Things I made

Gilly (short for Gillyweed) was hatched in the spring of 2018 and came to live with us later that summer. She is named after the mythical plant from Harry Potter because of her habit of talking (quacking) underwater. She is the defacto leader of the flock insofar that she doesn’t play by the rules, any of them. Gilly is often off on her own looking for worms and bugs while her friends rest. We think Gilly is a Cayuga, and coming in at a measly 3 pounds, she relies mostly on her sassy attitude to get what she wants. Think of her like Danny Devito, but if he laid eggs.

Chelan is a male Welsh Harlequin, though we did not know he was a male when he came to live with us, but we’ve come to love him all the same despite his lackluster egg production. Chelan is in charge of everyone but Gilly. He is named after Lake Chelan which is near North Cascades National Park in Washington State. Chelan gets very excited when he knows treats are coming and will fly to greet us at the door OR do a side-step dance. He just can’t contain himself. He also won’t let anything get between him and his ladies. He flies over fences, sneaks around barriers, and will do whatever it takes if we try separating him. He gets a little nippy and doesn’t like being picked up. He’s a butthead, but he loves us.

Lefse is also a Welsh Harelquin like Chelan. However, unlike the rest of the flock, she came to live with us when she was just a few days old, so she really enjoys hanging with the humans. Her favorite treat is tomatoes, and she will chase them down if you roll them for her. Luckily for Lefse, her friends don’t care about tomatoes, so she gets them all to herself. Lefse is named for her cream colored plumage with some light brown sprinkles of cinnamon, though her coat looks much darker in the adjacent photo. Lefse had a sister, Anka (Swedish for ‘duck’) that passed away in 2022. The two of them would waddle around the yard side by side telling jokes and making friends with the neighborhood bunnies. Lefse comes inside with us from time to time to cuddle and gossip.

We also help care for a flock of about a dozen chickens which include hens like Paprika, Waffles, Shadow, and Juan Paco Pedro De La Mar. These girls live up in Henning, MN (north of Alexandria) and have acres and acres of free-ranging paradise. Unlike our ducks in Richfield, these chicks have a strict and consistent schedule, so they know when it’s time to go to bed for the night. Pictured here, you can see Lefse introducing herself to Batman. Lefse gets along quite well with her cousins when she comes to visit them which is great because there is also a nearby lake that is safe for her to swim in.

Cooper is an honorary member of our flock. He has spent a great deal of time both with chickens and ducks. They share food, water, sometimes toys. Cooper has always gotten along with all members of our multi-species family. His calm and gentle demeanor makes him a great companion to our flock. Cooper is a family pet that came to live with us in Richfield full-time in 2020. Prior to that we “shared custody” with Dana’s parents. Basically it meant that Cooper had two families who were excited to see him as we traded our best friend back and forth. Unfortunately, the reason he came to live with us in 2020 was because he lost the use of his right rear leg and partial use of his left rear. However, Cooper had us with him 24/7 and was seemingly the happiest he had ever been with us by his side every day. Cooper went on to live with us for another year and a half before passing away in 2022 from cancer. We miss our best buddy, and have since erected a ‘Pet Trading Post’ on the corner of our property to spread Cooper’s love and joy to our larger community. You can read more about him and ‘Cooper’s Quick Stop’ by clicking here.