It’s a nice afternoon. The goats could use some time outside of their small winter paddock. Come and join us. I’ll put their leashes on – not that I’ll lead them anywhere – the leashes are just in case they need a little direction.

They’re happy to mill around outside of the barn. There’s grass to eat. No trouble to get into.

Caper does, however, have to check out the faucet. It makes a good nose scratching post.

The boys find the herb bed. A bit of a prune won’t hurt the sage. But, don’t eat it down to the ground! And that plant label isn’t the sturdiest thing to rub one’s head on, Caper. Now you’ve bent it.

Perhaps it’d be better if the goats graze in the meadow. To get there we pass the Chinese Beech Tree. No, Caper! Don’t eat the bark! No head scratching, Pip! Good thing I put the leashes on.

It’s peaceful back here.

For few moments, anyway.

The vegetable garden gate is open. No matter. They can’t possibly get into trouble in there. It’s empty.

Oh, no it’s not. I forgot about the overwintering strawberries. Good thing I have a leash on Caper.

What? Is it time to go back already?

Caper knows how to unlatch the door. But, I’ll do it! I don’t want him getting into the habit.

That was relaxing, wasn’t it?

It’s been a mild winter here, but the temperature does go well below freezing, especially at night. The ice on the pond has varied from thick to thin.

Sometimes ice spans almost the entire water feature, sometimes only the edges. The pump is on and so there’s always flowing water, which the wild birds appreciate.

Look closely at that flash of color under the ice, walk around, bend a little, and this is what you’ll see:

Goldfish and goldfish-koi. Are there really that many? Are they really that big? It must be an optical illusion caused by the rippling water. After all, the fish are supposed to be in a state of suspended animation in that frigid water. They don’t eat. They certainly don’t grow. Or breed. Right?

We’ll have to wait until springtime to find out.

Come February, in grade school, I eagerly looked forward to making a “mailbox” in my classroom, and having it fill up with Valentine’s Day cards. It’s not that I have any good memories (not a one!) of receiving a special valentine from a special friend. I don’t have any bad school Valentine’s Day memories, either. I never had expectations of a crush tucking a valentine into the box with the others from my classmates. Nope, it’s simple. They’re cute. As cute as can be. The colors are bright and optimistic. They’re silly and happy. And the puns! Awful!

When my sons were younger, I’d pore over their bags of valentines, but now they’re too old to get a card from each classmate. So, I’ve been collecting vintage valentine cards. With a chicken theme, of course. Here are a few of my favorites, from me, to you, with Valentine’s Day love.

It was 17º F this morning when I did my morning chores. The goats don’t care what the thermometer says. They’ve have had it with their winter coats. Bit by fuzzy bit, they’re leaving it on the fence.

It’s a gift to the wild birds. I hear them singing. Some are already building nests. There’s going to be some soft beds for their chicks this year.

A small flock of chickens, let loose in your yard, can, in no time at all, leave a swath of destruction in their feathery wake. They’ll eat every raspberry, tomato and squash blossom. They’ll down the chive blossoms. While dust bathing they’ll expand the flower beds so that dirt spills onto the paths. They’ll pull up the basil seedlings. They’ll peck holes in the cucumbers. They’ll leave manure everywhere. Left to their own devices, the yard would soon become bare, packed dirt with a few hollows for dust bathing.

But, it doesn’t have to be like that. Your garden could look like this:

Well, it could if you lived on a British estate and employed master gardeners.

For the rest of us, there is a compromise between hens run amok, and keeping them penned at all times. You can pick where and when you want your girls to roam. Yesterday the Gems spent quality time in the pumpkin patch, scratching up overwintering pests and weeds. I appreciated Agatha’s help.

A new book, Free-Range Chicken Gardens, written by a gardener who is also a chicken keeper, dispenses good, commonsense advice. Jessi Bloom (is that a perfect name for a garden writer?) talks about how to use fences, mature plantings and appropriate building materials to make a garden that both you and your hens can enjoy. Included are plant lists and garden plans, which are especially helpful for those in the beginning stages of gardening and hen keeping.

I have a few quibbles with the book. She says not to use pine shavings as bedding. Maybe in the Northwest there’s a different type of pine shavings, but here on the East Coast I’ve used them safely for many years. She also suggests that if your hen dies from unknown causes that you send it for a necropsy. Unless there’s a danger that your chicken had a serious, communicable disease, don’t ship your dead animals off to a lab, or your state vet will be inundated!

Smaller points aside, it’s a well-written and attractive book that will be especially appealing to the urban chicken keeper. To promote it, the publisher is having a giveaway. The winner receives a copy of Free-Range Chicken Gardens, a $50 gift card to McMurray Hatchery, a chicken coop plan, and a pound of organic forage and seeds for chicken-friendly plants. Let me know if you win.