Chicken Coop Manifesto

 So what teaching is it that you would need to explore in order to transform your distress into wisdom? Rob Brezsny

 I would like nothing more than to bypass that question, head on out to the little Hoop-Dee-Doo House and hang out with the chickens.  But, me being a true wonder and all...that is a great question worth pondering.

It is good to be as smart as a chicken and that may not sound like the ultimate goal for any sky-high thinker but! the Big Fish and I have contended that maybe a good part of the population isn't...  so- we kind of look to the poultry for common sense...

Similarities I have observed between the two subjects-

 People vs. Chickens

Pecking Order

Pretty much the same, but people pretend to be mannerly when deep inside they're seething-"Hey bud!  I was here first..." - we should peck back sometimes.

Laying eggs

 *kind of, sort of- you know- like how we really get puffed up and clucky when we hatch a new idea.  

. 

Making sure Basic Needs are met- water, feed, shelter, safety in numbers, etc.

  (of course not all people score well here...just saying.)

Communication

Talk, talk, cluck, cluck- thing is, chickens are actually listening to one another better- I observe.  Doesn't take long for the slowest among them to catch on to the wisest and act accordingly.

Comfy spot/shelter

Hard to say here, more observation needed.  (As soon as I'm done with this all too-time-encompassing post, I'll research some more- from a comfy spot...)

Joyful pursuits (No great scientist will ever tell me that chickens don't know joy-a fly loose in coop to a chicken would be like me singing back up for Emmy Lou Harris, joy, joy, joy!!) 

OK, keep trying to follow me here...sure, none of the above can be provided by a chicken- we as their keepers bring much of it about, but after the four walls and a roof, basic stuff is provided- the chickens do the rest, impeccably I might add...hope I didn't lose you with that one...there's more-

Should a shadow appear over their yard, in they go to safety- but only after one of the smarter pluckier ones squawks out an alarm. 

If the feed/water dish should run dry, they don't stand around worrying- they get right to work on scratching and picking up every little thing they might have missed in the ever bustling scamper for anything yummy.

I have also observed that a chicken never feels sorry for itself, even if it loses it's place in the order.  They simply take a licking and keep on keeping on...eventually, they learn to stand up for themselves and struggle mightily to proceed to the top of the order again.

But every now and then, one of those silly sometimes not as smart as your average chicken chickens- surprises me. 

There is one little old gal out there who takes no crap off of anybody.(Including me!)  She never ceases and desists, never takes her eye off the prize she seeks and yes I suppose it might be said that if worse came to worse she would die for the good eggs she loyally sits upon.  And should a common enemy confront all of them- well, this little plucky soul would perish perhaps by fighting off the intruder, not just for her self or the eggs but the whole cockle doodling group.   I know this because if one of the group's inhabitants gets her feathers ruffled by me throwing the door open too quickly, thereby surprising the flightiest one- the brave, seemingly independent one charges me. 

The message given- Proceed with caution, or else!!!

The message taken-Geez, that chicken is doing something so unchicken-like it's freaking me out, she's so little and yet...so fearless!

Which leads me to wonder AND answer the question left hanging way up above there- 

The teaching, the base line lesson that might transform my distress into wisdom?  

Worry is just another way to not confront fear.  It absolutely changes nothing as my health, my head, my heart and my hope suffer.  It belittles all those aspects of me, it actually sickens my soul.  Believe me, I have only recently figured this out.  I have been ill.  

Really ill...high blood pressure.  Lethargy.  Hopelessness.  I can handle dreams being cancelled, thoughts being outgrown, love leaving and honest hostility but no hope AND bad health?!  Well, I wouldn't be a true wonder anymore, I'd be compost, pushing up daisies and that sort of thing.  Yikes.  It took some physical ills to come around to acknowledging not only are we what we eat, we are what we think.  We are what we feel.  We are weak if we say we are.  We are strong when we act accordingly.  And we are at our lowest when we allow  doubts to drown out all of who we are. 

 Luck has not been good as of late, challenges coming right, then left- over the wall and up through chimney...yet my stress response darn near nearly killed me.  And even though my little black hen didn't say all of that to me...in a way, she showed me how to handle the ups and downs a little better.

Conduct Befitting a Good Egg

The Chicken Coop Manifesto

Be tenacious, even when the going gets ugly.

  At worst, you'll lose a few feathers.

  At best- you'll ruffle a few.*

Be who you are- exactly.

(Not sure who you exactly are?  Turn off TV, radio, news,internet,people who vex your very soul,books,busy roads,etc...you will find out and grow more of who you were meant to be.  Might be a poet, might be a hero, might just be you.  A chicken is a chicken is a charming bird with character.)

Love everyone, even the assholes. *(see # 1)

**though consider the bottom line

Would you risk your life for just about any one?

Then, why not your grace too?!

Don't let the bastards get you down.

(And that may be your self in the telling...we are hardest on ourselves.  My little black hen struts her tiny stuff and the so-called cock of the walk* backs down sometimes.)

Stand your ground.

(You may not be first in line, ever.  But that doesn't mean you have to take any crap off the other chickens either. We are all a little chicken about some little big thing.)

Be Brilliant in your plumage.

(Dress to impress your self.  Fluff your feathers when you damn well feel like it.)

Question everything.

  (Including your self.  What motivates your actions? My chickens  put up a big fuss, like questioning...when the snow covers their hoop-house home, blocking the sun. ) 

Be kind when it is warranted and even, maybe...when it is not.

(A good broody hen will never leave the nest and will peck your eyes out given the opportunity- but a better chicken will step aside and let others lay eggs in her humble and warm nest...so that I might easily collect the eggs.)  These are my rules and this is how I see it.

  Take care of the children.

  (And if the brood watching the children needs instruction, do it.  Children, chicks are the only ones entitled to our little wise hen-ness direction.  That doesn't mean telling someone how to do it, it means taking opportunities that arise to teach for the benefit of the little ones. )

Those that do, succeed.

Those that don't- won't.  Nothing.  Ever.

(Success doesn't always come from an end result, sometimes- it is a minute by minute reaching further, risk-taking-small-time-step ongoing adventure. Like a little chick sticking it's head through the chicken wire and grabbing up the fattest bugs.)

Do not take good health for granted.

(What a gift breath is.  What a joy swallowing is.  What a blessing upon blessings sight,taste,hearing,touch,feeling is. When a chicken is in moult, she seeks shelter more often than not and takes the time to let her health glow again.)

Life is a blast.

(Every time I open the hoop house door, there stands the little black hen- ready to take a gust of wind or a shower of snow.)  

Seek shelter when shadows appear, but when they have gone- come out into the sun and

 Crow about the light. 

* Verne

**Bottom line

(Anyone and I don't give a spit who you are...if you neglect, harm, exploit a child- all bets are off.  There should be no cover, no shelter for you- I do not care what brought you to your demise, do not harm children.  Period.

I will never be so enlightened to see a lesson in the suffering of children.

I have never said this on my blog but I strongly feel that some crimes should be handed over to Mother Nature, and there should be sharks and grizzlies involved.  And that goes for Military funeral protesters too. If you agree somewhat- write a damn letter.  Post it to your social networks.  Think freely and act accordingly.  Oh...and please listen to Mumford and Sons.   They are partially responsible for my lack of diplomacy.  Awake My Soul- say that aloud and often enough and true wonder is what you get.)

worth wading for

One week has passed, and what have I done with it?

Planted.

Weeded.

Wandered at will with my camera.

Fished.  Caught nothing.  Even spit on my worm a time or two...the fish were not interested.  All was not lost though, the scenery- breathtaking.  My camera, ever at my side- utilized considerably.

Dug for treasures in an aged garbage pit...found an awesome rusty Ford hubcap, took it home, added paint and tone and wa-la...made it a landscape ornament.  Also among the ruins found after the tide went out- old medicine bottles, a stoneware cottage, rusty bucket, enamel pot and my favorite piece worth wading for- an old "Men's Room" sign .

I am a picker from way back when...poverty proves that anything is possible and just about anything is redeemable if a bit of creativity, elbow grease and sincere questioning of merit of said garbage is asked and honestly answered.  Following me here?  I dig for junk.  I dig junk.  Not all in a pile like a hoarder, but in a garden, on a shed side, or maybe in a little shadowed corner of a bathroom that needs something else to speak of it's central character.  I figured out way back when, that even though I preferred the drumstick of the chicken, I had brothers who'd stick a fork in the back of my hand should I reach for one.  I learned then- to love the wings.

 I knew from a very young age that my hand me downs were not only from a contributor two sizes bigger than me but who also had no sense of style...ugly and big clothing was not my cup of tea so I learned to turn the cuff and remove one button from here and replace it there.  And probably to most eyes, I still appeared a bit shabby...but to me, by doing so- by making these things to my liking, I became a real making-sunshine-out-of-rain-kind of person.  I yearned for things that others had, but for some reason- I would eventually re-direct my energy towards wanting what I got, with a few adaptations.  Why am I telling you this?  As often happens on this blog- I reveal to the reader which I am only recently discovering of myself.  I have often pursued in my life the improbable, sometimes the seemingly impossible...and here as of late, I have had more time to reflect on why I do the things I do and why I did the things I've done.

 Have I answered all the questions?  Heck no...but I am scratching the surface, peeling the layers, finding the grain- I'm awful big on that stripping stuff.  Which leads me back to the original thought of junk.  I dig junk because in it's time and even now- it serves a purpose, evolving from it's shiny new day to it's old rusty present decay and yet still- to my eyes, it's function, it's original concept, character...may I say it's grain?! is a thing of beauty when it serves a purpose.   It's almost as if I am in-tuned to this stuff- the nature of things.  I gravitate towards the shine and shadow.  That shiny in it's day Ford hubcap would have probably left very little imprint on me...but to see it's original form affected by shadow- it's surroundings, use and nature's way- a masterpiece is revealed.   In a landscape of towering trees and rotting wood below, there that shine and shadow again is revealed in the undergrowth and I wonder, would the flowers there have been as lovely had it not been for the rot that fed their roots?

Just in a pondering mood these days... if you please, what do you think makes up for your personal views?  Are you shaped in part by a significant event in your life or by a place- even some kind of object that holds a deeper meaning to you?

take care-

Been meaning to do that....

This morning finds me carefully planning my day so that I might have time to simply do nothing, to be still. I would walk to the woods if the temperature would rise, perhaps spend some time on a straw bale in the corn crib taking in it's ancientness. The corn crib is my cathedral, the light passes through the slats of wood like sunshine through stained glass, I often feel as if I am in a holy place, a thin place. But it's cold. And carharts are great for working outdoors, but to sit and be still like in a tree stand deer hunting, the body soon lets you know that activity is what it needs to stay warm. Oh, I have plenty opportunities for activity-spreading more straw on the garlic, strawberries or anywhere yesterdays wind lay bare the soil. Or I could grab some naval jelly and clean rust off the two row plow, I've been meaning to do that. Huh-"been meaning to do that" how many times in our lives have we uttered those words? How many times, in feeling a twinge of guilt afterwards, did we follow through with "that?" I'm a list gal, if it ends up on my list, darn me! I do it. Often I do many things not on the list, but I think I'll start a "been meaning to do that" list and see what appears on the page. Ponder that- when you attatch meaning to anything, I think it becomes a more thoughtful intention
like "I've been meaning to take those old coats in the attic to the shelter", see! A higher purpose, a good intention-now for the follow through, well-I've been meaning to do that. Just speaking the words lets me off the hook, covers me with a good intention but no follow through. I need to make a list. And stick to it. How about you? Prosperity and peace to you today, take care-