My Brood

Brood (noun): a family of young animals, especially of a bird, produced at one hatching or birth.

(verb): think deeply about something that makes one unhappy.

(noun, informal): all of the children in a family.

From the Old English brod: “to breed”.

Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a few kids who have grown up on small scale farms.  A favorite activity is often–“How many mouths are there to feed on our farm?” Even on a small farm, these numbers can add up! A couple acre plot with chickens, ducks, pigs, a horse or cow or two, dogs, kids, cats…even if the animals have a lot of space, can already be in the hundreds-of-mouths-to-feed territory. The count can be especially high if the counters try to estimate numbers of bees in a hive or worms in the vermipost bin.

Kiki/Hana Gana/Shadow--My favorite hen

Kiki/Hana Gana/Shadow–My favorite hen

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