Flying Turkeys

This morning 2 hens and 16 poults  were up in the pasture. It took me a while to figure out what was going on.  Looking out to check on the sheep there was a  black shape, at first difficult to make out.

Then I realized a turkey had gone into the pasture, which was odd because of the electric fence. Once again the fence isn’t keeping critters out.  Dave’s lawn is mowed, so perhaps they had flown into the pasture to eat the bugs found around the sheep droppings. Why else would they go into the pasture when there is plenty of short grass on the lawn near by?

Adult turkeys fly low and and slow. You can sometimes see them roosting in trees by the road at night.  A very odd sight. We have a small group of birds that routinely come though the property. Maybe 8 at the beginning of winter. With the deep snow, they would sometimes come up the road to get to some of the berry laden trees close by. Turkeys are fine in the cold weather.  Tough, ugly, ancient looking things. Deep snow generally means a larger die off.  16 babies and 2 hens tending.  Social critters.

They have made a tremendous comeback from over hunting.  Now they seem to be more common then the red wing black bird.  I don’t think I ever saw any as a kid.

I grabbed my camera,  went up the drive and then  up the field by the back side of the pasture. The field grasses are high there and  several paths from other critters were clear.

I love the high grass. It must be difficult for the babies to get by. No wonder the hens move them to the shorter green to find a meal.

No attempts were made to hide. I so wish for a better camera with a zoom. It was all luck that I got so close. The sheep didn’t even notice my moves and I was able to watch for a while.

The poults peep and the mums make clucking noises like off key chickens. It scared me to think that I might upset a mother and she would come after me. Turkeys are pretty big.

I wouldn’t want to mess with one. Or suffer the shame of being run back to the house by a turkey. My luck, Bob from the town road crew would be coming up the hill, just at the time I would be running back home. I was still in my jammies.  No good to be seen like that.

Mother noticed me and flew back over the fence to join her babies.

I got too dang close and saw the strangest thing. The babies also took flight.  What a treat. 

I don’t want to be a phony

“I don’t want to be a phony. If I am going to be anything,  I want to be the real deal.”  Joyce Meyers.

You go girl.   I love her, in all of her mid-west rhine stone, bible toten’ praise yell’n way.

Being the real deal is not always socially acceptable.  Being the real deal is not always politically correct.  But at the end of the day, you gotta live with yourself,  for your whole life.  I would rather live with someone who I can count on being real then phony.

Last night I called someone out in a public meeting for a sexist comment that was made.  ” IF women stayed home there would be no need for day care”.  A public employee said this at a public, open town meeting, not under his breath, but to the entire crowd. The chair for the board did not address the comment specifically but shook his head and mumbled something about the man’s habit of not being PC.  Another board joked about which woman from the group would like to hit him first.

The problem with bigotry is that folks allow it to continue when the response to comments are met with soft condemnation.  The group response of being embarrassed by offending statements. We all knew it was wrong, but who was going to rise up, in front of others and call it out for what it was?

I was offended that our town has a public employee who thought is was OK to make such a statement in a public meeting.   I watched how the meeting went on to other business and the comment was never really addressed.  At the end of the meeting, when the public was asked if there was other business.  I raised my hand and out came my true self.

“Mr. ——, you are a town employee and this is a public meeting,  in front of a town board. What you said was offensive to me and I would like an apology.”

I got one.   I don’t know if I was the first person to call him on these type of comments.  It was the first time I have, in public, called someone out for something that I believe is wrong.  I am concerned the fall out.  But I am not concerned about me.

I was brave last night and spoke out.

This moment will go in my memory bank so that when I am faced with a situation that requires public courage, I will be able to go to the self that is the real deal.  What a comfort.

Back to the upper pasture

It has been a couple of weeks and the sheep have grazed down the home pasture.

The solar battery is finally back from the factory, and back in action. I had jerry-rigged a plug in fencer and run a series of extension cords from my neighbor Dave’s house. Not safe at all. I zapped myself something good when I first checked it.

Bub got his wood splitter for Father’s day and wanted to be able to work in the lower pasture without having to worry about driving in and out with his truck.

In the very back of the ancient road, Bub stands with his pile of logs. The pasture grass has been munched right down and looks lovely. The poop load hasn’t gotten too bad, so I am hopeful that we will have an easy year with the parasites.

The sheep take about 2 weeks to work through the upper pasture.  It is much smaller then the lower pasture.  This time they have been down here for 3 weeks, giving lots of time for growth and parasite die off. Here is a great link on parasites and sheep. http://ag.ansc.purdue.edu/sheep/articles/grazeparasite.html

Everybody was excited to move up and knew the routine.  Moses is my best buddy and stuck right by me the whole time.

I have accepted a deposit on 6 of the sheep.  5 ewe lambs and one ram, Moses.  He is unrelated and perfect for a starter flock. With the increase in the cost of grain and hay, we decided reduce the flock back to 6 or 9 for the winter.  The final numbers are not set.  The new owners are going to get a well trained and calm flock.  Moses is such a lovely ram and I will enjoy spending time with him while he is still here.  The sheep will leave in September.  Another lamb, a little white ram lamb will be going at the end of this month.  That will leave me with two ram lambs and one ewe lamb left in this years crop.

Pasture is a consideration in all of this.  We are maxed out on viable pasture this year with 15.  Making pasture takes time and if you over graze then you will never get ahead.  Even with the clearing this past winter, it takes a couple of years to get pasture going.

Bub and I will be working on the wood pile and working on getting the pasture ready for the rest of the summer.  We will put up around 6 cords of wood and will heat the house this winter from our own stash.

The snapping turtle came back

The turtle came back today. It took her about 5 days to return from the bottom of the hill. The sheep were very interested and one of them was nipped on the nose. Bub came to our rescue.

We think the turtle was about 20 pounds and her shell measured at 12.5 inches. Very sharp claws for digging and spikes on her tail. Leaches on her shell. She smelt like compost, manure and fish.

If you look closely you can see one of the ducks in the background, right beyond her front claw. The sheep, Moses and Empress Anne came right up as soon as Bub got a hold of her. He is so much braver then I am.

We saw the hole she was digging and protecting. Most likely she would have laid the eggs tonight and then head back down to the pond. I am not sure how long it would have taken the eggs to hatch, but when they did the little snappers would learn to come back to the hill.

She had to go. She was warned.

She has a new home now, far far away where she can lay all the eggs she wants.

I hope she is happy there and never comes back.   This past year we have had an owl take a duck.  A bear at the bottom part of the pasture.  Deer and moose come through the fencing.  The snapping turtle has been the oddest repeat visitor so far.

All of this, plus Bubby’s new wood splitter has made it quite a day.

not a retraction.

I got a little flack from the last piece I wrote: Shoot, Shovel and Shut-up.

Please let me clarify for those who don’t know me well,   I really am very much in love with my husband.  He actually helped me write that last piece. He is my editor.  This is not a retraction, this is a clarification for anyone who thinks that I have fallen off the edge.  All is fine in the household.  My husband rests easy.

Bubby and I are heading up to St. Alban’s to get a wood splitter this morning.  We put up 6 cords last year and burnt though most of it over the winter, reducing our fuel bill to 500.00.  This year we are hoping to do the same. Bub has all the wood cut, now we need to split and stack.

He is impatient this morning and wants me to blog later,  he is looking over my shoulder now.