A phenomenal event happens every day on the farm.
These days, this event happens around 7 a.m. and then again around 6 p.m. It’s one of the biggest perks of working outside on the farm without tall buildings to block the view.
I’m of course talking about the daily sunrises and sunsets.
Each morning, as I pull on black muck boots and walk to the barns to open coop doors, I glance to the east to see the sun rising as a bold glow over the hill. The light moves into every dark crevice of the barns and gives hope to another new day. Whether that day brings life or end of life, success or failure, for that moment, it’s the beginning that gives hope to starting another day on the farm.
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Some mornings, the sunrise is filtered through a misty haze, and other days, when it rains, it’s not seen clearly at all. Since I have roosters, they usually are doing the stereotypical crowing to announce the beginning of the day. I once heard that since chickens see other types of light than we do, the males start crowing way before we can see the sun rising. They see the light earlier than we do.
When the coop doors open first thing in the morning, the flock bursts from inside the coop, rushing as quickly as little chicken legs can go to get to the green grass and the bounty of bugs that have gathered through the night.
As exciting as the beginning of a new day is, the evening brings comfort to a rough day or celebration to a successful day by splashes of watercolor left behind as the sun disappears behind the western horizon.
My evening chores are rewarded by the same walk to the barns and looking directly at the changing sunset. Chickens slowly migrate toward their coops, oftentimes reminding me of a small child who is unwilling to go to bed, popping into the coop for a moment but then quickly running back out for one more quick trip around the chicken run.
I find myself many times hanging back to watch the birds in their nighttime routine. The “Pecking Order” is very evident at bedtime because the top birds get the best roosting spots and usually are well on their way to sweet chicken dreams before the younger and lower ranking birds begin their trip to the roost.
Bedtime in the chicken coop is a rather noisy event as the birds squawk, growl and cluck, vying for the perfect sleeping spot.
As I wrote this week’s article, I thought of the song "Sunrise, Sunset" in the musical "Fiddler on the Roof." While I don’t usually have chickens on the roof (they’re a bit too plump to fly), perhaps the musings of sunrises and sunsets can remind us of time moving past and the hope of new days and the celebration and reflection of days gone past.
Maybe if we can take some time to enjoy the events we are given each day in a sunrise and sunset, we will find some peace in today’s world.
Until next time…
Stephanie Strothmann owns Purple Shamrock Farm LLC in rural Seymour. Read her blog at whattheclucker.blogspot.com. Send comments to [email protected].