There is a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they're absolutely free.  Don't miss so many of them. 

​My hens are my prized possessions.  Their daily banter amuses me and their eggs make me glorious amounts of spare change, that go directly to co-op feed bills and impromptu cups of coffee.  Often, I look at my phone and ten minutes has gone by…ten minutes of me watching them gallop around the yard chasing imaginary bugs, ten minutes of me taking photos of them in odd yoga positions atop hay bales and farm equipment…
 
The dogs have been somewhat helpful over the years, helping to herd the birds in to their enclosed area each night to avoid chicken soufflé for the coyotes and other wild life dwellers.  Lately, however, the dogs have been quite useless.  Maybe this was their plan all along, to raise Gilbert the cat into a fine herdsman.  The dogs sit back in anticipation and watch Gil chase the flock here and there and everywhere, until they decide that the pen is the best area to get away from this tiny “dog.”  Often he herds them at unnecessary times, when it is still daylight and they are grazing lazily.  My new calf is following suit!  He intently watches the dogs and Gil and has taken cues about how to get these chickens out of his territory. 
 
Who knew a cat and a calf could learn so much from three dogs… Gil has made himself useful around the farm, in a way that I never expected!  Hopefully herding is as far as he takes his shepherding skills, as he has yet to taste chicken or any type of bird entrée for that matter.