Every day at 3 p.m. Maria goes out to open the gates to our pastures. We have three and we are rotational grazing, as always. Afterward, she has a kind of chicken tea party.

We have four hens, two older ones, two chicks about 10 weeks old. The older ones still bully and go after the younger ones, we are working on various ways to get them all in the big roost safely.

In the afternoon today, my job was to distract the older hens with a couple of fistfuls of mealworms, which I throw into the barn.

Maria brought out an old Amish donut which she crumbles up and tosses to the chicks, and which they love. I make sure there’s not hen-butting.

I loved this scene, it was so peaceful and calming. We had our peaceful day, and now, another hour or two of reading.