Happy chickens and wildflowers of summer

Happy chickens lay happy eggs.

It's true.

As spring folds over into summer, our chickens are producing a bounty of eggs daily. They happily free range the mornings away, scratching in the dirt, foraging for weeds and fresh, succulent grasses and arguing over bugs and worms.

It's a fact that free range chickens produce eggs that are better for people: they contain 4 to 6 times greater amounts of vitamin D, are lower in cholesterol and higher in Omega 3 fats (the "good" fats that lower cholesterol), and have 2/3 more vitamin A, 3 times more vitamin E and 7 times more beta carotene than store-bought, factory farmed eggs. (For the full article where this information came from, click here.)

Whew! Pretty impressive little creatures, those lovely ladies.

Other hallmarks of summer abound. Memorial Day weekend. The opening of the beach near the Ranch. Baseball games. The campground near the Ranch filling up with RVs.

And wildflowers. 

The surrounding woods and grasslands around the Ranch are full of wildflowers.

This coming Memorial Day weekend, celebrate the beginning of summer. Before you know it, summertime will be "come and gone, my oh my."

Here at the Ranch, we have some quiet reasons to celebrate too. We are celebrating our 500th post and the beginning of our seventh year of blogging!

Thanks for reading!

Grace

n
Seemingly effortless beauty or charm of movement, form, or proportion.

A characteristic or quality pleasing for its charm or refinement.

A disposition to be generous or helpful; goodwill.

Mercy; clemency.

A favor rendered by one who need not do so; indulgence.

A temporary immunity or exemption; a reprieve.

Divine love and protection bestowed freely on people.

The state of being protected or sanctified by the favor of God.

An excellence or power granted by God.

A short prayer of blessing or thanksgiving said before or after a meal.

Life has seemed so hectic lately. Cleaning out the clutter of the last six years in my old house, preparing to move, then getting stalled on the move.

In the attic, pieces of former lives were unearthed:

An old sweater that belonged to my first dog.

The baby monitor used for my first child.

A newspaper from Montana - The Missoulian - from October 11, 1998.

A card written to my grandmother in the hospital before she died.

Photographs, copies of manuscripts, letters and cards from people I no longer hear from, receipts, pay stubs, signs of life.

It all became overwhelming and, surprisingly, emotional. I decided to take a reprieve from all of this for a couple days. One evening last week, I took my camera out to our new place, slowed down and looked around. What I saw was definitely inspired by grace. These are some photos from our soon-to-be new home.


A little nest partially made from husky hair at our new place

Amazing beauty and amazing grace were everywhere, in every blade of grass and every bit of light.


The setting sun behind a field of thistle

I feel, in so many ways, like the luckiest girl alive. Dreams are coming true right before my eyes.



Sometimes I almost shake my head in disbelief that this long awaited dream is actually happening. There is so much space here.


Lillies light up the hillside in front of the house like fire, leaning toward the sunset

Flowers cover the fields around the house. Everything seems so open and smells so good.



It makes us all happy.

Especially the dogs, who love to free run all over.

The garden is completely planted this weekend. Two kinds of squash, two kinds of tomatoes, corn, eggplant, five variety of peppers in my salsa garden, cantelope, carrots and lettuce, to name a few. I can't wait to savor the bounty from the soil that produces such beautiful flowers.

Namaste!