We got chickens as soon as we moved to Pearl Creek Farm. After several iterations of pen material, we settled on a sturdy fencing structure with netting and an electric fence border. But, that’s a topic for another time.
Continue reading Watering the chickens is more complicated than you think
We are at 20oF and holding steady. At 730 this morning, I measured almost exactly 3.0″ of new snow. Most had melted by yesterday afternoon, so this is all new. At 1230 this afternoon, it looks like we got an extra 1-2″ out there. The radar shows that it’s almost over and many schools in the area are closed, including Springfield and Willard. That might be as much to do with the expected cold temperatures as the snow itself.
I do and I want it back! To tide you over, here is a photo from our prairie a couple of years ago.
Okay, really Northern Bobwhite, but nobody shouts that when you flush a covey from less than ten yards. Although we occasionally hear them calling from some distance, we see them on our place only rarely. On January 1, 2014, we flushed a covey on top of the hill (I4). I hope they like what we’ve done with the place and stick around for a while.
During the year, we keep a list of species we’ve observed. Right now, the list is confined to vertebrates (sans fish) and plants, as that is our primary area of expertise. The vertebrates are kept on a list while the plants are kept in our head (for now).
Here are more photos of Pearl Creek. The top image, featured in the banner on this site, is at the confluence of Pearl Creek and Sandstone Spring. There is a small waterfall where the spring flows into the pool visible on the right side of the image. This is near the corner of our house and outside of our bedroom window.
The bottom image was taken from the top of the hill looking northwest. You can see the results of a recent controlled burn at the top of the image. The burned area stops abruptly at our north fence.
In December 2007, we bought a house and ten acres in northwest Greene County, Missouri. Although the little spring-fed creek running through our place isn’t named on any map, we call it Pearl Creek, thus the name Pearl Creek Farm. Except for chickens and our attempts at raising a garden each year, we don’t do much to earn the name “farm” but we had to call it something.
