An aerial shot of Fritz, a delightful bantam rooster we acquired from friends in town when one of their ‘hens’ started cock-a-doodling. Somewhat incredibly, he and Wimpy get along just fine, mostly ignoring each other except for the occasional yodelled exchange. Neither being a fighter, they wait until they are at opposite ends of the orchard before exchanging a few words. Then, they carry on with life as if the other didn’t exist in some strange roosterly detente.
… From the hay loft, but this time there is actually a view and not a fog bank!
Posted in Blog, Uncategorized
Tagged agriculture, Autumn, farm, hay loft, Vancouver island
Wimpy (so named because of an unfortunate incident in which he was picked on by bantam chickens one tenth his size) is my gorgeous, mild-mannered Black Orpington rooster. His gentle nature might not do much good in the barnyard, but it makes him the perfect bird for public appearances.
Today, in honour of National School Library Day, Prospect Lake Elementary School invited me to give a couple of farming-themed talks relating to my most recent book, Down to earth: How Kids Help Feed the World.
Wimpy the Black Orpington rooster steals the show…
I may have had a few things to say, but the star of the show was definitely Wimpy, who happily snacked away on his grain for the entire presentation and never crowed once (though he did, occasionally, mutter something to himself).
Many thanks to the staff, students, and parents at Prospect Lake School for inviting me to come and speak and a huge shout out to the wonderful teacher-librarian, Pat Miller who did such a fabulous job of organizing today’s activities, which included an amazing session of ‘Drop Everything and Read’ during which students, parents, teachers, and administrators all stopped what they were doing and grabbed a book to read and share. What better way to celebrate School Library Day?
Posted in Blog, Chickens, Uncategorized
Tagged author presentation, chicken, children's book, Dark Creek Farm, down to earth, farm, national school library day, nikki tate, rooster, wimpy
I love how this young man is providing plenty of moral support and full body encouragement but is letting the young woman carry the pumpkin!
There seems to be a definite pumpkin theme going in these days! Yesterday when I stopped by Michell’s Farm Market to pick up a bag of feed carrots it was pumpkin madness! All kinds of kids and families and old people and cute couples were out scouring the field in search of the perfect pumpkin! Even though they were just manhandling squash into wheelbarrows, there was a definite festive air about the place! I wish I could see all the cool carvings that that happened after everyone got their orange babies home…
(Note the complete lack of a shred of fog anywhere!)
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