Monday, April 27, 2009

Now for something totally different

Well we're still ramping up for the growing season! Our garden is tilled, not planted (peas soon, but too cold for everything else) and the chicken fence is in. Our turkeys are running around like mad. Ironically the turkeys are persecuting the remaining ducks. This is very ironic if you have read the duck tale earlier in this blog. I think our fowl are destined to be in conflict. Well not all the turkeys are a problem, there is the turkey that jumped into the kiddie pool and drown. Turns out turkeys are indeed plenty short on smarts.


As aside we had a really cool trip to the woodland park zoo in Seattle. The zoo was really close to where I grew up (on Kensington) so it's nice to share this with the kids. They had a pair of really old Ossabaw hogs. Very cool. Check out some random pictures below. Oh and there is a REALLY cute picture of a kitty and our little one in the kitty house!

















































Monday, April 6, 2009

Spring is in full swing

With a weekend in the 60's and more coming, it seems spring has finally sprung on the Dalan Farm. We've been fencing (our primary pasture is setup) and getting ready for new animal and plant adventures. I'm still getting a steady stream if inquires about Large Black Hogs and a good number of folks interested in breeding them. That is really cool!

Speaking of animal things...we did have some bad news this weekend. Our two boy ducks had a habit of chasing and biting one of our favorite hens, Shadow. Saturday morning after we let the birds out of the house, the Duck boys were found standing over Shadows still warm, but very dead, body.

I could just spit. I had planned to put these ducks in the freezer because of their behavior months ago. I had put it off for one reason or the other, but now it was too late. Well, Saturday we picked up some new birds (Banty chicks and Turkeys) to sooth wounded child hearts (we now have a Shadow II). We also buried Shadow in the woods and will plant a tree over her. Lots of tears. Even a few from me...I'm not particularly attached to the chickens (unless they are accompanied by rice and green beans), but when my kids hurt, I hurt. In any event, we seemed to find some closure and a few smiles in the end. Even had a good talk about the inevitable (though often dangerous) nature of revenge. My kids are getting smarter than me...fast.

But what about the ducks? Lets just say I combined an anatomy lesson for one of my more adventuresome children with some culinary experimentation. I discovered we all enjoy a well cooked pair of ducks. Waste not, want not.