music

12 10, 2012

Miller Farm Friday – I love my chickens

By |2012-10-12T07:56:09-05:00October 12th, 2012|Miller Farm Friday|0 Comments

This week’s email from the farm…

I love my chickens and my chickens love me – especially when I feed them.

I was checking for eggs in the nest boxes this morning when one of the black hens started moving hay from one next box to the other. I guess she is the designated interior decorator.

Meanwhile, Essie (short for Survivor Girl from the Christmas Eve massacre at Barneyville) follows me around the whole time I am in the chicken yard.

In fact, I have accidentally stepped on her before. That hasn’t stopped her. Anyway, she hopped up on the door to the nest boxes and watched the redecorating process.

She is the only chicken we have who will let you pet her. I guess I now understand how people can have pet chickens. But, she’s not coming inside. Already tried that with Einstein and look where it got him.

I know that is shocking to you, but this made me think of a song.

I have a chicken my chicken loves me
I feed my chicken on tender leaf tea
My little chicken goes bak bak bak
My little rooster goes cockle doodle doodle
doodle doodle doodle do.

Anyone else remember that one?

I did remember the song, but had no idea who wrote it or when. After a quick Google search, I discover Arkansas folk singer named Almeda Riddle (1898-1986) was the first to publicly sing “My Little Rooster.”

Also known as Granny Riddle, her acapella recording of the song appears on the 1997 cult film “Gummo.” If you’d like a listen click below:

If you’ve got a preschooler or kindergartener, gather them up to the computer screen and have a watch of this more pleasant sounding variation. They’ll love it.

Chicken Wrangler Sara isn’t singing, though it could be her. She is a professional musician and music teacher. It’s exactly the sort of thing she’d do.

Well, on second thought, maybe not. She’d probably bring Essie so the kiddos could pet a real chicken and sing!

YOUR TURN: I’m sure we have you humming the “I love My Rooster” tune by now. If you don’t have a rooster or a chicken or a pig or a cow or a …, what would you substitute for rooster in the song?

24 08, 2012

LIFE ON THE MILLER FARM: Not a Chicken Story

By |2012-08-24T10:56:23-05:00August 24th, 2012|Miller Farm Friday, Uncategorized|4 Comments

Today’s email from the Miller Farm…

I went to Target last night in search of, among other things, a biscuit cutter. The handle has come off mine making it a little bit of a challenge to use.

I try to minimize challenges in the mornings and replacing the broken biscuit cutter would definitely reduce my morning stress.

Alas, I found a cupcake corer , cookie cutters and muffin pans in every imaginable shape but no biscuit cutters. I didn’t know cupcakes had cores, did you? See picture below.

I woke this morning up singing:

O where, o where have the biscuit cutters gone?
O where, o where can they be?
Is there no one left who makes biscuits from scratch
Except for crazy ole me?

When you teach music – all of life is a song.

(NOTE: Besides being a chicken wrangler extraordinaire, Sara is also an amazing pianist who has her own music studio in addition to teaching music at a private school. Music abounds on the Miller Farm.)

But the email wasn’t our only communication on the broken biscuit cutter.

Sara called. Naturally I asked about the tune to her song whereupon she sang to the words to the nursery rhyme tune of “Where O Where Has My Little Dog Gone?“.

Then she asked if I had an extra biscuit cutter she could have. I quickly searched my gadget drawer and found four antique biscuit cutters, two plastic flute-edged cutters, one petit four cutter and a fancy Pamper Chef cut-and-seal cutter.

Before you wonder why I have so many biscuit cutters…I must declare I’m not a hoarder.

Not at all, I’m a wannabe Martha Stewart who loves cooking gadgets. I have all manner of gizmos and gadgets in my kitchen. One of my favorites is Piercey the hard-boiled egg piercer.

No master kitchen should be without this clever little tool shaped like a chicken that pokes a hole in the broad end of a raw egg. When the egg is hard boiled, the shell peels off with ease.

Want one? Check out this site.

FYI: I get no kickback from the site, but you’ll find peeling eggs much simplier. Like Sara, I’m all about simplifying stressful tasks and not just in the mornings. Using Piercey the egg piercer makes life simple.

Which brings us back to chickens. Next week we’ll discuss another of Sara’s emails from the farm. This one on chicken food and chicken lips.

Do chickens have lips!?

Go to Top