Living in a cardboard box is boring. Even little chicks need to have new things to explore and challenges to overcome. I was digging up dandelions yesterday (no roundup here!) and decided that a few clumps of dirt and greens (and maybe a bug or two) was just the thing to liven up the chicks’ days.

It was scary.

But the boldest chick, a little yellow one, made the first move.

I don’t know what breed she is – the yellow ones all look look generic yet. Whatever the breed, I’m betting she’ll remain the flock leader.

Soon, her cousins all joined in.

It’s good for the chicks to learn to look for food and be adventurous about what they eat. It’s also good for them to get grit into their gizzards. I want them to have strong immune systems, and so introducing them, slowly, to the world of dirt and germs, will help them to host the good bugs in their guts, and to develop resistance to pathogens.

Besides, they had a lot of fun. I’m not anthropomorphizing. Ever since they arrived the chicks have been noisily peeping. There’s a distress peep when they’re scared, and there’s general chit-chat peeps. But, for the first time yesterday, I heard the cheerful melodic chirp that chicks make when they find food.

Candy likes the dandelions, too. I have plenty of weeds for everyone.

The chicks and I stayed up all night reading the entries. Look how tired they are.

Actually, I read each and every one of them as soon as they hit my computer. I wasn’t fishing for compliments when I posted this contest, but I sure got a creel full! Thanks for all of your enthusiasm for what I do.

I used a random number generator to pick the winner and it’s Sean!

Growing asparagus means that you have literally put down roots. Asparagus is a perennial. During the winter the asparagus patch looks barren. Then, in the spring, stalks emerge. The season is brief and for the rest of the summer the bed is filled with frilly greens (loved by butterfly caterpillars.) An asparagus bed takes years to mature. Even varieties like Jersey Knight, which can be harvested the first year after planting, don’t really get going for a few more growing seasons. People who rent, or have a community garden that is tilled under every season, or who have pots on porches, don’t grow asparagus.

When I had my raised bed vegetable garden built, the center space was reserved for asparagus. It was a sign of commitment to this place. Besides, I love asparagus, which, like corn, tastes best if there are only minutes between harvesting and cooking. (This is true. If you only buy asparagus from Peru at the supermarket, you’ll be blown away by the difference of fresh and local, and even more so if it’s been picked steps from your back door.)

After a few years I was harvesting enough asparagus to serve it with spring dinners. I was eating the spears for mid-afternoon snacks. Then, one October, I made the mistake of letting Candy into the vegetable patch. I let her in the garden to have an outing with the hens, while they did the autumn bad bug clean-up. I thought she’d like a hop-around. I wasn’t paying attention. She dug a tunnel under the asparagus and ate the roots. All of them. My asparagus patch was felled by one bunny.

I’ve started another asparagus bed. Rabbits are banned. For now, though, I have to buy local asparagus. It’s just coming into the market.

This is my favorite way to cook it:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Wash the asparagus and snap off the ends. It should break where the tough stalk meets the stem. If the asparagus are fat, peel the stems at the bottom.

Place on a baking sheet and coat with olive oil. Dust with salt and pepper. Grate on Parmesan Reggiano cheese. It does cost over $15 a pound, but you don’t need much.

Place in the oven for 8 minutes. (Only 5 if the asparagus are thin like pencils.) Turn over, and bake for about 5 to 10 minutes more until the stalks are limp. Eat hot, or it’s also delicious as leftovers straight out of the fridge, with a squeeze of lemon at the last moment.

This week marks the fifth anniversary of the HenBlog! This is the 626th post. From the start I made a decision to focus my writing on a small window into life with my animals. As a scientist who studies pond flora and fauna will tell you, a tiny drop of water seen under a microscope holds a lot of life. It’s the same for my backyard.

I subscribe to the animal training philosophy that if you look for the good moments and reward them, they will multiply. What you focus on is what you get. When I write this blog, I also look for the good moments, the sweet, touching, silly things that happen in my flock and between me and my animals. Because I’m looking for the good to tell you about, I find it. Being a writer, I take what I see and mull it over and turn it into words. I’m constantly crafting stories in my head and thinking about how to share them with you. My life has become happier in the process of writing the HenBlog.

In thanks for being such a great audience, I have another giveaway from my collection of vintage chicken things. You can win this wind-up chicken that lays jelly bean eggs and this colorfully embroidered rooster. All you have to do leave a comment to let me know how long you’ve been reading HenBlog and where you found me. Even my newest readers can enter! Just once, please. And do let others know about this contest. Writers love an audience.

The contest closes Thursday, May 5 at 10 pm EDT. The contest is closed. Thanks for entering!

… don’t worry! The animals aren’t always in view of the cams. There’s any number of places that they might be. Candy might be under Blackie’s retirement home, while the other hens visit the frail hen.

If you see Candy closed into her hutch during the day, then I’ve probably let the hens out to free-range. Sometimes the goats join them.

But, the goats and the chickens rarely stay together. Pip and Caper have discovered the delicious water celery in the water feature. I’m happy that they’re keeping it down. Otherwise I’d have to yank it out because the celery overwhelms all of the other plants in the pond.

Or sometimes the boys check out the lawn furniture.

You’ll rarely see Scooter on the cams. These sunny days he stays on the back step, baking in the sun.

I think I’ll go join him!