End of the Chicken Era, Beginning of a New Era

Snow is falling outside the window on this Christmas Eve as I sit here typing. I remember back one year ago to December, when I was stuck in the chicken coop with our two Rhode Island Red hens (that story here). Looking back, urban, backyard chicken keeping has been a wonderful, learning adventure, but we’re taking a break from that now. As of this month, we said bittersweet adieus to Winnie and Indy and sold them to a new owner. We are letting go of some things in order to prepare our nest for a new little human – our firstborn child is due in just four weeks.

I am grateful for the past year’s supply of fresh, brown eggs with rich, golden yolks. I hope that someday we can keep chickens again. It has been a rewarding venture and feels right and just to be able to feed them our compost scraps and to receive fresh eggs daily in return. Their quirky, friendly, social demeanor has entertained me too.

One day last summer, Robert and I were out greeting the new neighbors next door, and soon our free-ranging chickens that had been happily scratching in our garden beds, took off across the driveway after us and wobbled over, which greatly delighted the neighbors’ children. The young boy began to chase the chickens but they escaped his capture with agility, scurrying this way and that, their necks jerking back and forth, enjoying it like it was a game of tag. How funny they looked as they stretched out their necks and eyed the boy, and he ran this way and that, falling down and getting back up, constant machine of energy and motion. His little sister began to giggle and squeal with a combination of both delight and fear, staying close to the safety of her mother’s arms who had crouched down beside her.

When we went back home, the scene shone brightly in my memory, and I cherished the priceless looks of the children’s faces when they encountered the animals. How can man-made toys ever inspire the same passion that burns when we encounter the wild and free, uninhibited cycle of life in the natural world?

My mind turns this scene over like a coin. I envision this coming year, being a mother, raising my own child, and introducing our child to the beautiful, wild world around them. I remember that Our Savior Jesus was born so vulnerably into an imperfect world, in a stable with wild animals and hay. As Christmas Eve 2017 draws to a close, I gaze at the sky and wonder, like the Blessed Mother Mary, what my unborn child’s destiny will be. Like Mary on the verge of a new era for humanity, I ponder my role in bringing this new life into the world we live in.