Signs of the Vernal Equinox

Photo copyright Ajijaakwe, 2014; all rights reserved.

Yes, of course.  More chicks.

Eight more, to be exact: the eight that were on reserve. I thought they were all going to be black. Turns out we have four Yellow Sex Links and four Black Sex Links.  No, the name has nothing to do with Teh Sexytime. It's a catch-all name for chickens specifically cross-bred so that the sexes can be identified immediately by color. The hens also reportedly have the added advantage of being outstanding layers. A couple of Australorps are supposedly coming to us late next week.

The all integrated with each other immediately: All they see are familiar-looking faces with warm fuzzy bodies, and that's all that matters.

Two-legged types could take some lessons, huh?

Of course, there are many more signs of Spring than these little girls.

The magpies are nesting, and clearly getting ready to lay. Two months early. I wrote about their saga last year, a piece I'll cross-post here when this year's are closer to hatching. For now, we're just making sure they get everything they need — and trying to acclimate our ears, once again, to their constant, incessant conversation.

A few weeks ago, when it was still bitterly cold, Wings tossed a little kibble on the grain box for them one morning, and suggested I do the same. All it took was a couple of episodes of that, and now they're waiting, like Hitchcock's Birds, for me when I first come outside in the morning. They collect in a row on the ProPanel fence of the horses' pen, watching. And if I'm too slow about it, they let me know.  

If I forget?  They follow me around, hopping furiously and squawking indignantly.

I get it. They will soon have little ones to take care of. When you're a parent, you gotta do what you gotta do.

The ravens are nesting, too. Every now and then, you see a little spat erupt between would-be magpie parents and would-be raven parents, but mostly, they share the resources on the land here with no difficulty. A few days ago, Wings got some beautiful shots of one of the raven pairs, nuzzling each other atop the latilla fence. I'll post them soon. Yet another reminder that love exists throughout the natural world; it's not something exclusive to humans.

The grass is fully green now, and sprouting everywhere — despite the nighttime temperatures, it and the alfalfa are already far too high and lush to let the horses out to graze anymore. The horses, like the dogs, have already lost most of their winter coats, again, two months too soon. Such are the effects of climate change.

This year, we think we've gotten a handle on a little of it. After being stymied by drastically-changing weather patterns the last two years, we've decided to try to get much of the gardens in the ground before the end of April, with the last of it getting planted no later than the first half of May. If all goes according to plan, we may have corn this fall. And pumpkins. And maybe even chile peppers.

A few extra prayers to the Spirit Beings can't hurt, either.



Copyright Ajijaakwe, 2014; all rights reserved.