The Rhythm of Country Life

For those who have never lived on a farm, the realities of the country life can seem cruel at times but it is the rhythm of life - birth and death.

We have been gone a week to North Carolina for our niece's wedding. A wonderful, memorable affair in the Smokey Mountains and lovely times with family.  We arrived home yesterday and our travel companions wanted to see the guineas. We could hear the guinea sounds but didn't see any. Last night they weren't in their roost and we saw only one. Today we discovered that they are brooding - sitting on eggs - all around the property in tall grass and thickets. We don't know how many we still have since they are scattered and didn't come into their roost last night. We had another feral cat come by and evidently it had a delicious dinner with one of our Easter Egg chickens so I only have 3 Easter Egg chickens left out of 5. The cat may have gotten some guineas too but we won't know until they roost again. Now do you understand why we don't name the birds?

When we arrived home, we checked the incubator and 2 guinea eggs were being chipped open - babies were hatching! See the picture on the right - it is just MOMENTS born.The guinea babies are called Keets. It looks as though we have a few more about to hatch. They are soooo tiny at birth. The newborn guineas are so much smaller than our chickens which were 2 days old when they arrived.

This little guy is still wet from the egg and look how tiny.  This is probably the cutest stage of a guineas life!

We have a nursery for the Keets set up in our laundry room like we had for our baby chicks. I get to be mother hen again!Today the Keets are dry and starting to eat and drink.  Noisy little guys - so tiny.  No new ones yet today. There was one this morning but he didn't make it completely out of the shell. We don't know if more will hatch or not. We'll keep you posted.

And, life goes on.

The garden looks like it exploded with growth while we were gone.  We had another 1 3/4 inches of rain while we were away. It is beginning to really produce so here are a few pictures of what I gathered today...

snow peas...

cherries ready to pick for pies, jam and freezing for later...

A couple of my beautiful, fragrant roses that aren't pink! The vase is a gift from the bride and groom - a wonderful momento of their special day.