It’ll be be another couple of months before the trees leaf out. It’s a month before the bulbs will be up in the front woodland. There’s still snow on the side of the road.

But, Scooter can smell the world greening up.

Look close, and you can see it. The mosses are plush.

If I look down, under the dead leaves and the dried out grasses in the meadow, there are green and growing prickly runners.

Agatha isn’t interested in them (she is, instead, transfixed by my sparkly ring.) But, those greens that are hiding are the goaties’ favorite pasture plant.

This weekend we’ll put the electric fence back up so that the goats can graze. So, if you don’t see the boys on the cam, you’ll know where they are. But, I think they’ll be resting and cud-chewing quite a bit, too. After all, even the goaties can’t eat all day.

In the 1800s, hens were fed rather like the pigs – they were left to forage for what they could find, and fed scraps from the kitchen. They ate what was no longer consumable by people, and there was plenty of it, because without refrigeration food went moldy and staled. I’ve read accounts from women’s diaries of the days and hard work that it took to clean out their pantries. I’ll never complain about wiping out my refrigerator again.

Dairy products were often feast or famine. There was plenty of milk when your cow was lactating, but none when she was “freshened off.” Cheese and butter were ways to store the excess. Often, though, milk would sour. When it did, the pigs and the chickens were fed bucketfuls.

Eventually, when farmers had hundreds, and then thousands of hens, this changed. Animals were confined. Grains were milled for animal feed. But, for awhile there, chickens were still fed milk. Spent laying hens were sold to middlemen, who fattened the chickens on milk before slaughter. Milk-fed hens were considered prime meat for the table.

Although my teenager likes generic 1% milk, I want something better for my morning coffee fix. I splurge on whole milk from grass-fed cows for my morning coffee ritual. (FYI – I make coffee in this machine and froth the milk in this.) Anticipating a week of sitting on a couch and drinking coffee while I recuperated from surgery, I bought a half-gallon of very good, very expensive, local milk. Then, I got that nasty bug and had to drink broth and juice instead. The milk soured. So, I did what women before me have done. I fed it to the hens. I’m glad someone got to enjoy that splurge.

A note on my continuing recuperation: I’m up and ambulatory! My incision site has healed and I’m allowed out to the barn (but no mucking about in manure and kicking up dust.) Lily is getting a much needed walk today.

I am feeling much better! But, I remain exhausted from the surgery and the stomach flu. I’m still  on the couch, recuperating.

Scooter is ecstatic. The couch is where he spends his days. Now he has company. And a job, which is to make sure that I stay put. Scooter sends his message that napping is good via doggy ESP to me. Just look at that concentration.

On the other hand, Lily is bored, bored, bored. The first day that I spent on the couch she brought over a selection of toys to encourage me to move. It didn’t work. She’s given up.

But, don’t let that relaxed pose fool you. She has one eye on me at all times. If I so much as sit up she’s right there, ready for anything. Lily has been using her doggy ESP, too. She’s been telling me that I will regain my strength by walking to the cookie jar and feeding her treats. It’s good exercise for me, and allays her boredom. It’s hard to resist that doggy ESP. I do feel better with a happy, bouncy dog at my feet.

A few of the hens get all the attention. Buffy has been a favorite for years. Agatha Agate immediately endeared herself to all. The Polish are their own comedy troupe. But what of the others? Today’s “Unsung Chicken of the Week” is Etheldred. She is one of three Speckled Sussex that came last spring in my order from Ideal Hatchery. I wanted more Sussex because I had recently lost Lulu, one of my great hens – she had a big, crazy personality and made her presence felt daily. However, it was clear early on that the three Speckled Sussex chicks were nothing like Lulu. Lulu, it turns out, was one of a kind. But, the three new girls each had their own, quite unique, personalities. Agatha is mild-mannered and none-too-bright but as sweet as can be. Florence is active, curious and quick. Etheldred is big, brassy, forward and hungry. She pecks at my shoes, she jumps up to peck my hand. She is demanding. She would not make a good school visit hen. On the other hand, she is the one hen that checks out what I’m doing in the garden. She’ll leave the others to hang out with me. She’s smart enough to know that I dig up bugs and I hand out sunflower seeds.

Etheldred is not show-quality. There’s too much white on her head. But I think that she is very pretty.

A note on how I’m doing: I had wanted to respond to each and every one of your nice comments, but I am not up to it. I spent most of Thursday in the hospital emergency room… I got a stomach bug which caused dehydration (I’ll spare you the details) and needed a few liters of fluids and some extra care. I’m back home and staying very quiet.