Farming is not for the fainthearted... It has been a rough two weeks for the chickens and Michael. Seven chickens from the brood have been consumed by various predators during a short amount of time. This is the first time we have had difficulty with chickens being killed consistently. Some days there would be one chicken missing during the day and then one taken at night. Poor Michael has struggled with the loss of his girls. Farewell to Marshmallow, Dy, Nam, Ic (named the Dynamic Trio by our grandson Matthew), the Rhode Island Red, Egypt, and the Dominecker. It has been a sad and sorrowful time.
It seems there might be several different predators so Michael is beefing up the lines of defense. For the hawks he has covered the chicken yard with bright orange baling twine that loops the loop over and under the fence creating a circus tent top. This keeps the hawks from swooping down and grabbing a hen. The last time a hawk grabbed one she was so heavy all he could eat was the breast meat so Michael had to bury what was left. The fox has been stymied by closing the chickens up at night. Did you know foxes can climb a fence? But the great mystery was what could get into the coop, kill and eat a chicken leaving only a few feathers and get out? Our neighbor Gary tells stories from chicken farming days when he was growing up on his parents farm about owls coming into the chicken barn and decimating the flock. Chickens would be so terrified of the owl that they would stack themselves on top of each other suffocating the ones on the bottom of the pile. The vent at the top of the walls will be covered with screen this weekend and in the meantime we are leaving the lights turned on in the coop at night. Owls are nocturnal so we are hoping the light will prevent him from shopping at this particular supermarket again. Sometimes Mother Nature is not nice to chicken farmers... or to chickens.
Life, on and off the farm, can be painful and sad as well as frustrating and overwhelming at times. It seems to come at us so steadily with problems to solve and losses that appear to be unending. We have a hard time looking up to see if there is any silver lining to the clouds that surround us. And joys can be just as difficult to live with... new babies and hormonal changes and lack of sleep and loss of old self image can take its toll on a new mother. A new job interview leads to a time of waiting and wondering and dreaming and fear of not getting the job. The changes that come with retirement are fraught with gain and loss...changes that are both welcomed and feared. Where is the protective orange circus tent top for our lives? Who leaves the light on at night for us? Who tends the fences that hold chaos at bay?
One of my favorite passages of scripture is found in John 14, the funeral passages. Truth be told, those words could be my daily prayer. As a worrier par excellence, an anticipator of disasters yet to come, a child of parents who always planned for the worst and were surprised by the best, I need to not grow deaf to the sound of these words. “ Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me... Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give unto you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
Dear God, when I run to and fro piling on top of others like me who are running to and fro, stop me in my tracks. Show me the untroubled way, the way of peace. Keep my eyes and my heart centered on you, O Lord, so I might live each moment as an offering of gratitude for all I have been given. Turn on my night light of hope, love joy and peace so my soul can awaken to meet you in the morning sunrise. Amen.
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