Hi ,

They say April showers bring May flowers, but we are thoroughly enjoying the April flowers. We have the orchard in blossom and the avocado trees heavy with bloom. The hills are a purple haze of filaree and dotted with yellow and white wild mustard flowers. The weeds are thigh high in the places the herd can't access, and though they aren't flowers, they are a consequence of what is giving us the beautiful spring blooms.

A quick market update: Our Bacon avocados almost ready to be harvested. We are planning on being back at the market on May 4th and can't wait to see all of you!

In addition to the flowers, our herd grew this month too. We adopted a dinkey named Spencer from Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue. It is a great organization that finds loving homes for rescued donkeys. Spencer was a feral donkey in Death Valley (donkeys are invasive there) before being brought to the Rescue. Although our miniature donkey Star was hesitant of his presence when they first met, they are slowly warming up to each other. And we know they will be fast friends soon. 

We have a sweet little hen named Ilene who is crippled. And here is how she got her name. 

Within a flock, chickens can be ruthless to each other. If one is injured or sick, instead of caring for her, the flock will turn on her. That's just a natural instinct within chickens to keep sickness from spreading through the group. 

When I heard a fuss in the chicken yard a while back, I thought one of the hens was being attacked and ran out to see what was going on. It turned out one was cornered and being pecked at by two other hens. 

I shooed them away from her, but saw the poor thing wasn't able to use her leg. We knew that she couldn't be with the other chickens, and also that being in a seperate little cage would not allow her to move around and exercise her hurt leg. So what we started to do was bring her down to the pasture with the herd in the morning, let her hang out there during the day, and bring her back up to her little cage at night. We have been doing this for weeks and she has adapted very well to the routine. She even hops down to the gate we go through to collect her at night. 

And that is how she got her name. Because of her injured leg, she leans slightly (Ilene -- I lean) and hops when she walks.

One day, we were so happy to find another hen spending the day with her in the pasture. And those two have been spending their days together ever since. This chicken makes the trek down to Ilene in the morning, and when I bring Ilene in at night, her friend is with her and follows us all the way back up to the chicken house. To see this little friendship happen between these two hens is such fun.

Ilene (red chicken) and her friend.