Two things have happened lately that have made me realize that we’re not real farmers. (Other than the whole not growing tons of stuff to sell for our livelihood.)

Thing One: Gimpy Chicken
Andy was moving the chicken tractors last weekend, and I was watching to make sure he didn’t squish any chickens. White-spotty Jap got very close to the edge of the cage, so I hollered to Andy to stop and he did. I didn’t think she got her foot caught, but she sort of flopped on her side and wiggled her foot in the air. Andy said that white-spotty Jap had about a week ago gotten wedged in behind the perch and maybe she hurt herself then. She seemed mostly okay. The next day when we drove by on our way home from work, white-spotty Jap looked dead. We hopped out of the truck and I was sure we had another dead chicken. She was on her back with her feet straight up in the air. Andy went over and poked at her and she squawked, but she didn’t roll over. We decided we should kill her. A real farmer would probably have just snapped her neck then and there, but not us. Andy went up to the workshop and got a bucket and a rag and some turpentine (or paint thinner or something of that ilk), and headed back down to “put the chicken to sleep.” I went inside and hid. He came back pretty quickly and said he couldn’t do it. White-spotty Jap was up on her feet wobbling around and he couldn’t kill her. She’s made it through the week — though Andy has gone out a few times to flip her over when she seems to get stuck on her back.

Thing Two: Baby Bunnies
We worked on the garden today. Even though I know it’s probably a bad, bad time to do so, I dug up a bunch of the asparagus patch because it was sloppy and annoyed me. While I was digging, I saw what looked like dryer lint and was wondering how it got there. I scooped up a shovel full of dirt / dead plant stuff and pitched it and heard “WEEEP WEEEP WEEP WEEEEP!!!!!” I shrieked and looked down and saw a pile of baby bunnies. Oh no. Andy came over and we scooped the bunnies and their nesting material up and dug a new hole and put them in and put the nesting on and put some rocks around it so we wouldn’t step on it. Hopefully when night comes, mommy bunny will find her moved babies and feed them. Hopefully no one else finds them. Real farmers would probably have smashed them with a shovel.