The family has been busy these last few weeks minding The Matriarch who had a fall. You know how these things are. But with a very determined and positive attitude she is well on the way to a complete recovery. But the first few weeks she needed tons of care so I was simply too busy to write of any farm news. Once again life intervenes. With all its twists and turns. To not expect these twists and turns would lead to madness but we are never as prepared for the unexpected as we would like.
The cows have been let into the vegetable garden and are munching on corn stalks and rows of corn-gone-hard next will be our amazing cover crop ( organic oats, wheat and soya beans) in there.
More chicks! Now the ducks are hatching out chicken eggs. Their duck eggs are all infertile which is a disappointment and a relief ( is there a word for that?) so a few of the ducks have taken over nests of chicken eggs.
Ducks raising chicks does not end well – the ducks try to teach the chicks to swim quite young and drown them, so these chicks are under a light. Plus chickens lead their chicks to food and scratch it up for their babies calling to the chicks the whole time – ducks do not scratch or call.
Every time we go through one of these extra humid spells we get chicks! The yard is swarming with them!
Tima and Wai are good! Eating well from the restaurant scraps.
The rescue rabbit sits on his house way up high watching the world go by. But he always bounds down to see me when I visit. If I thought Boo would leave her alone I would let her out but I am not sure about that!
Boo and Ton lie about in the shade pretending not to care.
The hay is in and I would not be surprised if John gets a fourth cut this year.
It has been very hot so the loaves are proofing extra fast.
I am off to open up the flour shop and make some bread.
Talk soon.
miss c
The Kitchen's Garden 
49 responses to “Little Hiccups along the Road”
Life always has it’s own agenda and we either follow along or go mad. You are so wise to realize that and let go of some expectations. Animals are clearly very entertaining. I didn’t read about the bunny. Too cute. Hope you get to enjoy some of the weekend. Thinking of you always. M
Someone had her then shifted so could no longer look after her. Long story short she came to live here – god knows what I will do with her in the winter .
Used to have a house bunny and he did very well inside in the winter. He was quite fastidious about always using his litter box even when the cage door was open for him to come and go❤️ (Kept the dogs in their place too, if you were wondering; )
They can be litter box trained. I had one and the dog and cat though she was a sibling. I still have pictures of the three of them. I always thought that if those three could be a family and care for each other, why can’t we do the same.
That does sound lovely / but leaving a fluffy rabbit in the care of Boo and Ton while I am out at work all day would be a risky business!
Good morning, Miss C! I must have missed the rescue rabbit’s arrival. Life does complicate things!
– well – nowhere in the book did it promise that life would be easy ..
Indeed, it would probably be boring! But sometimes…
Ducks are such characters! I saw a clip from that new truffle pig film – I’m sure it’s Tima in the starring role! I don’t think I’ll be going to see the film, but the pig looks good!
Maybe that is why Tima is covered in mud – she is hiding from the press! Oh
Ha ha – or digging for truffles!
I always love your posts. Sorry about your fall and glad to hear that you are on the mend. I’ve missed your daily posts but totally get your absence. It’s terribly hot here in Toronto as well. It’s hard to get motivated to work outside in the garden but my tiny veg. patch is producing tons of mini tomatoes and I have to check it daily or the squirrels and the bunny and my husband (on his way to his studio out back) grab the low hanging fruit.
Thankfully it was not me who fell / I still bounce! It was my mother in law!
Thanks for the clarification. I’ve been the matriarch in our family for quite some time. Both my mother and mother-in-law have been gone for 28 and 43 years and I’m the oldest daughter in the family.
Clearly, I haven’t been paying enough attention. I’m not certain who the Matriarch might be — you? or someone else? — but it’s good to hear that recovery’s progressing. When I read about the fourth cutting of hay, I smiled.
Mama Cormier just answer my question!
Actually not, ‘The Matriarch’ is John’s Mother; )
Yes! I am
Most am most certainly not the matriarch of anyone.
Lol, C! Was just looking at your List of Cast Members; do my best to figure out who Pania is (or was) as mentioned by JM Chaney in our comments back and forth… (help please?) Very good to hear from you again!
Pania was a Peahen, I think?
Yes – she dude recently a hawk/possibly eagle got her. Very sad . Lost her chicks too.
Yes, that was what I remembered C. Very sad to hear❤️
I love the idea of your yard flooded with chicks! Like tiny wild flowers springing up after heavy rain. Heaven knows you’ve had enough of that. My very best wishes to the Matriarch for a full recovery, not least because you have plenty to do without needing to care for her also.
I hope the Matriarch continues to heal well, and good luck with all those chicks!
I have no idea what to do with all these chicks. They are all wild!
So sorry to hear about John’s mother, The Matriarch. You haven’t mentioned your mother in law in a while. So glad that she is back on the mend! Hiccups along the way is a nice way of putting difficulties. And twists and turns too. The dog days of summer are super hot down here, with the last couple weeks in the mid 90s and the future weeks look like that as well. I love that your ducks are broody and hatching out chicks. 🙂 Never a dull moment on the farmy! Oh, do you bake bread in the flour shop and do shoppers get to eat it? That would be a real treat!
Yes! I do bake it in the flour shop! The smell of hot bread brings them in!
I’m sorry to hear of the Matriarch’s fall, the dreaded thing for us Elders. And very glad she has rallied with lots of loving care. Baby chicks do need their own mamas to teach them all about their world, which is generally not aquatic. Thanks for the updates on Tima, Wai, Ton & Boo. The Rescue Bunny is lovely. I sure wish I had one of your lovely loaves right now with my tea.
My load today was Red Fife, Rye and The High protein bread flour / bacon lettuce and tomato sandwiches for tea!
The check in is appreciated Miss C and it’s good to know life is moving forward, rather predictable or not. I see Mr. Flowers has taken up driving. He looks very regal.
Deb, Thank you for the “like”. I like your comment too. I just can’t ever check that box for I don’t have the ability on this old computer. I was thinking that might be the Noble Pania, with the injured foot. It’s been a long while & I can’t remember…..J.
Yes! That is mr flowers / his tail falls off in the late summer.
Hiccups RUs. Just the way of the world, you are right! LOVE TIMA coming to camera like the actual Queen of England. She is my hero. Takes no prisoners. xx
She is a filthy beast!
Very glad to hear your mother-in-law’s come through her fall and healing well!
This conundrum about the chicks all sounds rather complicated Miss C – the aftermath of ducks hatching chicks, I mean… If babies imprint on the first life they see after hatching, but you need to separate them or else, and the hens aren’t broody, then who’ll be teaching all those fuzzy ones how to be chickens? Totally missed the arrival of Rescue Bunny (and if I read you correctly, you’re unsure as to its sex?) but he/she’s very perky looking, so that’s good! (“Males can become sexually mature as early as ten weeks!” Source is a massive article here, should you need it? https://rabbit.org/care/babies.html#As_Baby_Rabbits_Come_Of_Age
See my note to you, Deb. I replied to my own post above.
Thanks JM!
The rabbit is a female and has lived alone all her life. I do have broody chickens as well / those austrolorps are wonderful mothers.
Oh thank goodness about the broody Austrolorp hens!
I don’t think you told us about rescue bunny but glad he/she is there with you on the farmy..lucky bunny! We have bunches of them here..happily munching away on the garden but that’s what bunnies do, right? So glad the Matriarch is healing up well and as you say…having a positive, determine attitude is half the battle. Is she any closer to moving in to the air bnb that is not an air bnb anymore or is she a longs ways off from that? I was also wondering after your post about you being the only one in your American family to be vaccinated if you meant her as well. I thought maybe being an educator in her past life that she would understand the science behind vaccines. No?
I name chucklings came to mind when reading about the baby chicks being raised by the ducks! 🙂
Yes – everyone is doing well! And yes I am still the only one vaccinated so I live in the Airbnb.
That’s the thing I’ve figured out as we plod our way through the pandemic… the rest of our life keeps happening 🙃 I’m pleased to read that The Matriach is recovering well. Falls are one of my big aging fear factors both for myself and others. Baking is good ♡
Fascinating about the ducks and chicks. I guess it make sense but there is a bit of grim humor to chicks not ducklings.
Grim humor!!