Hay Rake Rescue

My husband Chris did a residential job recently that resulted in some old farm machinery that the owner wanted "junked". Chris struck a deal with him on a rusty old hay rake that he pulled out of tall weeds. The rake hadn't been used in many, many years but Chris saw that it still had potential if it could have some well-chosen replacement parts and a little TLC. What he had found was a 1958 Oliver 5-bar hay rake. He trailered it to our farm and "completely disassembled it. There wasn't a bolt left in it," he said.

Total dis-assembly was necessary because of neglect over the years. Layers of metal were encased in rust. Chris said that without intervening, "the equipment would continue to rot down". Once he had the hay rake apart, it was time to evaluate and inventory each piece and then order any necessary new parts. He cleaned up all the useable old parts by sandblasting, priming and painting. 

He replaced the worn-out bearings and seals and straightened the stripper bars, put in all new spring teeth and added a hydraulic lift. He replaced tires and tubes. He hurried to get it all renovated in time to try it out for the season's haymaking. After a few late, late nights of working, the restoration was complete.

When Chris took it out for a trial run, he said,

"It worked quite well, just like it was supposed to!" 

I listened to the old hay rake while Chris did a demo for me. He hooked it up to an older John Deere tractor. That vision and the gentle hum and whir of the rake brought back memories of a bygone era. I am filled with pride that Chris saw the potential and did this renovation. He recently raked with it to make nearly 400 bales of hay. 

Sorry to admit that, when he first brought it home, I couldn't picture what it should look like. What a mess! I regret that I didn't get the photo before he took it apart. 

Making Maple Syrup

Here is Chris pouring collected sap into a storage container.

Maple syrup is cooked down from sap that you gather from sugar maple trees. There are no other ingredients, not even water. And it's incredibly good. On the market, maple syrups will often have corn syrup, gluten, color and other additives which can stretch profitability and decrease the steaming time required. Since it takes 35-60 gallons of the thin slightly sweet sap to make a gallon of pure maple syrup, doing it the old-fashioned way takes time but the result is pure YUM!

 

These little jugs are self-sealing.

Gather your supplies. We use food safe plastic jugs, buckets, storage containers, and little PVC water line spouts unless you want to go truly old-fashioned and use young, pithy elderberry saplings to make spouts. Maple syrup production houses will collect into stainless steel vats using long water lines but we simply gather the jugs, pour into buckets and bring it to the kettle twice daily. After the sap cooks down, we check the sweetness with a hydrometer, but tasting is the best test of all!  I buy little pint jugs to store it in for a vacuum seal. Very fresh, very pure. 

Chris is gathering sap.

PVC works perfectly. Shave down the insert to prevent leakage.

Start tapping the trees when daytime temperatures are going to be above freezing but nights are still very cold. In Ohio, the sap usually begins running fast sometime in February. 

If you have the opportunity to tap into maple trees and decide you'd like to give this a try, plan ahead. If you steam off the sap inside your kitchen, it can strip your wall-paper! Been there, done that, at our old farmhouse. If you cook it down outside with a gas turkey fryer, the cost can end up being around $10-$11 a pint for the propane, not counting the cost of the jug. We began cooking over a wood fire a few years ago, using a tripod and kettle. Oh, and a large firewood supply. Whatever method you choose, proceed slowly and with caution. Be aware that if you cook the sap down over an open fire, the syrup will retain a smoky flavor.

Doing it the old-fashioned way takes a lot of wood...

...and WORK!

Try my cousin Stephanie's recipe for Sticky Bun Tea Ring and you'll want to search for maple trees you can tap into yourself!

A Photo Essay

There is something visceral, very REAL, about our connection with the land when we grow, harvest and preserve great food and drink for the table. Sharing the food  and experiences with others becomes incredibly fulfilling. Chris and I have discovered that magic. 

In this blog, I share our experiences, successes and frustrations with our particular brand of homesteading that includes chickens, gardening, cooking, food preserving, and building projects. You will find an occasional recipe, some research or an idea that makes life easier. And if I occasionally make you laugh or help lighten your load, that makes me happy. 


When you prepare food to share with family and friends using whole food products, especially what you've grown, you'll serve up meals that are tastier, healthier, and your soul will overflow with fulfillment. You will be living abundantly. Work with your right hand and share with your left. In all you do, act of out love. Your life will become more than the sum of your parts. This is The Pauley Principle.

December to Remember Give-Aways

The holidays are here! The holidays are here! 

I love this time of the year! In the spirit of giving, for all my family, friends and faithful followers, I'm doing a weekly give-away between December 1st and Christmas Day!

(No, not the boots. There's a story behind those boots, but not now.)

It's the time of year for gift-giving, and that can put a real stretch on family budgets! To help with that and to help spread the joy of Christmas, each week this December I'll be sending one lucky winner a gift that you can actually use and enjoy!

How to enter:  First, you must be a follower of my blog, basically about country life. (Just click on FOLLOW at the top of the page. I will not be sharing your info.) Second, leave a comment. I'll be collecting names, one entry for each comment you leave, and throwing the names into a Santa hat. Yes, a Santa hat. Then I'll draw one lucky winner each week! Winners will be notified in a blog post right here on Sundays.

Get your entries in!!! My third give-away is coming up on Sunday, December 18th!!! The prize will be bacon, pancake mix, and our very own, open fire, iron kettle, slow-steamed maple syrup. 

Chris gathered the sap twice a day from our maple grove. And the maple syrup is so delicious with a hint of smoke!

GOOD LUCK!

I have bacon, pancake mix, and our delicious and smoky open fire cooked pure maple syrup!!!

The drum roll sounds as I draw for the final winning name in our 

Christmas to Remember holiday drawings....

AND THE WINNER IS...

mmeyre!!!! 

Is that YOU, Marcia Eyre? Please get in touch with me! 

CONGRATULATION S!!!!!

AND A HUGE

THANK YOU

TO EVERYONE WHO MADE THIS SO FUN! 

 

Thanksgiving Home and Hearth

A time for fun, reflection, prayer and feasting with family and friends!

This year's gathering was larger than ever at our home, and the more, the merrier!

As we reflect on the wonderful addition to the family, we realize how very precious each person is, and how the personal differences add to the richness of the family tapestry, the same way that each rock in the fireplace makes its contribution to the whole. Without each rock you see, what could the fireplace be?

We celebrate our successes this year (heirloom bean seeds, garden produce) and lament our failures (tree loss, poor grape and strawberry harvests). And we look forward to a new year to make improvements.

For awhile this year, my health seemed to be plummeting and Chris ended up carrying the load. For him, his work, for our friends and family to share our food with, and for the wonderful harvest we've laid by, I am so incredibly thankful! (There's a lot more that I'm thankful for, but there just isn't time or space to mention all the blessings right now and it's not like you need to hear it.)

Pauley's Pampered Poultry: Speckled Sussex

Our young Speckled Sussex hens are coming out of their Chicken Condo that isn't finished yet but will be comfortable when winter winds come. We rushed their moving day because the hens needed more fresh range than their brooder pen allowed.  Also, one day they'll be ready to lay eggs. When that time comes, they will need access to nesting boxes and the  bigger roost that their condo will provide.

Roosti-Roo, our Speckled Sussex rooster. I haven't heard him crow yet but I know it's just a matter of time. He watches over the hens as if he's under contract.  Very protective, he inspects any food scraps before stepping back to let the hens enjoy them.

The Speckled Sussex are an heirloom chicken. Known for being gentle, hardy and consistent egg-layers, they appear to make excellent pets. They run and fly to me in a friendly way, not like they're trying to peck or flog me. Instead, they seem to greet me when I visit, much like a puppy would. They enjoy attention. And they just love vegetable scraps!

About 48 hens will be our egg-layers. Eventually we will put up a  

FRESH EGG  

sign at home. I'm so excited!

QUESTIONS: 

Should I plan to take eggs to the Farmers' Market next year? 
Or should I do an egg delivery route to local customers?

HI HO, HI HO, It's home from work we go!

Look closely and you'll see the chimney smoke wafting up into the sky while the rain makes a faint mist.

    Fantastic fall days reluctantly gave way to the wind and the raindrops that had been teasing at us, threatening us with a cold front. Even as I plan to work with Second Harvest food banks about the drastic effects Ohio's Issue 3 would have, Chris and I were pushed to get the last of our harvest in while I could still get into a dry garden and Chris could process our chickens in good weather. 

   

    The lawn isn't mowed. Flowerbeds aren't tended. Those things have had to wait while I gathered and processed the last of the garden veggies and Chris worked in a mad frenzy processing the last of our meat chickens. We both finished the same day, just after the rain began pouring down and the wind lifted the tarp that covered the chicken plucker.

    I didn't take time or have the inclination to get photos of the chicken processing out of my respect and reverence for the animals that are making such a huge contribution to our food supply. Processing chickens for food is not an easy thing to do, no matter how well designed the set-up is.

    Next year, I'm looking forward to eggs from our little Speckled Sussex hens. I also hope our fruits do better and with a little more attention, they should. And I would love to fish more!

    Chris and I work at it. Chris, all the time. Me, not so much anymore. Although this year was not good for our strawberries, apples or grapes, we've processed maple syrup, venison, chicken, corn, green beans, salsa, tomato sauce, whole tomatoes, pickles, and pumpkin. And we've laid by potatoes, zucchini, butternut, and acorn squash in winter storage. Admittedly, it's hard work, but it's not all for us. Almost every day we give someone some food. Not everyone can do this. We've been blessed. So now as I write, it's raining outside but it's cozy here with the warmth of the fireplace. Chris just came in from chopping wood and making sure it stays cozy.   

    My letter to the editor of our local paper regarding the unfair treatment and consequent shrinking of the middle class as it slides into poverty has just been published. I have spoken. I feel that, for now, for just this moment in time, with the canning and freezing equipment all cleaned and put away, supper in the oven, and the food laid by for winter, my work is done. Just for now.

    Tomorrow, I will speak again.

Short-term Exercise Program, Long-term Benefits

Gardening is a short-term exercise program that offers the promise of long-term edible benefits!

Admittedly, I got out of the hard work of gardening this year because of my broken leg. Chris really came through and tended the garden to keep the weeds out. The weather cooperated and voila!

Chris has recently been busy gathering the veggies. He brings them in and I wish I could say I take it from there, as usual, but Chris has also helped with food preservation. That is really quality time! Many of the beans and corn are already processed for later enjoyment. And others have been given away. Our potatoes, squashes and pumpkins soon need to be gathered and put in storage.

Now that I'm about to lose my walking cast, the work for me will get intensive. I'm gearing up for it with a daily workout program of Pilates and Yoga but I miss the aerobics of gardening and hiking!

Our family meals are largely Mediterranean-based and require plain tomato sauce, plain so that the sauce can be adapted for different purposes. Although we planted a wide variety of tomatoes, I'm especially pleased with the Romas this year. They're hanging in thick, heavy clusters that remind me of bananas. I'll start by first processing tomato sauce, then salsa and whole tomatoes. By the end of the season, close to frost,  the mix of stragglers will go into a blended tomato juice that can be added to other veggies for a little nutrition boost. Maybe making tomato juice will keep me from drinking the salsa!

I encourage all my readers at some point in your life to try making your own sauce and salsa. The fresh taste is amazing! And the health benefits are long-lasting! You don't need to pay money to join a health club!

Duckling

Chris really enjoyed this meal. Duckling! 

When I plated this for dinner, Chris said I had to get the picture. Here it is: duckling with brown and wild rice with orange-flavored cranberries, green beans fresh from the garden, served with a glass of cranberry-grape juice. A salad plate of cranberry sauce with orange slices
was already on the table.

Serving a meal of duckling seemed appropriate for Labor Day since the ducklings had been a labor of love from the very first moment of picking up the tiny yellow peeping fluffs at the post office to all their daily care, the heat lamps, the coddling. Then, when the Pekin ducks were beginning to get their white feathers, we moved them outside to the Hoop Coop, complete with its swimming pool and shaded area. By then, they were big enough and had their natural oils, necessary so that they wouldn't drown in the pool. The ducks have been a joy to watch, and we gave them the best life we possibly could. Chris worked really hard.

In a similar manner, my dad raised pigs on his hog farm. When I was a teenager, questioning the eating of meat, I asked how he could justify eating one. 

He simply said, "I give them the best life possible. The good Lord provides us meat, necessary for our bodies. When we eat meat, the animal becomes part of us, nourishing us, an ultimate 'thank you' for the nurturing care we give them." 

To kill and prepare what you've raised is humbling, like nothing else. My father had a reverence for all life, an attitude that is lost as we distance ourselves from the animal, the source of our meat, and go instead to the plastic-wrapped environment of a grocery store.

When Chris and I ate this meal, we knew that humble feeling, but we also experienced an adventure in both cooking and eating, and we soon realized this is a process we'll go through again. For Chris, it convinced him that we don't need to pasture steers for beef. He actually prefers the flavor and texture of duckling to beef! I enjoyed it too, very much! The meat is mild and tasty, like the dark meat of turkey that is properly prepared.

I have friends who wouldn't come see Pauley's Pampered Poultry because they knew we planned to eat the ducks eventually. Come on! Are we so far removed from the reality of our food that we can't accept that fact?!

Frankly, I don't want to take anything's life! I take a house spider out to the flower bed! But, in reality, my body dictates that I eat well and that means including meat, moderately, in the diet.

Heirloom Chicks

These Speckled Sussex chicks love being on the grass. At night they still sleep in their brooder but by day they enjoy the fresh greens, insects and sunshine that they can only get in the great outdoors.  

In order to keep out predators, Chris has their run secured with two different sizes of wire mesh. Outside that is an electric fence so that Pauley's Pampered Poultry remains safe and secure.  

Then, before long, they'll be ready to move into the Chicken Condo where they will have even more room and a larger outside run. The free range chickens will continue to be secure from predators, the greatest threat to their health. 

Known for being an heirloom breed, the Speckled Sussex numbers are limited. That may change as people begin to recognize their ability to withstand heat and pathogens, something newer hybrids don't handle so well.

Making egg-laying pets of these little chicks should be fun. Varied markings and already distinctive, but friendly, personalities will make it easier to name them. They're fun little chicks.   Maybe we'll decide to raise a brood hen so that we can raise and perhaps sell more of these delightful little cuties!

(If our suspicions prove true, 

there's one daring little rooster in among the fifty little hen-chicks!)

52 Hot Chicks on the Run! The Speckled Sussex babies have arrived.

The USPS does a great job of transporting chicks. An early morning phone call lets you know the chicks are at the Post Office and we can either pick them up or they'll deliver by truck. In no time at all, Chris was on the road to pick up his chicks. These hot chicks were shipped out the day they hatched. That's quick. 


Since the little chicks are naturally warm and have to stay that way, their brooder has to be kept in the 90's during the early days of their lives. The brooder stood waiting and ready.

The first thing Chris noted when he took the 52 little Speckled Sussex chicks out of their mailing box is that they could RUN! They seem to actually prefer running. Whether they're on their way to food, water, or to chase a fly, they run.

What makes it even more fun is that the chicks will also run to us! They actually seem friendly! 

And Chris is determined to keep them friendly.

The chicks are in a climate controlled brooder. After the brooder, they might get to live in the hoop coop since the weather will be suitably warm. Then it will still be several months before these chicks will produce eggs. After a few weeks in the hoop coop, as fall nears, they'll move into the chicken condo where they will still have the opportunity to get out in the yard for some real foraging. This is going to be FUN! What's fun that isn't also a little work? And we're hoping to enjoy having them  for many years Besides, what other pet do you know that can lay an egg?

The Haystack

Chris is tossing the hay up into the haymow.

He has some great ideas for using the hay!

Whatever he's thinking, at least he's motivated to get this job done in a hurry!

This was just the first of three trailer loads! He says it will fit and he should know. He built this barn!

Making hay the old-fashioned way! When you've just got a small field and a little time to spare, it could be the green thing to do! Note, however, the absence of horses and a hay wagon. Admittedly, it's not the perfect shade of green but definitely gave a great workout for all involved!

Hoop Coop

Chris completed his 10' X 20' Hoop Coop (that's what he's calling it) just in time for the ducklings' 3-week birthday.

The ducklings wasted no time trying to learn all about their new residence. Just wait til the wading pool comes!

Tarps and chicken wire over cattle panels should ward off predators but, just in case, the Hoop Coop is surrounded by electric fence. The potato patch is in the foreground.

They're looking cozy! Earlier today, when Chris caught them, they must have thought they'd met their end. He picked them up just like you should, petted them and tried to calm them but they weren't happy about it. Now they have fresh air and natural ventilation, both sunshine and shade, and all the grass, bugs, feed, grit and water they could want.
If it has to be a short life, at least it can be comfy!
(To the ducklings: Happy 3 Week Birthday!  :)  Enjoy the Hoop Coop!)

Making the Salsa Bed

Chris hated breaking his last night's promise to plow the backyard garden today. He was planning to use his Gravely. It's an antique, I think, but this would be our first experience with it for the garden so we were both excited to see how it did. Last night's 9/10" rained spoiled our plans and Chris was back on the farm instead with the Gravely doing some sickle bar mowing around the pine trees instead.

So, without any kids, without any visitors, and without the Gravely, that left me to try to find a way to get my vegetable seedlings into the ground--finally! I'd already wasted my first batch of tomato sprouts since I started them in February, afraid I'd run out of salsa before I had more tomatoes! Pretty foolish, I know! But now I had seedlings that weren't growing well because they needed outside in rich garden soil, rain and real sunshine. The first thing I did was to take inventory of the cold frame where my mix of lettuces and kale had been. There were a few stragglers, so I pulled them out, washed them up in the kitchen and allowed them to drain while I yanked out the weeds that had overtaken their space. 

All afternoon I worked, yanking weeds and preparing the soil for the new arrivals. I planted in the rain so no need to water further, I figured. I was a happy gardener, not really knowing how to go about crowding my veggies. I decided to do it a little like raised bed gardening since the veggies would have to be in there tight. The first thing that went in were the sweet potatoes. I had to have a place for them since the voles at the potato patch were horrible little monsters! They would eat them up underground and we wouldn't have a clue until harvest time. (But aha! We have now erected a raptor perch, hoping to attract hawks to find the voles since voles also eat pine roots, but I digress. The pines are a totally different topic.) Back to my gardening:

 In the very back I have yams and sweet potatoes. This frame has eight inches of topsoil and sand above the ground, so I suppose the potatoes will have room to burrow. In front of that are six yellow tomato plants. In the very front I have planted my ten little mixed pepper plants. I will dub this bed my "salsa bed".

One surprise: In with my pepper seedlings was one lonely unidentified tomato that I mistakenly labeled and treated like a pepper. So I potted it and it will become someone's mystery tomato patio plant.

LIFE IS DUCKY!!!

Just for fun, I gave them a little waterer inside a feedpan! They splashed the water out and for a few minutes there was a pool party! Just wait til they get their wading pool!

Water cooler gossip! You can tell something's on their minds. Look at the way they're avoiding my eyes. 

Hard to imagine these lanky birds are just fourteen days old. They're starting to grow tail feathers.

Growing Potatoes

Over the past three years we have tried our best to be green with growing potatoes, attacking the dreaded potato beetle with our bare hands. Chris would get out and hand pick the bugs from the potatoes, not wanting to kill the praying mantis babies that we hoped would get the job done. Sometimes he would pick potato beetles for an hour, counting and one day catching more than 600 bugs over several hours, only to see more coming onto the plants later that evening. A single bug can easily destroy a plant in a day, so imagine what just a hundred could do!

One of the problems with potato beetles is that the larva is underground where you may not notice them until they emerge from the ground as fully developed bugs with voracious appetites. Our solution? Imidocloprid, sold as Nuprid. Treating the soil seems to be effective, halting the development of the larva in the early spring, prior to planting potatoes. The potato crop is coming along really well without the lacy leaves associated with bug damage.

We'd rather be green about our veggies, so if anyone has a practical solution for potato beetles, please pass it on! I hear ducks eat them and we have some ducks that go into a feeding frenzy when they see a cricket so what would they do in an infested potato patch? I have to wonder!

Good Day for Ducks!

The weather, being what it is, will likely do what she wants to do. Is it a good day for ducks? I asked Chris. His fact du jour was that the ducklings need to stay in their brooder and out of the rain. To allow them to swim in a pool of water could be fatal. The reason: Since Chris became their surrogate mother, they don't have the advantage of their mother's natural oil that penetrates feathers and keeps ducklings afloat on water. Besides, their brooder provides the ducklings a clean, controlled environment with steady temperatures and protection from predators.

It's working. All eleven ducks are healthy and active and, when I visit, they give me a cocked-head sideways look that only ducks can do, like they're thinking I don't know what you are or why you're even here, but I think it's time for you to leave!

Right now Chris is making a movable "schooner" so that when the ducklings can get outside, there won't be a chance for a predator to break through. He's already built a fence, electric and woven wire combined, to keep out the big critters. The ducklings will live inside this schooner that will keep out everything but sunshine, insects and small birds. Chris will move the schooner around the poultry yard from time to time to give the ducks fresh grazing. By the time they get outside, the ducklings should be ready for their wading pool.

All this for table fare? You're right, and here's why. We want to raise a portion of the meat we consume and give the animals a good life. Suppose a person eats 8 oz. of meat a day. The cost of getting started with poultry is a one-time expense, except for maintenance, and with little continued overhead. The cost of producing poultry is considerably less than beef because their weight gain is so rapid!  Raising ducks requires less land than raising a steer, much less time to reach maturity, less feed per pound of weight gain, and we like the meat. So it's a good choice for us. Improved quality of life=improved meat. On top of that, the environmental footprint is greener than it would be with beef.

Is it a good day for ducks? Yes, if you're in an environment that takes care of your every need!!! That's what we're doing! And we'll keep on doing it to the end of their days!

It's all good except for one little problem: I still haven't found the white vintner grapes that I can grow in this locale that would make a really delicious and smooth wine to serve with duck.

Lucky Duckies

The post office called at 7 a.m. to let us know our ducklings had arrived, so Chris scrambled out of the house to  pick them up and get them settled into their new home. The photos are from one day later. They weren't a bit camera shy!

This particular variety of duck, the Pekin, will become white later on and are respected as table fare. I know! AWWW! But, look at it this way--we'll give them the best food and care a duckling could possibly get, providing them a very good life!

The Three Sisters and Friends

People ask me what they should try to grow if they have a small garden. My first thought: tomatoes! They're so adaptable to meal plans. My second thought: potatoes! No longer relegated to the garden, they are emerging as horticultural plantings for landscapes, make a very pretty ground cover and provide delicious spuds that can be prepared for the table in a multitude of ways. My third thought: "The Three Sisters", quite possibly responsible for the success of both the early native Americans and the immigrants who came later to live and thrive here in America.

In early times, before recorded history in America, the people who inhabited the land would plant beans, corn and squash together. The three vegetables came to be called "The Three Sisters" and became standard. This planting combination had been a brilliant agricultural plan, ingenious in the way the plants complemented each other. The way it worked, stalks of corn provided a structure for climbing beans. In turn, beans brought nitrogen from the air down into their roots and into the soil where the corn, which has to have nitrogen, could use it. Beans and corn together would provide a great protein source, especially important when meat could not be found. Squash provided the perfect vining ground cover to fight weeds and hold in moisture, proving to be even better because it was edible. Our early Americans valued both its flowers and its fruit.

If you have the room, I would suggest all these vegetables but, especially, garden with the three sisters. They worked in olden days in the garden and will continue working today!

The Ark of the Chicken Condo

Ohio's rainiest April in recorded history has slowed down progress on the chicken condo only a little. With intense fervor, Chris still gets out there everyday and makes some progress but I am beginning to question what he is building. First, he loves animals and wants some to care for. Second, the rains just keep coming. Third, he's already expanded from chickens into ducks and, fourth, the project keeps growing. I'm convinced that he's building, not a tiny little chicken coop. I think he's building an ARK!

Chickens? I wonder. Chris and I were both involved in and traumatized by the primitive methods of preparing a chicken for the table when we were kids. If more people participated in that process or any other meat preparation, they might develop a greater appreciation and reverence for the animal that gives its life for our sustenance and, as a result, our nation of meat-eaters might consume less meat. Getting back to an intimacy with our food couldn't help but make us healthier as a nation. Children now are so far removed from the source of their meat that the habits of disregarding the life of the animal are well-ingrained and chicken in our country is consumed at an enormous rate! That has led to production practices that often appear to be inhumane.

I'm not the only one who feels this way. The author of The Color Purple, Alice Walker, has chickens in her backyard. I heard her interview on the Diane Reames Show on NPR. Her current experiences with chickens has caused a backlash of childhood memories of chicken day and a renewed reverence for animals. The childhood "trauma" she experienced caused her to try a vegan diet for awhile but she is back now to eating some meat, including chicken occasionally. She has written a memoir of her thoughts, her travel adventures and letters to her chickens. No kidding.

And that brings me back to this project Chris is preparing. Whether it's an ark or a chicken coop, I'm convinced that whatever lives in or around it will be treated with the utmost care and respect with windows and a movable yard where they can "graze" and find insects because chickens like to do that. Will the rains subside? Will we soon learn his true intention? I can only hope. The ducks arrive soon, followed by chicks, and then who knows? If they arrive 2 X 2, from where you sit now, you'll be able to hear me!