An Experiment in Communal Living
A few photos from the Foire des Hérolles poultry market this morning. A somewhat surreal and overwhelming experience waking up at 5:00am and ending up surrounded by literally thousands of squawking chickens, ducks, geese, guinea hens, quails, turkeys, and every other imaginable fowl… (all squawking in French.)
Vendor and customer in front of market stall
Baby ducks for sale
Caged poultry being unloaded
Young chickens for sale
The new arrivals just keep on coming in Les Verrines- Just a few weeks after receiving our wonderful Easter present, one of our poussins from last year has now become a mom! Eule hatched eight beautiful fluffy little chicks who are now bumbling happily around the yard… Our chicken army has now reached it’s highest enrollment levels ever, now topping out at twenty-one! It’s been good to see all three generations together- Plus, we’ve confirmed that our cock has been doing his duties properly!
Eule’s been going about her motherly duties wonderfully, finding worms and teaching the little ones the ins and outs of being a chicken… However, Eule’s first day out in the yard proved that becoming a mother chicken might have a slight learning curve: (more…)
Now that winter is officially over, here’s a quick look back in pictures…
The view from the bedroom window in winter.
Best Friends.
The long awaited sequal to: What’s Upstairs by Le Vignaud Productions.
The story of a young chicken named Tchitchi… who grew up so fast! Our little baby Tchitchi is now a mother! She had six little baby chicks hatch- We’re so proud!
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Inspiration of the Day:
A friend, inspired by my new feathered companions, recently loaned me a book written by Annie Dupery- a Parisian actress relocated to la Creuse… In Le Poil et la Plume she describes eloquently her reasons for relocating to this ‘forgotten’ part of the country, and her endeavors raising both chickens and cats (Fur and Feathers) in her rural garden… The opening text of her book puts it perfectly, (in words better than I can conjure) so I have left them in the original French (rough English translation follows). (more…)
A perceptive young reader wants to know: “What is upstairs in the chicken house?”
This week, Le Vignaud Productions sets out to tell the story:
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In the Chicken Coop
We have chickens! Does that mean it’s a farm yet???
Actually this is a little bit old news, since they have been with us now for two weeks- but I wanted to give them some time to adjust before they got the paparazzi routine… Now they are happily adjusted, enjoying their freedom, and pecking around the garden… no eggs yet, but we will give them a little more time to come up with the rent before we kick them out.
Curious?
Over the years that I have been coming to La Creuse and in particular over the past few years that I have called it my home, there have been plenty of opportunities for laughter and happiness… There have also been many times of sadness, some tears, heartache, and loss. Some of those times have unfortunately involved death- the death of family, the death of friends… and now animals.
The death of animals on the farm is not generally something that given much thought or notice. Animals are raised and sacrificed for our means, pets come and go. It’s simply a fact of life. That is the way things are, and the way they always will be… But in this case, there was something more than just the loss of life – in this case just the lives of a few chickens – It was the loss of an ideal.
