Love is in the Air! Guinea Love That Is!

I am happy to report that Martha is no longer single. You've been waiting for that announcement I know. Martha is a guinea, the daughter of our beloved Hank and Edna who was no doubt traumatized by the deaths of the rest of her family. She's been alone for well over a year roaming the neighborhood, occasionally disappearing for weeks at a time and then just when we think she's gone forever here she is back again.
Guineas are well known for eating great quantities of insects so Martha makes a valuable contribution to our gardens each season. She's not totally reliable, taking a few weeks off now and then to futilely set on a clutch of eggs. Futile because of the already mentioned singleness which has come to an end. 


I'm afraid that there is not much romance in Martha's end to singleness. A friend told Mike that she had a male guinea picking on her chickens that she wanted to get rid of. Guineas seem to a have a bit of a mean streak when it comes to chickens. (Ours are penned up so he can't get to them, if they were free roaming, this wouldn't work.) Mike accepted the offer and went and got  Brownie, a handsome, though not particularly brown rooster with a snazzy topknot jutting out of his head. We're hoping his mean streak applies only to chickens and so far we haven't even seen that. There was a goat involved, too, but that is not part of this story. 

We weren't sure how to make the introductions wanting to somehow communicate that we wanted them to stay here rather than disappearing into the neighborhood. We tried to acclimate Brownie to our place but penning him up first. That didn't last long. Martha was soon showing Brownie around the gardens. "Martha's in charge," Mike commented and indeed he does seem to follow wherever she leads. 



So far they have stayed relatively close and show up for a breakfast of grain each morning. They are patrolling the yard, though, so perhaps they are beginning to find insects. They seem to be enjoying each other's company. Stay tuned for updates.


Love is in the air, but is spring also in the air?



Sure, love is in the air because its mid-February and there's a certain holiday that's always celebrated then. But spring? Didn't the groundhog just come out and see his shadow and predict six more weeks of winter?  Still, it seems that these flowers are trying to tell us something. 
 Like, maybe winter is going to end. Spring will come. But, I'm pretty sure, even though we've had a few warm days, that it isn't here yet. 





1 comment:

  1. I've followed your blog for awhile now but never commented. I hope it works out between Martha and Brownie. Your photos are lovely as well. I've always enjoyed them.

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