Of Ducks and Garlic

I have avoided talking about our baby duck situation...
because we lost our entire batch of 17 ducklings.
Unfortunately, Mrs. Waddlington was not a good mother.
She was frequently off galavanting around the farm, 
leaving her babies to fend for themselves.

And now, of course,
she is again sitting on another clutch of eggs.


When these hatch, I hope to be able to keep them in the duck hut
and raise them myself.
I will allow them access to the pond once they are full grown.

In the interim, however, a neighboring farmer dropped off 10 more ducks
this past Saturday.


A mother...
and a good one, I might add....

and her 9 almost fully grown children....


I am hoping that this watchful mother will be more successful in keeping her brood
safe from predators than Mrs. Waddlington was.
She is already infinitely more protective than Mrs. Waddlington ever was....
chasing the other ducks away whenever they swim too close to her youngsters.


I went down to the pond yesterday afternoon to check on the new ducks
and found...


nothing.  There were no ducks in sight.
I looked down the lane... no ducks.


Hearing a rustling in the woods, I sat there for a few minutes.
These four gentlemen appeared....
looking for a free lunch.


Just moments later I heard more rustling
and out of the woods came 19 ducks...
waddling into the pond.


Meanwhile...the four randy roos decided to check out the gator.


I swear they would have driven off with it, if they could have!


And while we are on the subject of hatching eggs...

"Miss Annie... what is that you have in your mouth?"


"Is that an egg?"


"Give Mommy that egg, Annie."
"Drop it."

There was no way Annie was giving up this particular treasure.
It was a tiny chicken egg that Tyler and I found 
in the henhouse on Saturday...


too tiny to sell, but just perfect for a mid afternoon snack for Annie!
How did Annie get that egg?
Tyler accidentally dropped it...lucky for Annie!

It's garlic harvest time!
We harvested oodles of soft neck and hard neck garlic this past weekend.


The hard neck variety will spend a little extra time drying in the cool, dark of the barn.
The soft neck garlic is dry already and will go into storage for use
over the months to come.


I will also save a couple of the largest bulbs to divide and plant in September.


This year... garlic.  Next year... son of garlic!

Comments

jaz@octoberfarm said…
that photo of annie with the egg in her mouth is too funny! how do you store your garlic? mine seems to always dry out. maybe it's because i keep it in the basement and forget about it.
daisy g said…
So sorry about your ducklings. Glad that the farmer had some to spare!

I have garlic envy. Mine was a complete bust this year. I really don't like having to buy the stuff. Enjoy!
Candice said…
Annie's eyes tell you that she's not giving up her treat. :) Those roos are sure big, healthy and gorgeous! Such curious gentlemen.
Junebug said…
The life of a duck in the woods. Hopefully these will last a little longer. Annie is too cute, not going to drop "my" egg!! Enjoy your day, hugs!!
Lynne said…
Duckling stories remind me of the pond at my parents home in Iowa . . . Sad tales those Snapping Turtles brought! Finally we decided on no more ducks.

Sounds like a new system is in place with your new brood.

Annie doesn't look like she wants to part with that egg!
This N That said…
Son of garlic! Sounds like a veggie horror flick. So sorry about your ducks. You had to be a little fearful when you went down there and there were no ducks insight. Maybe they thought they were hiding. They're probably safer in the pond. Annie was trying to tell you that you forgot an egg. I love how you are always surrounded by one animal or another. They are the best company.
Laura Sudderth said…
So cute Annie and her egg. Just precious. Too bad about Mrs. Waddlington. I guess she had other priorities. I could just sit at the edge of that pond all day and watch those ducks. Iced-tea and mosquito spray beside me; that is all I would need.
Anonymous said…
I have that bad parenting problem with some of my geese. It's a precarious world for a little bird. Hope you have success with this next batch. My duck couldn't even hatch one of her eggs (but it was her first effort).
Peter said…
I wonder if those huge carp might be the culprits in the case of the missing ducklings.
Patty Sumner said…
I hope you can figure out what is going on...I would hate to keep loosing the ducklings. I guess these are natural occurances on the farm still hard... The roosters were just to funny. I think they were trying to figure out how to drive off.. What a batch of garlic you have there...and Miss Annie, well I think she deserved her little egg.. Have a great day.. Blessings!
Charlotte said…
I 'harvested' my garlic this week, I say harvest in inverted commas as there were only 4 plants to pull that had been planted in a tub but i was still very pleased with myself lol