Surprise!!!

Waking up first thing in the morning is always hard. No one wants to leave the land of sleep… The land of oblivious relaxed peace where every problem we have is a million miles away. The world we create consciously comes flooding back. You realize, Plath, had a point. When you close your eyes the world drops dead. Nothing but blackness. You lift your lid and the world is born again… This little story isn’t about anyone I made up inside my head, it’s about a group that just escaped the egg. It’s about the unexpected surprise you get when you lift your lids after ending the world the evening before and you discover, you birthed more than the world you expected… You birthed some unexpected surprising new additions to the world.

We are proud to announce another hatching in our incubator! Thus far four have hatched. They are about a week earlier than expected. Which is why it came as such a surprise when the sun beckoned to me as I opened my eyes. Then headed downstairs, to throw on a sweater over my pajamas that I tend to wear out to the goat shed for morning milking.  Dr. Farmer Moomin, was already up. He called me into my “studio.” a space in our home with a wood stove and a bunch of shelving where all the stuff I use for creative purposes lives. There is a couch, sometimes I study in there, reading feminist literature such as Sylvia Plath, folklore often through The Carterhaugh School online or Wondrium, I write letters and maintain correspondences in this space with my archaic typewriter, some crafting happens in there as well…. It is also just a storage space. The couch pulls out into a futon bed so it also doubles as a guest bedroom. It has one more very important function though. It is where we plug in the incubator. It is the chicken “nursery.” I will put the sewing machine away and instead set up the incubator for hatching eggs. The baby chickens will stay in my studio first in the incubator then in their brooding box till they are ready to move outside.

These guys were a big surprise as we didn’t expect them for another week. But here they are early. The world was not just reborn, it was expanded when I crawled from my bed this morning.

These are not your typical chicken coop chickens. They are a different sort of chicken. They are what is called “guinea hens.” They will grow up to be rude, noisy, and somewhat aggressive. So why keep them? Well, here at Wildflower, we operate a permaculture model of farming. This means each living thing we bring to this homestead serves a purpose usually even beyond the product they give us. Goats, help us take out unwanted brush and give us milk. Chickens clear grassy area, and like the goats their feces feeds the soil enriching it. They also give us eggs. The dog we keep for cuddles and for the warning I get when I go outside about the wildlife that is active around the farm, she is my protector, tells me when anyone comes to the property. The guineas too serve a very important purpose. They eat ticks. They are the best body for tick eating the world has ever encountered. They wander the yard freely in a cluster screaming at everything and everyone. How you choose animals for a permaculture model involves looking at your land and listening to it. What does it need? Is the soil lacking in nutrients? Is the forest brush taking over? You need goats! Do you see a perfect spot for a garden that you can grow gradually? Time for a chicken tractor, to clear the space for you and feed the soil so you can plant it later. On a homestead, you don’t just get the animals you want because you think having them sounds cool. You get them for the problems they resolve. Guineas, solve the tick problem when permitted to roam free. Sometimes the wild life will pick them off a bit. But it is worth it to not end up with tick borne diseases that can shut me down along with this whole farm. So these birds are a critical tool for the running of Wildflower.

Without these birds, I couldn’t do permaculture. I would have to spray for bugs bringing in and using toxic chemicals. These guys are so helpful with preventing that kind of thing. They allow us to be organic. Which for me is super necessary as I am actually allergic to the common off label chemicals in food. These guys make it possible to avoid using such toxicity.

I keep looking in on them… They are really really cute. I know these are not great pictures, but it is the best I can do through the plexiglass of the incubator. I am so excited and happy to see them walking around being jerks to one another as they are prone to be inside the incubator. They are adorable and before long tick borne disease will cease to be a concern on this farm once again… It has been an unprecedented year thus far where those wretched blood suckers are concerned. So seeing these guys busting out of their eggs and into the world is such a welcome sight. It is also a welcome sight in a world in which so much horror seems to be unfolding of late. Being able to look in on them, reminds me there is a better world and we are part of it. All we have to do, is lift our lids and rebirth the world better than it was when we closed our eyes the night before.

Thank you for reading
Amanda Of Wildflower Farm