It started so innocently.
We had a gift certificate to pick up at the feed store. It was one of the gifts I had given the kids for Solstice but we had never picked up the paperwork. (Everyone gives feed store gift certificates in stockings, don't they?)
We were really running out for buckets for our maple taps, but we were making a quick detour.
When I heard the chirping as we walked through the door I knew it was all over.
The next thing I knew we were driving home, maple trees forgotten with peeping cardboard boxes on our laps and my VW Beetle smelling very much like a chicken barn.
And now my only bathtub is full of poultry.
We brought home far more birds than I meant to. Six guinea hens - famous for being loud (not so fun) and for eating ticks (very fun!) - were my first selection. We live in one of the two worst parts of the country for Lyme Disease, so we'll take all the guineas we can get.
And I added six new layers since we never have enough eggs.
And then... and then it was time for the kids make their selections.
And they did.
Six fresh tiny bantam hens are now occupying my downstairs bath. They are cute beyond description.
And because the feed store guy took a liking to my kids he threw in two or three extra. It made for good homeschooling math on the way home.
As Sage put it, peering into one of the boxes on the drive home, "We're swarming with cuteness in here!" Which, frankly, is way more fun than math today.
Oh, yes. We are crawling with cuteness, I tell you. More than one bathtub can possibly contain.
And so it begins.
Before we know it we'll be welcoming sheep and bees and - if my children have their way again - rabbits and a horse. (Hm. We'll see how this goes.)
For now at least they still all fit in the tub.
Welcome to the farm!
