I Like Days Like This

We are having a downpour and there is distant thunder.  I love the smell and the feel of the cool damp wind.  I ate my lunch on the front porch on the fringe of it all, first at the table and then standing just outside the front door.  Now, I have moved just inside as the thunder rumbles and the hard rain still pellets the railing and steps.

On days like this, for some reason, people always say "it's a good day for ducks".  On Saturday, I brought 2 baby geese (goslings) home to Cabin Spring Farm.  Mother's Day, they spent the day in a big box in the mud hall, and Monday, I put them in a small pen to enjoy the outdoors.  We watched them eat grass, find worms, and splash in in a low bucket of water.  I watched them from the fiber shed as rain started coming down first lightly and then harder.  I went out in the rain to make sure the shade cloth wasn't collecting rainwater that would collapse it on the goslings.  Later, we went in the house and when John checked on them in the late afternoon, one of them was missing.  We were devastated and locked for him all over the place, with no sign.  On closer inspection we found that on one end of the pen the chicken wire was up slightly.  I guess we will never know what really happened to him.

I spent that night and the next morning feeling like I was a neglectful mom and I kept wondering why it happened and what I should do.  My wonderful supportive husband said he thought I should call the woman at the farm where they came from and see if there was a extra goose looking for a place to go.

I called and she did have a few extra males.  She was sorry for what had happened and said we could have another gosling.

Yesterday, John and I went to the farm in Amissville and this time were able to see more of their farm.  Saturday, when I arrived to pick up the goslings, they were in a box waiting for me and it was late in the day of a long day, so we headed right home.

The young couple at Crowfoot Farm have only been at farming for 5 years and they have more animals than Karen!  They raise alot of heritage breed so they have Hog Island sheep, Cotswold sheep, Dorky chickens, Cotton Patch geese, and turkeys and guineas and even peacocks, and at least one horse and cow.  The geese raise the goslings so we had to go find the right clutch.  We saw several pairs of geese with their goslings running to keep in line, a funny sight.  The right one was found and scooped up and the others went along their way with seemingly only a brief moment of anxiety.  

Back at Cabin Spring Farm, the new gosling was introduced and the two spent the afternoon in the pen with several ground staples added for security.  

Today, is a good day for ducks but the geese are spending it inside.