Minnesota Farm Vacation: A Goose or a Dog

I would like to introduce you to Blue Violet, or Blue Velvet or Spot.  He is a weeder goose, and eats bugs, weeds and pond scum.  What a guy.

Paul and Leila Wiens got him from a friend who already had a male and female goose.  Apparently, he is only 13 weeks old.  As a baby he lived in Minneapolis and was a frequent visitor to his neighbors yards.  This little guy is very social, he followed me every time I cleaned out his water bowls. 

I wish you could hear the sound of his feet flapping on the grass and sidewalk as he ran after me.  That's why I feel his name should be Spot, like a dog.

He got the name Blue Violet because of the blue feathers on his side.

The morning after the first night he was here we quacked for him because we weren't sure where he slept outside. He came running out of the woods that morning, quacking away.  Now he sleeps up against the house on the porch.

I really loved this little guy.

Next time:  My Misty Meadows Walk!

Minnesota Farm Vacation: Baby chicks

One of the most fun days I had on my Minnesota vacation at Misty Meadows Farm was going to the local post office in Rochester to pick up 500 baby chicks.  We picked them up very early, about 6:00 AM, the cooler part of the morning.

 

I've  never heard such a commotion.  They call these fat, fluffy furballs "peepers" by the way.

 

Paul Wiens had already prepared the pen for the chicks in the barn.  He laid down a thick pile of sawdust wood shavings in the pen.  In the center of the pen were heat lamps so the chicks were nice and toasty.  Near the lamps were five upside down containers that held a sugar water concoction and on the other side of the lamps were long containers for feed.

We counted the chicks as we placed them in the pen.  There were about 100 chicks per box.  The chicks went straight to the food and water!

It was really funny how the chicks followed each other around the pen.  Even though the chicks were small and hardly weighed anything, they made a funny pattering noise as they chased each other around the pen.

I checked on those chicks a lot--sometimes because the chicks were so small and soft, they were able to slide out of a tiny hole in the pen.  It was so funny to see one or two chicks standing outside the pen, they didn't seem to know what to do!

 

Next post:  My walk on a misty Minnesota morning and what I spied!

Minnesota Farm Vacation

My husband and I just came back from a brief hiatus in Pine Island, Minnesota at Misty Meadows Farm located near Rochester, Minnesota.  The owners, Paul and Lela Wiens, raise grass-fed beef and lamb and produce free-range chicken.

We had such a wonderful, stress free time out in the country relaxing on the back porch, listening to the birds and enjoying the night sky.  Farm life seems pretty slow to a city girl like me, but there were actually a lot of changes that happened during my visit and I'll chronicle these and give you a taste of country life in my next few blog posts (and I'll also be finishing my orange dress, very soon!)

This is  a side view of the farmhouse--isn't it charming?
.

This is the front of the house and below is right inside the front door.

This is so cool--it's a silo for grain storage (not in use now).

Paul Wiens, the farmer uses this tractor to spread seed.

We were outside on the back porch a lot, stargazing at night (I can't believe how bright the stars were!) or listening to the birds in the morning.

This is a retired windmill.

Stay tuned for the blog about "peepers" and a new goose!