Garden

AN Amazing friend of ours turned us on to square foot gardening. I think this method is typically used by people who are lacking space which we are not. However we lack decent soil and the means to work this hard clay we have in abundance. Thadeus will always amaze me with his inherent knowledge of growing and cultivating life. I suppose I equal him with the gift I have for animal care. I think if we really jumped into it we could have an amazing farm. But not now. Things are growing well and we are all enjoying the garden. Rollin seems to have a real interest and enjoys spending time with Thadeus learning about the plants and how they grow and what they need. Fynn spent yesterday afternoon watering the entire garden ever so gently. Tucker is not so interested right now and that's okay too. I guess knowing that food is coming from this source helped a small amount in dealing with the grief of loosing our entire flock of chickens in one night. As I claim to have a way with animals I must also admit that I can be terribly forgetful and when that forgetfulness is combined with the distraction of caring for my children I have proven to be a terrible keeper of the flock. They were such healthy beautiful birds. I let them out of the coop to forage for themselves. They all roosted back in for the evening but i left the door wide open and never gave them another thought until the next morning. I saw from a distance a pile of feathers. My heart sank and as I made my way to the coop I realized the magnitude of my error. Five Buff Orpington Hens, three Black Australorp hens, 2 Rhode Island Red Hens, and two roosters Gone. The really tough part is seeing all the feathers. Some in piles and some just scattered and realizing that there were so many struggles that night but ultimatley they were helpless and I solely could have avoided the entire waste. I was not particularly attached to them, however I was only able make myself feel better by thinking that some how the animals that feasted that night needed them more than we did. Then I was helping THadeus with some yard work when I saw a strange image in the school parking lot. I asked if he could tell what it was. "Is that one of our chickens?" I thought not, but quickly walked over to see and it was in fact! "Red Fred" was our Rhode Island Red rooster. His head had been eaten and nothing else. I couldn't believe it! "They're animals" I said out loud "what would do that?" Obviosly not something that needed them more than us. And So the other thought that keeps circling my mind is "If this had been the olden days I might have cost my own family our health or our lives" I'm not sure if it's actually true but I certainly keep thinking it. ..............But we still have the garden...............................................