you know you're a single farmer when...

So, it really does seem to be that whenever Michael leaves town some farm drama happens.

I discovered yesterday that the chickens had made a nest and laid eggs under the hay rack we have near the house. Michael and I built the thing out of two large pallets and some other scrap wood, so it is pretty big and heavy. This thing holds up to 4 hay bales next to each other, and keeps them elevated above the ground to provide airflow under them and keep them from rotting if they get wet. Yesterday when I was feeding the chickens, one of them jumped straight up at my face, and startled and she got out of the hen house. She ran straight for the hay rack and went under (there is only about 4 inches of clearance between ground and the bottom of the rack), this is how I discovered the nest.

Today I planned to stay home in the morning to do some farm work. The timing worked out pretty well, because there was just enough hay left on the rack to feed this morning, so with all the hay off the top, I was able to move the thing and get tothe nest underneath. There was a second nest under there and I recovered 7 eggs total. I have no idea how long these eggs have been there, so I've got to go toss them in the back of the pasture and hope they don't stink too bad. This is annoying, but I don't consider this to be drama.

In the midst of this project my hunky vet arrived to do an ultrasound on Angel--she is pregnant! (this is good news, and is not the drama).

After he left, I went to the hay barn with the intent to retrieve a few bales to restock the rack (we do this because it is much easier to have a few bales near the house than to go to the hay barn twice a day).

At this point in the year, we've only got about 10-12 bales left in the barn, so it is pretty empty. As soon as I opened the door, I hear a weird noise and saw a little dark shape on the floor near the hay at the back of the barn. So, here's what you've been waiting for...Today's drama: abandoned newborn kittens in the hay barn. there were two tiny, tiny little kittens curled up together, crying and not moving much. They were pretty clearly less than a day old...their eyes weren't yet open and both of them together would fit in the palm of my hand (anyone that knows me, knows that I have freakishly small hands).

So my next step was to go inside and call my neighbor who runs a llama resuce (and has quite the menagerie of critters other than llamas that she's rescued). She told me to check back on them in an hour to see if mama cat would come back...and hour later, no mama and kittens were looking slightly more lethargic. She came over, and has taken them to go get kitten milk replacer and start feeding them. One of the kittens is looking pretty bad, and I'll be surprised if it survives. The other one was slightly more alert and active, but my neighbor doesn't have a lot of hope.

So, there's this morning's episode of Farm Life.

I've got to go shower and get to work.