Miller Farm Friday

6 07, 2018

Chicken Little

By |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 |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 |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.

15 06, 2018

Weed Control

By |2018-06-14T09:10:47-05:00June 15th, 2018|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

A friend in my Bible Study Fellowship class is a gardener. She was talking about weeding one day and I mentioned that I always feed the weeds to my chickens.  They love scratching through and finding bugs.

Vicky started bringing her weeds to me.  She would put them in a mulch bag and I would carry them home in the back of my car.  The chickens are thrilled.

I made a video of the chickens eating to send to Vicky. In it you can see them scratching and hear them clucking with contentment.  You can also hear the dogs barking in the background.

At one point, Custard comes running by but he’s too scared to stop and scratch with them. He prefers to jump up and get the leaves off the tree behind the pile of weeds.


Why spend money watching movies when the chickens provide such great entertainment for free?

8 06, 2018

More Duck Tales

By |2018-06-06T13:11:04-05:00June 8th, 2018|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|2 Comments

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

The ducks must have read last week’s blog (http://judythewriter.com/ducks-to-water) and decided to cooperate with me. Topsy stayed in the pool long enough for me to get a picture.

The recent rains have filled the pool and with the temperature heating up, the pool is very inviting.

I’m curious to see if the chickens jump in also.

I was also able to get another picture of all the ducks:Someone must have told them about another popular saying. I can now say my ducks are in a row. :)

1 06, 2018

Ducks to Water???

By |2018-06-01T13:43:38-05:00June 1st, 2018|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|3 Comments

A blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

I’m not sure where the phrase “like a duck to water” comes from, but I do know that our ducks have never heard it.

They outgrew the pan of water that we put in their pen so Rachel and I bought a small wading pool.  Negotiating around the garden center with a pool in the buggy was quite a challenge.

We got it home and discovered there were directions for assembling the wading pool.It has been a long time since I bought a wading pool but I’m pretty sure they are not hard to set up.  The instructions included a lanyard to be worn by the adult responsible for watching the children in the pool.

Since ducks are naturally good swimmers, we threw the lanyard away.

At the suggestion of the person who gave us the ducks, we put down a layer of mulch under the pool to keep down the mud.  The chickens thought this was for their entertainment and promptly begin scratching all the mulch out from under the pool.

The ducks were less impressed with their new “pond.” Rachel threw them in and they immediately climbed out as though it were boiling water.

We moved to plan B. Put the pool on more level ground. Surely the ducks would like it then. Wrong.

Rachel suggested digging an indentation to make the pool more level with the ground.  Sounded like a good idea to me.

So on to plan C. After wearing a blister on my hand, I had a shallow hole in which to set the pool.  I filled it with water and went inside to bandage my wound.

While enjoying some nice cold water, I glanced out the window to see the ducks in the pool!!!!  I was so thrilled I jumped up to get a picture.  They immediately jumped out.

Since then they have been in the water many times and I have tried to photograph them. This is the best I could do.

Any time I get closer, they exit the pool.  I’ve considered installing a camera in one of the trees.

I guess they finally heard the phrase “Like a duck to water.”

25 05, 2018

Where’s Waldo – Duck Version

By |2018-05-23T21:03:18-05:00May 25th, 2018|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

The ducks are finally big enough to run with the chickens. They eat the same things as chickens so keeping their food separate is not necessary. The arrangement seems to be working out pretty well.

In fact, I’ve decided to make a children’s book.

I’ll title it Where Are Tipsy, Topsy and Turvy? or Find the Ducks.

What do you think?

18 05, 2018

Changing Colors?

By |2018-05-02T21:54:29-05:00May 18th, 2018|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

I came home one day to find a lizard on the fence post. It caught my eye because it was bright green. A week later I saw a brown lizard on the bench.

I wondered if perhaps it was the same lizard. I know anoles change colors.

If so, why did it choose to stand out on the fence post and blend in on the bench?

Then I thought about human behavior.  Why do we sometimes choose to stand out and be different and other times we want to blend in?

I haven’t come up with an answer.  Any suggestions?

11 05, 2018

Finishing Strong

By |2018-05-02T15:39:21-05:00May 11th, 2018|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

The school where I teach has a long tradition of celebrating May Day including a May Pole. The kids learn to skip around the pole holding streamers as music plays.  At the end, there is a pattern of colored streamers on the pole.

If done properly, it looks very neat. This year was a little rough. Practices were held as often as possible but some of the students still struggled.

After the festivities were over, one of the students asked the teacher in charge, “So how did we do?”

The teacher looked at the pole and said “The last 18 inches look great.  Let’s just leave it at that.”I think I will adopt that philosophy about the school year.  It was a rough start but I plan to make the last “eighteen inches” look pretty good.

So to all my fellow teachers and students out there – here’s to a strong finish.

27 04, 2018

Make Way for Ducklings

By |2018-04-26T11:13:13-05:00April 27th, 2018|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

I arrived home from Bible Study last Monday and Rachel told me, “The ducklings are in the furthest Bantam run.” To be fair, she had asked about getting ducks. I had just absentmindedly said “sure.”

This is how Tipsy, Topsy, and Turvey came to live on Miller Farm.

Tuesday morning I went out to check on the various fowl in the back yard.  The ducklings had managed to escape their run and were visiting the chickens.

I hope this is not an omen of things to come.

They are really quite cute and very different from chickens.  They have rounded beaks and walk with their necks stretched out.  It makes me think of an elegant swan rather than a goofy chicken.

Ducks also have webbed feet.  Of course I knew this but now I’ve seen it up close and personal.  They use these to get around in water – like a pond – which is not found on Miller Farm.

We have a small tub for them to use for now. Eventually we will get a child’s swimming pool.

I can’t help but think of Robert McCloskey’s children’s book, Make Way for Ducklings, the Caldecott Award winner in 1941.

Perhaps I can write another one titled The Ducks of Miller Farm.

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