where the wild things are

In two weeks time Victory Acres Farm has welcomed ten new animals. Eight of them are chicks, one of which spent what must have been a frightfully cold night in Terry's vehicle unbeknownst to us all until the following afternoon. (I wondered why I only counted seven chicks when I knew Terry had told me we were getting eight). Of the eight chicks a few appear like they will be roosters. Too bad for them, that will get them a ticket to the stewing pot. The happy little hens will be joining our older layers once they get a little bigger.

Annabelle, the goat is getting along rather well as she helps us mow down our rye grass in the fields. Eventually she will be staked out along the creek to clear brush. This fall she will help us clear fence row, as she is a voracious eater of all things shrubby. She is quite the social beast and makes her presence known by her constant and mournful bleating.

The last animal that got the drop at the farm last week is Jasper, the abused and abandoned puppy. Due to the fact that no one on the farm likes dogs besides me, I get the joyous responsibility of trying to train poor Jasper to be civil to all. A daunting task since his six month life has been a mixture of being tied up and tortured by children. He has found a friend in me and sticks close, but he is suspect of everyone else and has an aggressive running bark. Scary. He's got about three weeks to get it pulled together or he gets ushered out of here. I'm hoping he chills out a bit, being that this might be his best shot of having a happy home.

And so...life remains in motion.