After our rough week last week, losing our guinea hen Whitey, Mother Nature must have been feeling guilty, so she decided to give us some gifts to cheer us up. The day I was working on that post, still refining things in my head while digging potatoes in the garden, she sent us the visitors that Luke has been waiting for. The kind of funny thing was that Luke was in the house napping with the Dadz, and I was the only one who saw them! As I stood up from my digging, the guinea hens started squawking. I thought my appearance had startled them and as I was saying “It’s just me, guys…..” I looked through the corn and saw this:
As you can see, Mama was staring at me and she was a bit unsure. After just a couple minutes, she and one of the young ones turned around and left.
But the third one decided that eating apples was more important, so he wasn’t going to let me bother him! Thank goodness I had my phone in my pocket – I often don’t when I go down to the garden to work. This photo shows about the distance he really was from me, but I was able to move around some and get a bit closer.
As long as I just kept moving slowly I didn’t seem to bother him. I used the zoom on the phone, and while it lost some quality in the photo, I wanted you to see him chomping away on the apples!
He hung around for quite a few minutes. It’s funny, because I can remember a time when the guinea hens chased some deer out of the yard, but they have seemed to gotten used to this trio; and the chickens aren’t bothered either.
As I also said in that post the frost we had been expecting didn’t really come. I lamented that I was tired of picking beans, but I’m still at it! If you have any interest in green or yellow beans, there are two types: pole and bush. I used to plant pole beans at the old house. They climb up poles, take up a lot less room, and are easier on the middle-aged back when picking! However, I found them to be more prone to diseases, so I had switched back to bush beans. Earlier in the season, when I was picking a lot of them, I was considering going back to the pole beans, mostly for my back’s sake! Considering how prolific these beans have been, and this late into the season, I’ll be planting the same varieties next year (maybe I’ll get one of those chair/kneelers to help my back!). It’s unusual to get this many beans this late in the season; and even if you do, the quality is not usually that great. They are often tough and chewy, so I was mostly picking them for Luke (who is not nearly as picky as we are). But the other night I decided to cook some since I had no other veggies for supper. They were SO GOOD. They were still crisp and fresh, and just as good as the first beans of the season!
Mother Nature also gave us a little bit of Indian summer this weekend. The hot sun made me appreciate the oncoming Autumn, though I did enjoy being able to go out in the evenings to put the birds to bed without having to put a sweatshirt on!
Our final gift was this: We have a winner in our new group of chickens – Miss Martha laid the first egg if the group!! It’s the small one in the photo. Truthfully, the egg on the top right is normal size, the other two are over-sized (from our older girls).
Small as it was , I had to have it for breakfast the next morning! You can see the yolk size difference!
Interesting point – it’s normal for their first eggs to be that small. That is actually the size of a guinea hen egg, but if you saw a guinea hen egg in the pan? The yolk would be the same size as the larger chicken egg! The below photo shows Martha (the white and black one) taking a much-deserved dust spa (she laid another the next day). Hopefully she’s coaching those other two girls to get going too! The older girls have started molting, so those 4 eggs in the basket are about all we’re getting in a day!
So, as the first day of fall arrives today, we’ll be enjoying one last day of Indian summer. Doesn’t Mother Nature like to be ironic as well? I’m just happy she decided to be kind and cheer me up after our sad loss. I did say to my sister the other day that while farm life can be tough at times, the good definitely outweighs the bad.
We are joining our friends at Comedy Plus for the Awww Mondays blog hop. Please visit them and other blogs through the links below!
Wonderful that the deer came by. We live near a river with a recreational trail (walk/bike/horse) and I saw 2 deer on my bike ride. My husband sees them frequently, but he rides out in the more natural area while I stay near the neighborhood. I had to stop and watch them for a few minutes.
I wish we could have chickens. It would be very rewarding to produce our own eggs like you do.
How nice to see the deer on your bike rides!
It really is rewarding to produce our own eggs, especially as I read more and more about the awful things some companies do to commercial egg layers. 🙁
But the best thing to me is that it’s turned out to be so much fun too!
Seeing deer always makes me happy. They are so beautiful. We were biking on our trail in the forest and came around the corner to come face to face with a young deer. We locked eyes and she slowly turned and walked back in the woods. It was incredible.
What a great sighting for you!! You must have some beautiful trails to bike on – nice!
Sweet company you have there. Farm fresh eggs are the best.
I hope I never have to buy an egg from the store again! 🙂
I had no idea that the size of eggs change with the age of the hen. I love to see deer. I get that they can be destructive but I just don’t get people’s anger about it all.
You’d be amazed all the interesting things we see with our own eggs (like the double-yolks!). Last year the deer ate all our bean plants; but that was our fault for not fencing them off. I never blamed the deer – they are just hungry.
Great on every good thing in this post! Love it!
Thank you, Lynn!
Yay for a cooler weekend! Most of last week was cooler and was letting me hope for fall to be somewhere around the corner, but this week is back to being hot & humid :/ Very interesting to learn about the different sized eggs and egg yolks, and how neat is it to be surrounded by all these different animals on your farm?!
Our warm spell is over now, and we’re definitely back into the cool fall weather. The leaves are starting to change very quickly!
It’s fun to see the wildlife here, as long as it’s wildlife that is friendly to the birds! 😉
Have you grown kidney beans ? My Granddad always grew them and they are pretty tasty !
No, I’ve never tried those. I’ll have to add those to next year’s list!
Mother Nature can be so generous! We love seeing the deer when they come through our yard. Seems this time of year they do it more often too.
I think they are enjoying all the acorns and apples right now, lots of good stuff to eat in the fall!
How wonderful it must have been to stand a look at the deer!!
So glad your weekend was so uplifting after your rough couple of days last week!
That’s the first time I’ve seen them so close, when I was down in the yard. Usually we are just watching them from the house.
We’re getting a bit of Indian summer right now after a few cooler days last week. I’m soooo ready for autumn. I’m glad the deer family cheered you up after the loss of Whitey. And that Martha gave you the first egg from the new girls! ❤️
I guess they all knew I needed some cheering up! 🙂
Love those sweet deer and I’m glad they got to enjoy some apples. The eggs sure look good!
It sounds like a week full of surprises, and the deer are a definite “awwww!”
Our little fawns from this year are growing up. Glad Mother nature decided to give back.
When we first started seeing this group, the young ones still had their spots. It’s fun watching them grow, isn’t it?
awww I miss our deer where we used to live…thanks for the pics!
So glad you enjoyed them – you are very welcome!
Deer are so pretty. I am amazed you still have beans. Ours didn’t do that well, but we did get to freeze some. Nice eggs- you can always tell farm fresh by the bright yolk.
We try to feed ours lots of fruits and veggies too, which can make the yolks more orange (especially melons). I know, I can’t believe we’re still getting beans either – it’s a first for me! It might be because things started out so slowly because of the cool and wet spring, they’re making up for lost time. 🙂
Congrats with the new egg-contributor! And for a feel good visit from the deer. Fresh beans….yum…sounds so tasty. Life on the farm sure has its ups and downs; glad there are some ups after last week.
I think we always get back to the “ups”. And we have two more egg contributors now too!
I can never get a great photo of the deer I see, so Kudos to you! Glad you are enjoying Indian Summer, Sampson is so done with the humidity. 🙂
Usually I’m so busy just watching them, I forget to try to take photos! We only had a bit of humidity but it was enough to make us ready for fall.
Deer are just gorgeous….and…I can smell the eggs from here!
Wish you could come for breakfast! 🙂
How wonderful to have the sweet deer visit and love your eggs and marvelous fresh eggs!
Happy Day to You,
A ShutterBug Explores,
aka (A Creative Harbor)
I love to see deer. They are most graceful animals. Beautiful too. I’m glad you had some good after the loss of poor Whitey. Living on a farm can be hard work, but it’s much better than living in the concrete city.
Thank you for joining the Awww Mondays Blog Hop.
Have a fabulous Awww Monday and week. Scritches to Luke. ♥
A bad day on the farm is better than a good day in the city – any day! 🙂
Awww, I just love deer, they are so graceful and beautiful – what a wonderful gift to cheer you up.
It was just what I needed!
oooh deeer ;O) and your eggs look like a sun in the pan… there is nothing better than fresh eggs for a fall day…
It’s a perfect fall breakfast!
We had a hot and humid stretch of days, but now it is cooling down, thankfully. Enjoy those beans!
We’re sure going to miss our fresh veggies over the winter!
Congratulations to Miss Martha! Those sunnysideup eggs sure do look yummy! The deer is sure enjoying his apple.
We have enough apples under those trees to feed a whole army of deer too! 🙂