Abundance...

 Early harvest is here in the garden-- we've been eating early tomatoes and the artichoke plant has over a dozen artichokes in progress. Enough, actually, that Boy wants us to leave one to flower so he can see what it looks like. Peas are taking over the garden like crazy.

And there is the other, even more delightful, abundance... 13 new baby chicks that hatched out just in time for Mother's Day. We put them under a broody hen from my Mother in Law, and she adopted the bunch of them. They love their mama and she loves her babies, even though she's technically a bantam breed, and these chicks are all going to out grow her. At night, when I check on them, there's usually no sign of chicks at all, unless one is nestled on her back, instead of under her wings. It's very sweet and precious to see this adoption.

The hen's name is Fluffy-Top and she is a buff laced Polish, if you were curious. I have caught one of her new babies sleeping up on her crest... talk about a feather mattress!

The chicks are mostly Ameracaunas with a few barnyard mixes. They are much happier with a hen then our chicks usually are. I think chicks without a mother-figure are more stressed out.  Fluffy-Top does not like us to mess with her family, though. In these pictures you can see her being agitated because we were there, and trying to herd her 13 little terrors into the corner so she could sit on them.

It is the season of Abundance, new growth, and beauty... I am clinging to it, because already it is getting hot, and this season will pass all too soon!

 

Cortunix Quail