It’s been a rough day. I had to postpone our vacation to care for sick chickens, and despite my best ministrations, two hens remain at the brink of death. I’ve gone away in the past and left a sick chicken at home. In those cases, I’d done what I could, and time would tell. But, in this situation, I had to stay. Four hens were too sick to drink their medicine down. I had to dose them several times today. I needed to wipe off their beaks to clear their airways of mucus. The care that I could give them would make a difference, and so I stayed. I’m totally bummed about not being able to head out in my car with my family, and it’s draining to do the sort of nursing that I’m doing for the hens. But here’s the thing about having animals around, there’s always that good moment. Always. This is today’s.

This whiffily, nose-twitchingly friendly conversation between Pip and Phoebe was just the salve that I needed. What was your happy moment today?

I love this photograph. Look at how the boy has his hand, lovingly, on his goat’s shoulder. Look at how simple, yet patriotic, the flags are in the wagon. There’s a sweet gentleness about this scene. I want to step into the photo and walk down the street with them and watch a parade.

In August, this image will be in a new book of postcards, Vintage Farm Animal Photographs. Meanwhile, Vintage Chicken Photographs is available in the HenCam store.

This is the first year that I’ve grown Hakurei Turnips.

They’re nothing like the cold-weather crop turnips that I’m familiar with. This is a Japanese variety that has the moisture and crunch of an Asian apple, and in fact is so mild that it can be eaten raw. It’s reminiscent of a radish without the tang.

I harvested a bowlful, and also pulled a few young carrots that needed to be thinned. Although the turnip greens are edible, I’m awash in chard, lettuce and kale, and so fed the tops to the chickens. Phoebe and the goats got the carrot tops, which made them all quite happy.

I sliced the turnips in half, tossed them with one tablespoon of olive oil and dusted with salt and freshly ground pepper. I put them onto a baking sheet in a single layer and placed in a 425 degree F oven for 8 minutes. Then, I turned them over and baked for another 10 minutes. Because they contain so much water, you want to roast them quickly, at high heat. If cooked more slowly, they’d turn to mush. When done, they look like this:

I could have done a fancier preparation, and roasted them in a dressing of maple syrup, mustard and soy. But, at the beginning of the summer bounty, I crave simple recipes in which the vegetables themselves are the stars, and so just simply roasted them. Serve at room temperature with a drizzle of the best balsamic vinegar that you can afford.

For lunch today, I’ll have a salad with lettuce and these vegetables, tossed with feta cheese. But, as much as I like these Hakurei turnips, I think that I prefer the regular purple tops. I’m going to buy a packet of seeds today and plant them. They should be ready to pull by October.

By the end of day 13, all of the robins had left the nest. Not that there was much of a nest left. What was there was flattened and looked like a trampled, packed patch of dirt and dead grasses.

The black specks on the window box are mites, and so the old dog beds got sealed up in garbage bags and tossed off of the porch – I didn’t want to even walk them through the house! The flowers and tomatoes in the window box, and all of the dirt that it contained, also got thrown out.

I scrubbed with soapy water.

Once dry, the porch got sprayed with permethrin. I’ll be keeping Lily off of there for a week, as any remaining mites will be hungry and looking for a host.

Good-bye robins! And good riddance!

I am not stepping onto the porch until the robins are gone and I can scrub it clean. I opened the bathroom window to get a photo of the parent,

and a fledgling leapt out of the box, landed on the deck, squirted poop, and flew off into the smokebush (that gorgeous plant below the porch.) I was so surprised that I was only able to get this one photo. Obviously, even without the mite problem,  I’d be out there with a scrub brush once all of the birds leave.

As it is, two remain. I’m hoping that they’ll be gone by tomorrow!