Down on the Farm…

Almost exactly one year ago I received a text message from my assistant and New Ravenna Human Resource director Mary Harris, “We now have goats!” accompanied by this pic:

Little Lou and Thelma

She and her husband Gary had been to the Parksley Small Animal Swap. It’s held every month about a half hour north of New Ravenna in Parksley, Virginia. These goats very quickly gave birth to triplets:)

A month later she sent me this text message and photo: “Will b late baby chix r at post office”.

Yes, they arrived in a box, in the mail

Since then I’ve been blessed with real farm fresh eggs courtesy Mary and the girls. Even though I grew up with chickens I had completely forgotten how ORANGE the yolks are in real eggs–and how DELICIOUS they are. I have not, however, forgotten how I hate shoveling chicken manure.

At the next animal swap she came home with Mr. Tom:

Mr. Tom in his kingdom--I think that's a goat behind him on the shed roof thing

I’ve always thought Turkeys were one of the God’s most beautiful creatures–Ben Franklin suggested that a turkey should be our national emblem, and I kind of agree with him. Wild turkeys especially are gorgeous. Have you ever looked closely at their plumage?

Since I’ve long been an admirer of fowl and feathers, it should come as no surprise that when Mary announced that the Small Animal Swap was happening this weekend I said, “Sign me up! and put it on my calendar please.”

What a wonderful event. It was like stepping into a Norman Rockwell painting.

Typical scene from the Animal Swap

My daughter Gracie and I quickly ran into Kathy Cummings (she is an animal wildlife rehab person who works at New Ravenna–see blog post about her here) who alerted us to the existance of “fainting goats”. Apparently if you startle them, they fall down like they’re dead.

Upright fainting goats

What a lovely palette, right? black, white, taupe, silver…

California Quail for sale--six bucks each!

These Calfornia Quail echo the same tones–this pic is terrible, so check out what I neglected to capture:

Much better photo of California Quail

Couldn’t you design an entire house around those colors? Sheesh it’s inspiring.

This sweet lop-eared bunny is also beautiful. Its ears measure 22″ from tip to tip!

Poor thing, I think it found a home today.

There were tons of roosters for sale–

How to carry your roosters

Gorgeous black rooster

English Fighting Cock

Bear-necked rooster--I was told you could train this one--to perch on your shoulder

Awesome (funky) chicken

Mary and Gary sold a couple of their roosters too–it’s tough to have more than one or two in a flock. So for the first time, they ALMOST went home without a new member of the family…