This was originally published as part of "The Life of Zack" series on "I Am Medley.
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There was a time when my family had a little backyard farm.
It started after Mom had recovered from her second bout with cancer, my little brother decided that we should start growing our own food. He bought a couple of laying hens, and that's how we got started.
We ended up getting a lot more birds: chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks and guineas. Then we got some goats, a sheep, a couple cows and a few pigs.
For a little while, we were producing so many eggs we were able to sell some for a few extra dollars.
My brother started showing birds in poultry shows and that was a whole other adventure. I spent my time at home taking care of the animals while my family traveled around for the poultry shows.
I have a lot of crazy memories from that time: going out in the pouring rain to take care of the animals, hunting for runaway birds late into the night; I even remember one time I was so sick I could barely stand, but I managed to get all the animals taken care of.
The birds could be a bit of a handful, but they were nothing compared to the goats. The goats were a riot, and not always a good one. The first few goats we acquired were supposed to be good milk goats, but it turns out we had been duped and they were sick. Their milk tasted awful and they didn't produce very much at all, in addition to respiratory problems.
We eventually found a proper milk goat. She was a pretty good goat, as far as that goes, but I still didn't enjoy having to go out and milk her at the crack of dawn. We had good goat milk for awhile. But then, she "mysteriously" turned up dead.
The cows were also ill-fated. We only got one or two to the butcher, the others just dropped dead.
Once we started keeping farm animals, they would turn up dead some mornings when we went out to care for them. We were taking good care of them, making sure they were receiving proper nutrition and everything. We suspected they were being killed by family members and local people that didn't like us.
Let's put it this way, when we got a gun and people found out about it, the animals didn't die as often. Then, there was an increase of calls to the Humane Society in reference to our animals. All kinds of accusations that they were not properly cared for, which the Humane Society investigated and determined were untrue.
The pigs did alright, no mysterious deaths - maybe people were afraid of them? Pigs can be scary! We bought piglets in pairs, we never gave them proper names because we planned on having them butchered, so we would call them "Sausage" and "Bacon," or "Jimmy" and "Dean."
The thing is, the first four pigs were friendly and not hard to care for, but the last two were savage. They ate random chickens that wandered into their pen and would stare menacingly at any living thing in visual range. I certainly didn't want to fall in their pen. When they went to the butcher, I was so relieved.
So, I've talked a little about all the animals, except for our pet sheep. Whereas we eventually sold off our remaining birds and goats, when my brother moved away, we kept the sheep - because she was a rescue and a pet. We love our Hannah Banana.
So, I'm not really about that farming life, but I figure someday I'll have a few chickens in my backyard. Them fresh eggs and the roosters crowing in the morning, that's where it's at.
It started after Mom had recovered from her second bout with cancer, my little brother decided that we should start growing our own food. He bought a couple of laying hens, and that's how we got started.
We ended up getting a lot more birds: chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks and guineas. Then we got some goats, a sheep, a couple cows and a few pigs.
For a little while, we were producing so many eggs we were able to sell some for a few extra dollars.
My brother started showing birds in poultry shows and that was a whole other adventure. I spent my time at home taking care of the animals while my family traveled around for the poultry shows.
I have a lot of crazy memories from that time: going out in the pouring rain to take care of the animals, hunting for runaway birds late into the night; I even remember one time I was so sick I could barely stand, but I managed to get all the animals taken care of.
The birds could be a bit of a handful, but they were nothing compared to the goats. The goats were a riot, and not always a good one. The first few goats we acquired were supposed to be good milk goats, but it turns out we had been duped and they were sick. Their milk tasted awful and they didn't produce very much at all, in addition to respiratory problems.
We eventually found a proper milk goat. She was a pretty good goat, as far as that goes, but I still didn't enjoy having to go out and milk her at the crack of dawn. We had good goat milk for awhile. But then, she "mysteriously" turned up dead.
The cows were also ill-fated. We only got one or two to the butcher, the others just dropped dead.
Once we started keeping farm animals, they would turn up dead some mornings when we went out to care for them. We were taking good care of them, making sure they were receiving proper nutrition and everything. We suspected they were being killed by family members and local people that didn't like us.
Let's put it this way, when we got a gun and people found out about it, the animals didn't die as often. Then, there was an increase of calls to the Humane Society in reference to our animals. All kinds of accusations that they were not properly cared for, which the Humane Society investigated and determined were untrue.
The pigs did alright, no mysterious deaths - maybe people were afraid of them? Pigs can be scary! We bought piglets in pairs, we never gave them proper names because we planned on having them butchered, so we would call them "Sausage" and "Bacon," or "Jimmy" and "Dean."
The thing is, the first four pigs were friendly and not hard to care for, but the last two were savage. They ate random chickens that wandered into their pen and would stare menacingly at any living thing in visual range. I certainly didn't want to fall in their pen. When they went to the butcher, I was so relieved.
So, I've talked a little about all the animals, except for our pet sheep. Whereas we eventually sold off our remaining birds and goats, when my brother moved away, we kept the sheep - because she was a rescue and a pet. We love our Hannah Banana.
So, I'm not really about that farming life, but I figure someday I'll have a few chickens in my backyard. Them fresh eggs and the roosters crowing in the morning, that's where it's at.
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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.
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