was too late. I bet she will lay even more out of gratitude!!! Great to see the farmie is doing so well with animals and produce. Your dinner made my mouth water.
The chair trick is a fabulous idea Celi!!! I must try it with Dolly, as she loses her mind when we have visitors. She just loves everybody way too much, and the excitement of having other people around makes her over-exuberant! I must look for a proper chair! XO
This chair is an old metal one, sturdy enough for a big dog to leap up into.. is Dolly a big dog? Boo seems to be growing at an alarming rate.. c
The thing is, Dolly seems small compared to Boo!!! I keep showing Boo’s pictures to Jack and asking him about Dolly, and wondering if she is small for a heeler, but he says that males normally get bigger than females. But Boo seems gigantic! Do you think he might have another breed in him??? I will make a note to send you some pictures of Dolly so you can see her. xo
Vacation and weddings are great but I’m glad to return to the Farmy! Lovely post and I’m glad your chook recovered. I’ve lost hens in the water tank and it’s so sad. I’m off and running. It’s gonnna be 90+ here today so we need to hit it hard to be able to come inside while it’s so hot. Have a great day, Celi!
I absolutely agree, i get all my weeding done before 9 in these temperatures, after that it is the easier jobs! How is your vegetable garden, is everything growing? c
The potatoes are great, we’re harvesting beans, there’s lots of green tomatoes, we’re getting squash and zucchini but peas, lettuce and radishes are done. The heirloom corn is growing pretty well and we’ll have okra & chard in 2-3 weeks. We’ll be doing a fall garden for the 1st time this year-broccoli, cabbage, beets, peas, salad stuff. I’m still planting beans and I’ve been canning jelly and will be doing dilly beans today. How about some pics of your garden? 😀
I will have a look today, the garden has always got a good shot in it!! c
I love the chair trick. When I was small, I had a wonderful dog (his name was Boo) who would sit at the kitchen table the minute company came. He had his own chair and would hop up there, tail wagging, big sloppy smile on his face, and wait for a “company has come cookie”.
Glad you found the poor chook. Sad girl! I hope she recovers without any lasting side effects. Swimming will probably not be in her future. Perhaps she could find another sport more suitable.
Have a wonderful day!
I am not sure that she will be laying again! That kind of waterlogged fright will have a consequence.. c
Oh I love it when we manage to rescue a wee life. It somehow makes up for all the untimely deaths when dealing with animals. Well done you!
Christine
At least your chook was in good hands.. I would have had my blow drier out, lol, and the feathers would have had quite the new look to them:D Good on Boo, you can teach an old dog new tricks.. hmmm.. that gives me a few ideas;) c.. I always have time for you, next time.. give me a call. Stampede is not that busy:D xx
I thought of the blow drier but it was a hot day and I did not want to terrify her further, poor old chook.. c
Love the picture of the lambies in the shade (the first one). Poor Boo — it’s hard to be a good dog when it goes against what you naturally do — jump on visitors, etc.