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Absurd Amount of Berries

It’s that time of the year we go raid the orchard every day for desert. We could sell some, especially since the price of berries in stores is insane, but that’d be work so we’d rather gift them to friends. It gives them excuses to come over :).

I had never eaten berries until I just couldn’t, it’s so nice to enjoy them without restraint. They also taste much better fresh off the plant. As with maple syrup, producing large quantities of something drastically changes the way you get to enjoy it. I’m not worried about there not being enough for others, or thinking about the expense of it. You can just chug down as many as is enjoyable without afterthought. I’m more worried about making sure the excess doesn’t go to waste.

The chickens clean up the berries that fell on the ground. Sometimes they pick direct from the plants, but not enough to make a dent.

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Tiny Chickens

We had a broody hen again this year, we gave her a few fertilized eggs but none of them made it so Nicole pulled her trick of introducing store bought chicks as if they had just hatched. It worked last time and it worked this time again. We’re careful to make the substitution as if they came from the eggs so the subterfuge isn’t revealed. Maybe we don’t even have to and she’d take them even if they showed up with her eggs still under her, hard to tell but we’re not up to test that theory. It wasn’t her fertilized eggs, it’s not the eggs’ chicks… Oh well, she’s clearly a happy mom now.

Esther really wants to pet them and they grow up fast, so we went and grabbed one to “traumatize” it. We don’t traumatize it at all but the theatrics of the scene make it seem as though we are. I’m worried Esther might think “traumatizing” means “cuddling”, she’ll find out soon enough. We play a lot with words in this household.

Esther thanked me for fishing her a chick for the rest of the day, she really loves traumatizing them.