Friday on the Miller Farm Archives - Page 24 of 35

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.

27 07, 2018

Missed the Memo

By judythemorgan|2018-07-24T21:59:56-05:00July 27th, 2018|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

I recently did my annual “work in the flower bed in the heat of summer” job. Some pink flowers we dug up at my father-in-law’s and replanted in our flowerbed prompted it. They add some cheer and color to the front of the house.

At one point we had another flower bed that encircled two pine trees. There were irises, a rosemary plant and a couple of althea bushes. Rachel and I worked in that flower bed 2 years ago but then the pine trees died and were cut down and the rosemary didn’t survive our “trimming” so I gave up on it.

Most of it just looks like part of the yard now except for these two amaryllis plants.They apparently did not get the memo that the flower bed was gone and they just keep on blooming.

I received word at the beginning of the month that the school where I teach is closing grades K-12 and will only keep the preschool open. This has made me very sad. Seeing these amaryllis every day reminds me that even though things around me are not the same, I can still bloom.

13 07, 2018

Paper or Digital?

By judythemorgan|2018-07-13T08:43:21-05:00July 13th, 2018|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

One of my goals this summer was to learn to play the organ. My finger injury forced me to put that on hold.

Instead I tackled all the piles of things that appeared during the school year. This included magazines most of which I had saved because they had recipes I wanted to try.

Along with children’s books and chickens I also collect recipes. I tear them out of magazines, cut them out of the paper and print them from Facebook. This has led to piles of papers to go with my piles of magazines and music.

I considered taking pictures of the recipes and storing them digitally on my phone. There are two problems with this plan:

My phone goes to sleep before I am finished with the recipe. I had this problem with a BBQ ribs recipe I was using on July 4^th. Trying to touch the screen often enough to keep it awake while cooking was more than I could handle.
The phone does not fit on my recipe holder.

So I’ll keep my paper recipes and my transition into the 21^st century will have to take a detour.

6 07, 2018

Chicken Little

By judythemorgan|2018-07-05T10:52:45-05:00July 6th, 2018|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|2 Comments

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

My mom recently gave me a copy of the children’s book Chicken Little to add to my collections of chickens and children’s books.

In case you are not familiar with the story Chicken Little is out in the farm yard one day when an acorn fell on her head. She is convinced the sky is falling and she runs to tell the king. On her way she meets Henny Penny, Cocky Locky, Ducky Wucky, Goosey Loosey, and Turkey Lurkey. The whole brood is headed for the castle when they run into Foxy Woxy who convinces them to follow him on a “shortcut.” He leads them into a cave with the most impure of motives. The whole crew causes a ruckus and runs out of the cave and back to the farm yard. The excitement has completely overshadowed the original dilemma and Chicken Little returns to pecking at corn in the farmyard – blissfully unconcerned about the condition of the sky.

I have thought about Chicken Little a great deal recently.

The school where I teach has undergone some financial difficulties in the last few years. I believe most private schools face this problem at some point. The reaction of the staff has been interesting to watch. Some have continued to do their job knowing that the students deserve their best regardless of what the future holds. Others have adopted the Chicken Little philosophy of “the sky is falling.” Their panic spread to some of the students and parents leading to an uncomfortable period of time.

I love my job as music teacher and strive to have fun with all my classes even if it will only be for a short time. I tried to spread this positive outlook to the faculty and staff as best I could and eventually the year came to an end.

I believe there are parallels in the reporting of current events today. I’ve decided to approach media news the way I do my position at school. I will do my best to enjoy life regardless of the circumstances. Perhaps I will follow Chicken Littles example at the end of the story and look for corn in my own farmyard.

29 06, 2018

More Sticky Notes Tales

By judythemorgan|2018-06-28T08:19:37-05:00June 29th, 2018|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|2 Comments

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

The great Sticky Note War has died down some but one of my students continues to write notes each time he comes. They are not always directed at the cat lovers, and I am beginning to believe he is using them as a stall tactic.

One of his most recent messages makes me smile every time I see it.

My son gave me a clock one year for Christmas. It is a chicken clock which already makes me smile.

However, my student put a sticky note on it that says “rooster o’clock” and “clockadoodledoo.”

I leave it there even though it makes it hard to tell the time. This student is taking some time off while his family is in a transition. There is a chance they will move which is sad.

I would miss his chicken stories and sense of humor. I’ll be praying for them regularly – that God works things out so they can stay. Us chicken lovers need to stick together.

22 06, 2018

Interruption on Miller Farm

By judythemorgan|2018-06-21T14:30:01-05:00June 22nd, 2018|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|3 Comments

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

A finger injury recently interrupted Life on Miller Farm and it was my finger.

The accident happened at the beginning of June but it has taken me a while to process the mishap. This is what happened:

I was slicing a red bell pepper with a mandolin slicer. I did not use the holder and sliced the tip of my right index finger – off. I screamed and Beekeeper Brian came into the kitchen immediately.

To be honest, it is not unusual for me to cut myself. In fact, there is a tube of super glue with my name on it near the kitchen counter. However, Beekeeper Brian took one look at my finger and said, “Let me get some shoes on.”

We went to the closest urgent care clinic where the FNP called in the MD to confirm her diagnosis. She called it an “avulsion” which is a tearing away of the skin. She used silver nitrate to stop the bleeding and the nurse wrapped it in a pretty purple bandage.

The doctor wrote a prescription for an antibiotic and pain medicine which I took as often as I could for the first two days.

I practiced playing the piano with my other nine fingers and told the worship leader at our church that I would be at 90% for a while. I have now realized how much of my piano playing is muscle memory. It takes a lot of brain power to remember not to use finger 2 on my right hand.

After a trip to my regular doctor I was able to switch to a fingertip bandage. It reminds me of a finger puppet so Brian drew a face on it.

It has been nearly three weeks and the finger is slowly healing. Another week or so and I should be able to get back to swimming.

The doctor said I could get in the pool if I kept my finger out of the water. I’m not sure my brain can figure out how to swim without my right hand getting wet. I could just walk back and forth across the pool with my finger up in the air.

Or I can just wait a little longer.

In the meantime, my mom gave me a mesh glove to wear when I use a knife in the kitchen.

I’d like to keep the rest of my fingers intact.