Miller Farm Friday Archives - Page 22 of 47

16 11, 2018

Candy Corn Fan Club

By judythemorgan|2018-11-11T16:51:43-06:00November 16th, 2018|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

I’ve discovered there are two kinds of people in the world – those who love candy corn and those who don’t. Guess which group includes me. <grin>

I wrote a Candy Corn Song (to the tune of “Oh Christmas Tree”)

Oh candy corn, Oh candy corn

You are my favorite candy.

Oh candy corn, oh candy corn

I think you’re fine and dandy.

You are the one I like to eat

Because you are so very sweet.

Oh candy corn, oh candy corn

You are my favorite candy.

I make candy corn cookies:I even dress the part: My mom supports my habit. She bought me these place mats:One year she sent me a candy corn shirt which I proudly wear every October. This year I discovered a fellow candy corn fan at my new school. She just may be my favorite student!

9 11, 2018

Rooster Dishes

By judythemorgan|2018-11-05T15:01:21-06:00November 9th, 2018|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|2 Comments

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

A friend of mine recently found herself in possession of a set of rooster dishes. She immediately thought of me and called to see if I was interested.

We still have most of the set of stoneware we received for wedding gifts along with two sets of Talavera we purchased in Mexico. But none of these have roosters on them so I had to at least take a look.

I am so glad I did – they are wonderful!

They were packed in plastics bags and labelled with a Sharpie. As I unpacked the bags, I made an interesting discovery. The bag marked “salad plates” contained larger plates than the one marked “dessert plates.”

Here is a picture of the dinner plate, salad plate and dessert plate stacked for comparison: In researching the dishes I discovered they are Poppytrail Red Rooster manufactured by Metlox probably in the 1940’s.

I should have known they were from a different time period. Today our dessert plates are much bigger than salad plates, if there is a distinction at all.

I have packed up the Talavera (it wasn’t dishwasher or microwave safe) and replaced it with the rooster dishes. While they say they are dishwasher safe, there is no indication about microwaves – probably since they weren’t in use yet.

I hope having the different sized plates will encourage me to eat more salad and less dessert.

2 11, 2018

Secret Pals

By judythemorgan|2018-10-22T10:41:37-05:00November 2nd, 2018|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

My new school did secret pals for the month of October. It was a really fun way to get to know the other teachers.

We would leave things by the sign in computer and they would disappear throughout the day.

The best part is always the timing of the surprises.

My secret pal got me a travel mug and flavored coffee on the very day my 5^th and 6^th graders made me want to quit. I’m glad I didn’t.

The next week she got me an orchid plant. It is beautiful.

Beekeeper Brian researched and found it is best suited for east facing windows. My kitchen window just happens to face east. Now I enjoy it as I’m working in the kitchen.

I can also see it when I am walking back to the house from the chicken yard. It is a very pleasant sight after mucking around in the mud collecting eggs and feeding chickens.

It makes me smile. I hope it lives a long time.

26 10, 2018

Grumpy Chicken

By judythemorgan|2018-10-22T10:26:37-05:00October 26th, 2018|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|2 Comments

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

It is not uncommon to get pecked on the hand while gathering eggs. This can be very disconcerting at first but I am not bothered by it much anymore – except for Grumpy Chicken.

She is a black top hat bird who has left marks on my hands. She even started pecking me when I was gathering eggs from the nest box next to her. This is totally unacceptable.

The rule on Miller Farm is “I feed you and you feed me.” Grumpy chicken protested this arrangement regularly.

I used Rachel’s technique of throwing Grumpy Chicken out of the nest box before gathering eggs. The first time I did this, she pecked at my feet. The muck shoes must have been harder on her beak than my hand because she only did that once.

Then we started playing the game “get all the eggs before Grumpy Chicken gets back in the nest boxes.” I got really good at it.

I guess Grumpy Chicken is a sore loser because she doesn’t play anymore. In fact today when I went out, she was not even in a nest box.

Chicken Wrangler Sara – 1

Grumpy Chicken – 0

19 10, 2018

The Power of Not Thinking

By judythemorgan|2018-10-18T10:48:06-05:00October 19th, 2018|Friday on the Miller Farm, Guest blogger, Miller Farm Friday|3 Comments

A Guest Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

I have often heard people speak of “the power of positive thinking.” However, I’ve become convinced lately that there is, at times, even greater power in “not thinking.”

For example, when my alarm goes off at 5:15 a.m., I get out of bed, put on my swimsuit, get in my car, drive to the outdoor pool, and jump in before my brain wakes up and realizes that it is January.

No thinking person would behave in such a manner, no matter how “positive” their thoughts.

As moms, I believe “not thinking” is a crucial skill.

For example, when a child (who sleeps on the bottom bunk) comes to your side of the bed in the middle of the night and says, “Rachel (who sleeps on the top bunk) is throwing up and it is dripping down the wall” a mom can get everything cleaned up without giving it a thought.

Most recently, I employed this “not thinking” skill when helping my husband butcher chickens.

I do not usually participate in this process. However, I called everyone I knew who had expressed an interest in observing or even learning this task (a surprisingly long list) and no one was available.

Hesitantly, I donned latex gloves and started plucking chickens. I must say, I felt a certain satisfaction since I was plucking the horrid roosters.

As long as I was “not thinking,” it was not a bad task.

People talked about how bad the chickens smelled, but my nose detected no foul (fowl) odor at all. It made me wonder if perhaps Rachel had secretly bathed the roosters.

I even carried on a pleasant conversation with my husband the entire time. Part of this conversation included, “Hey look what I found!”I kid you not – it was a marble, which made me think of a song (of course):

“I know an old rooster who swallowed a marble…”

I’m so glad that when my brain goes into “not thinking” mode, it still allows songs to float in and out. A silly song seems to make any task a little more pleasant – as long as you don’t think about it.

The Power of Not Thinking originally appeared on February 1, 2013

5 10, 2018

Non-morning Crew

By judythemorgan|2018-10-03T16:32:19-05:00October 5th, 2018|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

It is a well known fact that people can be divided into two groups: morning people and non-morning people. There are some of each in my family.

I happen to be the morning person which is why I go to the pool at 5:30 am. Rachel is not a morning person which is why she has a coffee maker next to her bed.

Bill, the Chinese student living with us, is also a non-morning person. He is a senior in high school this year and I recently asked him what he plans to do in college when I am not there to make sure he gets up. He said he would schedule all afternoon classes. I told him it doesn’t work that way.

The dogs also fall into these groups. Most of ours wake up ready to take on the world. Coco, however, comes out of her kennel just long enough to grump at everyone then goes back inside. Eventually she joins the rest of the pack.

I recently discovered that, contrary to what people think, not all chickens are happy with morning either.

Lily, the D’Uccle (or duseldorfer as I call her) has not been out with the chickens when I feed them in the mornings. I panicked at first because she is littler and could easily be carried off by the dreaded hawk.

I found her, though, in the nest box. She has joined the non-morning crew. At least she doesn’t have anywhere to go in the mornings.

28 09, 2018

Quiet on the Farm

By judythemorgan|2018-09-27T08:21:40-05:00September 28th, 2018|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

I developed a great system for feeding the ducks who, by the way, eat cat food. During the day if I threw it out, the chickens would eat it. If I waited until the sun went down and the chickens were in the coop, I could throw cat food to the ducks and they could eat in peace.

This plan resulted in soft quacking every evening to remind me it was dinnertime. Male ducks have quiet quacks so the noise is soft which is nice.

All our ducks are male and unfortunately could not tell the difference between a duck and a chicken. This is not so nice for our chickens.

We had to pen the ducks up away from the chickens and look for a new home. After several weeks, a man who lives out in the country came and picked up the ducks to put in his pond. His pond was full of weeds and he needed someone to eat them. Enter the ducks!

I was sad at first because it was so quiet at night. Then we got this picture:This is so much better than the kiddy pool we used for them. All the ducks can swim at the same time.

Now when it is quiet, I think of this picture, and smile.

21 09, 2018

Feeding Chickens – Like Feeding Children

By judythemorgan|2018-09-21T11:02:16-05:00September 21st, 2018|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

When I open the back door each morning the chickens run to the fence and begin squawking “Feed me, feed me, I’m starving.”

This continues as I fill the feed bucket and wade carefully through the sea of birds to the food pans. More than once I have stepped on a chicken toe causing even louder squawking. As soon as I put the feed in the pans, all is quiet while they eat.

It reminds me of feeding our children when they were babies. They would scream as if they were dying until they found the food be it bottle or breast. Then there was blissful quiet.

Our church is filled with young families with babies. Wednesday evening I had the chance to hold one of our newest babies as he slept. I thought of our gown son who is struggling with anxiety over a new job right now.

How I wished I could hold and rock him and make it all better. But alas, he’s grown and would squish me.

Perhaps I will put some food out for him. It works with chickens.

14 09, 2018

My Life in Songs, Part 2

By judythemorgan|2018-09-03T09:35:34-05:00September 14th, 2018|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

The duck population on Miller Farm has increased to five. Filling their duck pool is the highlight of my week. They are so fun to watch as they take turns getting into the pool. Apparently sharing is a learned skill in ducks as well as in humans.
One duck hasn’t quite mastered the skill yet. The antics are fun to watch.

Of course this reminds me of a song. I actually have this song in a book all its own.

My copy is falling apart from so much use. Perhaps I should replace it before I introduce this song to my new group of classes. They have no idea what fun we will have! I do love sharing my life in songs.

7 09, 2018

My life in Songs, Part 1

By judythemorgan|2018-09-03T07:33:23-05:00September 7th, 2018|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

I recently started a new job teaching music at a charter school near my house. The private school where I taught for the past 10 years closed at the beginning of July. There was a period of time when I wasn’t teaching music anywhere.

This was very disconcerting. I realized that teaching music is not only what I do but it is a large part of who I am. My whole life is a series of songs to be shared with anyone who will listen – mostly children.

For example, we acquired 4 roosters who were somewhat smaller than our hens so we placed them in a vacant enclosure within the chicken yard. The next morning they were out with the hens.

I chased them back to what I considered safety but the next morning they were out again. I checked on them the following night and discovered they were all flying up into the tree above the enclosure and roosting for the night.

I spotted one in the tree and snapped a picture.

That reminded me of a song:

I realize they are not actually turkeys and there are only four but still, this is how my mind works. I suppose it will always work that way, whether or not I am officially a music teacher. Fortunately I am a music school teacher so I have an excuse to live my life in songs.