If you are stuck in the burbs but long for the bucolic beauty of the country and the peace of the farm life, I have good news. All this is just as close as your desktop computer!
There a number of webcams that you can visit to see slices of life on a real farm. I will admit that cow cams tend to be a bit dull, as the cows tend to stay in one place and sleep a lot. Not much action with cows. Horse cams show a lot of empty stalls as horses are the opposite of cows and tend to move around quite a bit. There seem to be no pig cams. (I wonder why?)
But chicken cams! Now you’re talking action! Chickens have a LOT of activity. Try out some of these chicken cams:
Fllying Skunk Farm – I rather like the weather station dials at the opening. The barnyard looks a bit dreary, but there’s always something going on. Today, there is a big FAT goat in with the chickens. One of the chickens has a HUGE feathery head that looks like he’s wearing a wig.
Thelma & Louise Cam – These are birds with personality! Admittedly, the video stream doesn’t always work properly, but the still photos are still worth it. I love the “Flu Stay Away” sign. Themla and Louise are very well informed birds.
HenCam — As I was researching these chicken cam websites, I had the good fortune of seeing a very serious and funky looking fellow in a polo shirt, pinstriped suit and filthy sneakers adjusting the webcam. I know his sneakers were filthy because he pointed the webcam at his feet at one point. He also spent a good deal of time staring directly into the camera lens over his head from VERY CLOSE. His mouth was twisted to the side at the effort. I felt like such a Peeping Tom! Anyway…about the chickens…It’s a very nice chicken cam.
We (I) have often considered getting chickens. I would love to have some colorful little birds making little chicken noises in the morning. I have read all kinds of books and always make a point of visiting the chicken barn at the county fair. Chickens are beautiful!
My mom loves the idea of my getting chickens. She loves to say, “Great! Now we can finally see how long a chicken lives!” (For those of you who don’t know, I am a vegetarian.)
By the way, I want to go on the record and say that I DO NOT approve of the genetic scientists’ efforts with their featherless chicken. Some call this “Frankenfood.” I call it just an abomination. The scientists point to the convenience. But, sadly, featherless chickens are not healthy chickens. They are prone to a whole host of problems and diseases. Isn’t the point to have HEALTHY FOOD?
I may have to get on the bandwagon to campaign against genetically modified foods if THIS is the type of horrors they have in mind.
Nuff said.
Robin
Did I get your attention? I thought I could use a gripping lead to entice you to read about…worms!
Most mornings (okay, SOME mornings), I lace up the old tennie pumps and head out for a walk. Mostly I just go up and down the driveway since the rural roads where we live have no shoulders could be hazardous.
The mornings after a rain, a lap takes twice as long as sunny days. That’s because I have to pick up all the rapidly-dehydrating worms and relocate them to the grass. Sure, I might stare straight ahead on the first lap, determined to keep going. But before long, I’m glancing down and start feeling horrid about just walking past these wriggling, suffering creatures. So I stoop down, gently pick up the worm and find a nice patch of wet grass and earth for him to recuperate.
The absolute WORST mornings for me are those when Harry has made it outside first. Sadly, this happens pretty frequently since he runs from 5 – 6 a.m. on weekdays and I am not that, shall we say, motivated. On those days, after a rain and when I head outdoors, I witness unspeakable devastation. Harry is a good person. But he runs without glancing down, not even thinking about what he’s doing. I can only hope that he misses some that I can rescue later. It’s ugly. Really ugly.
I can see some of you snickering now. (You know who you are. I know who you are.) But really, the whole motivation is as ancient as, well, Buddhism. There are Five Precepts (the basic code of ethics) in the Buddhist philosophy. The first precept of Buddhism is:
I undertake the precept to refrain from taking the life (killing) of living beings.
When you read Buddhist literature, you realize that most people interpret this as not just passively refraining from throttling your husband for leaving the kitchen all messy or your son for bringing home a stinking report card. Most extend this precept to an active practice of not doing any harm to any living being.
Are you following me here? The practice of picking up worms is an ethical practice that contributes to good karma.
This interest isn’t just because of my recent reading or the fact that worms are good for the garden. I have had a long interest in worms.
A while back, I had this brainstorm that since I hate going out into the cold to dump our kitchen scraps into the compost bin, we could just use a worm composter. (It’s called vermicomposting and the setup is called a home vermiculture system.)
What a grand idea! I bought this nifty Can-o-Worms that I set up in the basement. I ordered worm bedding (I kid you not) and a couple pounds of extra special redworms. I lovingly prepared the composter exactly according to instructions, layering in damp newspaper. Then ho, ho, ho. I was ready to go!
You feed your worms many of the same types of things that could ordinarily go into a compost bin–peelings of vegetables, leaves of lettuce that are brown, etc.
So here’s the problem. Worms really don’t eat that much. Maybe…maybe a WHOLE BUNCH of worms could keep up with a single person who doesn’t eat a lot of fresh vegetables. But these worms could not keep up with our family of three.
Frankly, I hate to report this part. I’m not sure what ultimately happened. I don’t know if our worms were overwhelmed with the bounty that they had at their disposal. I don’t know if the fact that they arrived in a snowstorm and sat in the mailbox for two days had something to do with it. But the worms met…well…an early demise. It was a very sad day for me when I went to visit with the worms and found everyone sleeping. Wait. They weren’t sleeping, cause they wouldn’t wake up. They were DEAD!
Bad karma here for that, no doubt. I hope to make up for it by picking up worms after the rain.
Robin
It was a busy day here, but there were still some interesting sightings and events…
First, the birds staged an interesting protest over the fact that I was late in getting out to fill their bird feeders. This photo probably doesn’t do justice to the congregation of cow birds that were sitting outside doing their best impression of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. Good thing I had plenty of seed in the garage to appease these surly masses.
Also on the bird front, I spotted a bluebird today! No, I didn’t stalk the bluebird houses, as previously planned. I was just sitting quietly at my desk and when I looked up, there she was! I have two witnesses that can vouch for the sighting.
Good day!
Robin
