Ted here bringing you this week’s update from an outdoor picnic table late on an early March afternoon when it ought by rights to be colder than it is… but spring weather keeps returning persistently.
Among other things I can see from here are some 2-3″ tall tulip sprouts, the sprouting tips of some elderberries, and at least one of my escaped hens.
The hens have been a constant preoccupation this past week. They have clearly decided that winter is over and there are insects waking up and tasty green growing tips of all sorts of things out there to eat, and that I have no right to keep them in their yard if they’re perfectly able to fly out. That and the two young roosters are fighting with our senior rooster (their papa) almost constantly, perhaps offering some extra incentive to get away.
When they started getting out, I started watching and saw at least one fly from the ground to the roof of the kitchen porch near the gate, then out over the fence to the garden beyond.
As I’m working four weekdays out of five on a house remodel in Rutledge at the moment, I’m unable to be here during the day to usher the escapees back into their yard regularly, and though there are not too many tender young sprouts to be injured by scratching chickens yet, there will be soon. So finally one night last week I got myself into the coop to do some wing clipping. I clipped one wing each (this does no harm to the birds, though it may damage their pride) on the four hens I thought were most frequently escaping.
Next morning nobody was out of the yard before I left for work, but several were when I got home, including a couple older hens and at least one of those whose wing I’d clipped the night before. I cornered and nabbed that one, intent on clipping the other wing, but found that I couldn’t entirely rule out her escape by other means owing to my negligence, like a fence bottom they dug under.
This hen, one of last summer’s new hatchees, was mild and didn’t complain much at being caught, so my assumptions of good intent led me to want to offer a deal: I spoke to the hen in my arms to the effect that while I understood her desire to be roaming freely, I also had community agreements to keep, and that if I found her out again, I would have to clip her other wing.
Next day, of course, she was out again. I caught her and clipped her other wing. This apparently had none of the intended limitation on her ability to fly out of the yard, for she is out at nearly all times now.
This morning I happened to catch her scooting into a previously unnoticed hidey-hole under a tarp covering my straw bales. I did not disturb her, but went there later to discover a clutch of seven uniform, dusky blue pullet eggs. Previous experience suggests that she will not continue to lay there, now she’s been found out. But I also caught her escaping the yard again this morning, and plugged the route she used, so we’ll see how long it will take her to find another way out.
Next step is to rebuild the chicken tractor suspension (version 4.3 or so). The tractor is the one sure-fire way I’ve found to be sure the chickens don’t get out, and that I can control where they tend the earth with their valuable ministrations. I’m almost there with the prototype, employing two bicycle wheels with solid tires connected by a four-foot axle that goes through the interior. I’ll keep you updated.
Given this weather, you won’t be surprised to hear that everybody else has been out waking up to spring, too. Javi, Christina, and Loren were seen Saturday mulching and manuring garden beds up by circle drive. The growers’ co-op brought back at least two trailer loads of manure from a local farmer’s place. Hassan is out most days working on his new house foundation. The kids are outdoors much of the time and concocting elaborate adventures as they’re meant to. And Thomas’s shop, long paused at the platform stage for planning and preparation of the frame, has sprouted up to two-story proportions in short order.
I enjoyed the privilege of helping lift beams or struts into place on the shop frame a couple times with several others, and though the cold morning wind was a little piercing up away from the ground obstructions, I loved every moment of it, as though we were sailing above the earth. That and the relative ease with which various mortises and tenons fit into place as intended without major encouragement. I will always have more to learn from Thomas.
Mid-week, a number of villagers helped Meadoe get herself moved out of Strawtron and into her new place in Memphis, the better to focus on recovering her full health. Duncan and Ewan will be living there with her most of the time, so we are feeling low about losing immediate access to three long-time villagers. We are extremely glad, however, that Memphis is not far off and we’ll still get to see them with some regularity.
As is often the case here, those departing are balanced to some extent by those arriving. DR member Joe, who has been away for the winter, is expected home this week, and will likely be back at his house construction labors before long.
Cob, Katherine, Tyler (Sandhill) and I got together for a short meeting Saturday afternoon to get the new brewing co-op rolling. We’ve set our first brewing date for early in April, and will start brewing regularly together after that. Someday we may even get to the licensing and other elements that will allow us to sell our product at the Mercantile and elsewhere, but I’m just excited to start sharing the enthusiasm and meeting ever more of our needs and wants on-site.
I’m hearing more and more from various villagers gearing up for the warm season by seeking work exchangers to help on their projects. I finally got my own project description sent in to Nik for posting on our website, and have started talking to some folks myself. I’m already looking forward to the fullness of summer, though I don’t want to rush this budding of spring, watching the garlic tips green up and lengthen, and every other thing start to come alive. Sara and Aurelia are starting to mix garden time into school hours, and I’m grateful for their attentions.
Mushroom log inoculation must happen this month too, all the sooner if leafing out comes early, because it is better to harvest the logs for the purpose before the trees break bud. My shiitake spawn and new sawdust plugging tool (the old one finally wore out) ought to arrive in the mail quite soon. I’ll have trees arriving soon from the state conservation nursery for planting as well. How I’ll manage to grow into the myriad tasks of spring while still spending four days a week on the house remodeling, I don’t know. Thank goodness for more daylight hours!
Soon enough we’ll see visitors and start hosting tours again here, and we hope to see lots of you readers out at the village this year. If you’re thinking about applying for a visitor program or work exchange this season, now’s the time to visit our website.
As always, I hope the changing of seasons on your home front is as refreshing and invigorating as ours. Please keep in touch with your own inspiring stories!
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Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is an intentional community and nonprofit outside Rutledge, in northeast Missouri, focused on demonstrating sustainable living possibilities. Find out more about us by visiting our website, reading our blog, or emailing us.