Sunsets. Scents. Digestion. Relaxation. Sone foraging too!
Last nights sunset was so dramatic that Boo and I interrupted our gentle wander and ran down the back for an unobstructed view.
One of the reasons I walk is to leave the scent of people and dogs. This helps warn off predators. And to see sunsets.
Later I tucked in the little wounded white chick, into her crate, she is eating and drinking and carrying on as normal. When I carried her, in her crate, into the broiler chook house with the others yesterday evening, she started to screech in fright. Boo started howling back and jumped the short gate, scattering chickens in all directions, to come in to check on her. That dog.
It is so cold this morning that I have left her inside by the heating lamp until it warms up a little.
Her wounds are cleaned with vetericyn wound care every four hours which she hates of course. If she survives she will be a layer. She won’t grow and is so damaged.
In the evening I wander the fields and collect field corn in the husk and weeds for the pigs on my walks.
By the way: There is a young man around the corner who has grown and is selling a field of pumpkins. He is giving me all his seconds for the pigs and chickens and cows. I will go collect them on Saturday. He is a senior in the local school. I am so happy for him. An enterprising young man!
I also collect walnuts in the evening too. So my walk is really a leisurely foraging mission.
Plus: The walnuts are finally falling at the golf course and R has set up a collection scheme for those. Evidently there are four mature walnut trees out there!
There is a theory I read somewhere but cannot remember where that if you walk for at least 15 minutes after dinner it will aid digestion. Apparently it stimulates the muscles in your digestive tract, helping food move through your system more efficiently. Relieving that bloated feeling we sometimes get after eating.
We eat dinner early so I can get to evening chores before dark. Evening chores have their own pace. Slower. Dreamier.
Also of course as I walk in the evenings I check every animal and bird. Make sure they are tucked up and ready for sleep. It usually a leisurely relaxed stroll. My evening constitutional.
Similar to a mama checking all her kids on the way to bed. Knowing one is done for the day.
I hope you have a lovely day!
Here is the second woolly bear caterpillar I have seen. Making a similar winter prediction?
Celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
19 responses to “Why I walk in the evenings”
The walk’s worth it for those beautiful sunsets!
I really love walking after dinner. I’m trying to get back in the habit of doing it, and I believe that it is great for the digestion! That sunset is spectacular.
Gorgeous sunset shot and look at the Fellowship Forest. So beautiful! Collecting acorns for the pigs was on my daily to-do list when we were raising them. I identified all the white acorn trees, those with the large acorns, on our land, and elsewhere in a 10 mile radius and would spend time daily collecting them. Of course the pigs loved them! And the black walnuts too!
Lovely read, I felt like I took the walk with you.
One day I will video checking all the animals in the evening. That would be a sweet ten minutes.
the evening’s walks serve so many positive purposes, a win for all. love the young man who’s started up the pumpkin business
Yes! I think he is funding his college! Pretty awesome.
We have now adapted an evening walk routine. It is a fine way to wrap up a day. Our park has lovely paved walkways that curve artfully through tall trees and lake vistas. Settles my heart into the smells of nature before calling it a day. I am curious about how these spaces will look in the winter. There are some tall light standards that I’m betting will be pretty on new snow and early January evenings.
I love the shot of all the chickens on their high roost in the Chook House. They must be good flyers to be able to get down from there.
My dad swore by having a walk after dinner. He also checked all of his animals before bed and us of course. I was just thinking how he would have just loved you and what you are doing.
I bet he had well looked after animals. That walk after dinner is the calmest time of the day.
Good morning Cecil. Ahhhhh…..that evening walk. You are so correct that a little walk after a meal aids the digestion, also it is great that you eat a little early. A stomach full of food does not make for a good nights sleep.
Your little habit of checking on your animals each nigh is kind of like “putting the house to bed” as my grandma used to say.
You do so enjoy that beautiful life you lead.
Jo
I’ve also seen that walking after a meal aids digestion.
I like the sunsets.
Dark wooly bear caterpillars forecast harsh winter…so says the myth.
Yes! It is a lovely myth. And the ones I am seeing have a lot of brown so it will be interesting! We just need to refer back to the caterpillars at the end of winter.
Love the sunset photos. I love walking just before dark as well. I always find the bunnies are very active at twilight.
Sadly, I find that if I don’t get a walk in in the morning I don’t do it at all. By evening I’m pretty well done. There’s a place ‘down the road a piece’ that sells pumpkins and they have managed to renovate the barn on their property into a lovely event center with the pumpkin cash. There are a lot of black walnut trees behind my barn, the deer love them, me, not so much. The squirrels leave masses of shells all over the place. There are also a couple of hickory trees in the middle pasture, not so messy and the deer love them as well.
Perfect feed for your wild friends! Black walnuts are so hard to break into.
Yes… shut up the chickens for the night, do a little watering, dead head a few things, listen to the night birds, admire the sunset, wonder where Arnie the carpet python is and hoping he is helping to keep the vermin down (he’s not big enough for eggs yet), salute the moon and back inside for the night. It feels… settled.
Yes! Settled is the perfect word!
Wonderful images Celi …