Monday, April 8, 2013

Morning Routine

We wake up these days mostly when we feel like it, which seems to be between 7 and 8am. It's the morning sun coming in through the windows that gets us up and moving. I used to think that every farmer should get up an hour before dawn. Where did I get such a goofy idea?

In an off-grid life, there's no real reason to get up before daylight. You can't see to do anything anyway. Take the extra hour of sleep and enjoy it.

When we wake up, the good wife starts fixing breakfast. I will sit and check the email, internet news, and other assorted time-wasters until the coffee is ready. Then I'll take my cup and begin morning rounds.

I start with the garden. Let's see how much the young plants grew last night and if any other things popped up through the soil. Later in the summer, morning is also a good time to see bugs on your plants before they hide from the heat of the day.

Then lately I go check on Janis, a quirky-looking bantam hen who has decided to go broody on 4 eggs up between some empty beehives behind the cabin. It's a terribly exposed place and I've moved her three times, but she returns to it every day. So I've left her to her own devices and I'll just spend the next 21 days worrying about her.

While I'm out looking at things, our cat named Jade is prowling about too. She stays inside these nights since she had kittens a few days ago, but of an early morning she needs a break and heads outside. She'll be there for a bit and then return to her babies.

Finally, I'll let the dogs loose to run and play for a bit before I begin my day. Usually I get started with the real work around 10am unless there's absolutely something pressing to be done. And usually there is not.

Life is good!

4 comments:

Gorges Smythe said...

May you always live the good life!

Linda said...

I suppose that hen knows where she wants to live, safe or not.

Red Hen said...

I am so hoping for a broody this year. We bought some day olds and have eggs in the incubator which is a yearly project for my kids. Hatch day is supposed to be Thursday!!

Ernest said...

It's difficult for us to rely on heat lamps and incubators, so we can't hardly hatch our own here. Our power is too touch-and-go in the off-grid system. We didn't build it for long-term usage, just for on-demand things.

Thus we rely heavily on the broody hens. A hen which will sit, hatch, and raise out babies has ensured extra food and protection and a long life. There's only been about 3-4 of them that would do it consistently, but last year we got about a dozen new birds out of them. I hope this year to get more.

I think that hens which were raised naturally by a mother may have a tendency to go broody and be a good mother as well. That theory will be confirmed this year, I'm hoping.