We have so far lost two guinea hens. The first broke her leg somehow and Tim had to kill her. The second has an interesting story that leads to its' untimely demise.
One sunny day we all walked out to admire the chickens and how cute they were. Joe, the studly rooster that he is, was strutting around proudly claiming his territory. Each seemed content pecking in their own areas except this one guinea whom I believe discovered a grain stash Joe was protecting. As she passed Joe heading for his stash he suddenly reached out and grabbed this not-so-small guinea in his beak and wouldn't let go. Oh the noise she produced, squawking and crying out; her little guinea feet slashing through air trying to find ground again. Joe held tight though until he felt she understood the point he was trying to make. Then as quickly as he had grabbed her he let her go. She stood there for a minute acting as if she were going through a checklist. Still breathing-check; head still attached-check; feet on the ground-check; and off she went and seemed perfectly fine.
Every day we watched to make sure there were no serious injuries and until about three days after the attack she seemed fine. Then we noticed her getting progressively worse as the week wore on. By the end of the week she could not breath nor could she hold herself up. Finally one day she just died. I was puzzled by this because she had been doing so well with no problems so I did a little research into the behavior of chickens. I found that when one of the hens in a clutch has an ailment the other hens(notice I'm talking hens here)instead of coming to her aid and helping her through this difficult time actually peck her to death. So each night when the hens went in to roost they were literally pecking her to death day by day. Isn't it interesting that this is a typical female behavior. Why are a group of women talking referred to as the hen house? What is it they talk about? Are they theoretically killing a wounded friend with their tongue. I know I cannot hold myself blameless. Please forgive me if I have ever wounded a sister or brother through thoughtless words aimed to kill their spirit. Lord help me to continually lift up and nuture those around me to help them "live and not die" and grow to become what you will them to become. In the mighty name of Yeshua.

Pictures from the farm

Starting the farm

We have been here almost a month now and are settling in nicely. Each day holds promise of work but after the day is done we have always seen the fruits of our labor. I am struck by how this simple day to day existence so closely correlates to the teachings of God's Word.
Two weeks ago I began to prune the grape vine and apple trees. Of course, the kids were right there wanting to help and know why it has to be done. So we talked about each tree we pruned. The first tree was healthy so it only needed the growth from last year taken off to make room for this year's crop but the second tree was filled with a fungus and alot of dead branches. Kind of like us, I told them. Sometimes we stop growing and become comfortable with where we are in our walk with God and He has to take a little off to get us growing again. But sometimes the sin is deep like a fungus and part of us has actually died in our love of God so the pruning is hard and severe. My goal is not to kill the tree, I told the kids, but to save it and have it once again produce fruit. So it is with our Lord. When He prunes, it is because He loves us and wants us to grow again and bear fruit.