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
I have garlic envy. Mine was a complete bust this year. I really don't like having to buy the stuff. Enjoy!
Sounds like a new system is in place with your new brood.
Annie doesn't look like she wants to part with that egg!