I read this very much remembering T.H. White's The Sword In The Stone and Archimedes. Ever since I read that, I have had a hankering for an owl friend. There's just something of between-worlds to an owl. I am so grateful for all you share. x
Oh how I loved this, Susie. I am so glad you dared to interfere with the henpecker.... ugh, I hate when that happens. And I do need to know more about the fate of the baby owls! I once hand fed an owl chick many dozens of dead mice, and I still wonder what became of him, all these years later. Thank you for inviting us into your world, my friend!
Wait whaaaaaaat?!!! Life and death both teetering in a precarious dance! I seriously need a daily owlet update now though. How are they doing today? Are you still feeding them? Are they getting stronger?! And what in the world is going on with those hens?! We had a rooster pull off the comb of his mom after he tried to mount her and she rightfully refused, but hens pecking each other to the death?! Oof Susie. Your experience of beauty is never without its violent contradiction.
Ohh Susie, my heart goes out to you for taking care of the baby owls 🦉 the chickens 🐓 and actually áll living creatures -big or small-❣️I do hope the baby owl survives… As always your photos are beautiful!
PS I learned two new words: Lordy and kerfuffle. 🤗
Oooof! That's a lot of heart breaking feathery tales about your lovely winged friends Susie!
You made 'me' feel quite tired just reading your recounting of becoming a Brown Owl Mumma and a Chicken Referee, especially after a long day of teaching too. You certainly need some new badges to stitch on your uniforms! ;)
Thank goodness for your sky watching and keen ears at night and the ability to not only find the owlets but to raise the temperature of a chicken fillet to that of a just killed mouse, that's cooking for nature at its best!! You could start your own Chicken fillet branded food for baby owls....not! I should know when I pick up, or (sorry) tread on, plenty of just made warm ones in the middle of the night when my big boy brings me gifts!!
Jokes aside Susie, as always you make me laugh out loud and read your words with wonder all at the same time!
My sad news from our Spanish Hill is that our red squirrel population seems to have totally disappeared since winter :( Not a sign of a single one anywhere here. Water is no longer being taken at the tree feeders and we just cannot understand, unless it's some kind of disease, where they have gone.
Oh my goodness...I wasn't expecting to see my name at the bottom of your beautiful post! Thank you for your sweet recommendation, lovely you. I think the world of you, so this is very special to me.
You know that little emoji with the hands covering the eyes... that little peek between the fingers? That is how I read your words this morning. My heart was swelling over those little owlets, adoring them...wishing, hoping they would be ok... yet scared to read the next sentence. But of course, this was written by you. And of course you would tend to them. Oh, I hope they thrive. Please keep us posted!
What a gift, to have a place where owls return, year after year. They know who they can trust. They feel safe to raise their young near you. My heart breaks for the mother owl, and what might have happened to her, but I believe on some level, she knows that you will protect her babies.
Thank you for looking out for all the vulnerable creatures. It must be heartbreaking at times, and so so rewarding to live so close to the land.
What a wonderful piece Susie. I recently read The Company of Owls by Polly Atkin and I think you would love it if you haven't already read it. I have been on a wonderful journey of learning more about birds this past year or so, owls included, and have found it just so enriching.
I think the reason the owls have returned to your barn for generations is because that family know that if disaster were to occur, as it did this time, you in your goodness and kindness would help them.
I imagine you walking about on your hill, speaking with everyone, breathing or blooming, in their own particular language.
And I’m sure those languages do include owl and chicken speak!
Your interpretation of what was going on with the chickens sounds pretty accurate to me!
Well done for tackling the murderous Mademoiselle. I wouldn’t have been so brave.
Feral daisies. A sign of hope growing and growing, running wild?
They do what they do - we do what we can, and you, my dearest Susie, are a saint - keeping together and keeping it all together so perfectly imperfectly. You are gentle and wonderful and kindhearted, Saint Susie of the Hill. I pray for a settling in the henhouse and that the owlet thrives on shredded chicken from its surrogate mama, and that it soon finds its wings. Sending all my love for a less chaotic week xx
So lovely Susie! I felt it all. The owlets’ cries getting weaker, your sweet offerings of just-the-right-temperature chicken, and that sassy Mademoiselle! Goodness! All vivid and inviting, there for the seeing, hearing and smelling on a sweet Sunday afternoon an ocean away. Thank you for sharing, my friend! Always a delight to peek into your world❤️
What a lovely story about saving the owls! We once captured a small one one in a garbage bag -- not sure of the breed -- that fell down through our chimney in our house on the Lévézou. We actually thought it might be a rat because we couldn't see it. We took it out on the terrace and released it; it looked at us for one magic moment, then flew off.
I've of course heard of "Les Saints de Glace" but didn't know which saints they actually were!
We were also surprised by this chilly weekend de l'Ascension, but with daughter and grandson here, made the best of it. It almost felt like Christmas.
Oh, the dramas of spring-chicken season! I'm glad you managed to play surrogate mama owl and take the pecking hen down a peck or two, Susie.
Wonderful writing and beautiful photos as always. And the eclectic collection of just-in-case-items in the barn sounds familiar too. much love xx ♥️ 🙏 🪶
I have friends in LA who have an owl nest in a tree near their house. They fear going near because the mother owl might be fierce to protect the little ones. So you seem super brave to me to have done what you did, saving them from the cold May that has hit us here too in CA. Are they wrong about going near? —though we're not nearly as cold as you explain and I suspect the food is still plentiful still here.
Your humanity and lyrical writing move me so, Susie, dear faraway friend and supporter of my work. What a love you are and what a dear essay this is added to all the others that move my heart.
I read this very much remembering T.H. White's The Sword In The Stone and Archimedes. Ever since I read that, I have had a hankering for an owl friend. There's just something of between-worlds to an owl. I am so grateful for all you share. x
Oh how I loved this, Susie. I am so glad you dared to interfere with the henpecker.... ugh, I hate when that happens. And I do need to know more about the fate of the baby owls! I once hand fed an owl chick many dozens of dead mice, and I still wonder what became of him, all these years later. Thank you for inviting us into your world, my friend!
Wait whaaaaaaat?!!! Life and death both teetering in a precarious dance! I seriously need a daily owlet update now though. How are they doing today? Are you still feeding them? Are they getting stronger?! And what in the world is going on with those hens?! We had a rooster pull off the comb of his mom after he tried to mount her and she rightfully refused, but hens pecking each other to the death?! Oof Susie. Your experience of beauty is never without its violent contradiction.
Ohh Susie, my heart goes out to you for taking care of the baby owls 🦉 the chickens 🐓 and actually áll living creatures -big or small-❣️I do hope the baby owl survives… As always your photos are beautiful!
PS I learned two new words: Lordy and kerfuffle. 🤗
Oooof! That's a lot of heart breaking feathery tales about your lovely winged friends Susie!
You made 'me' feel quite tired just reading your recounting of becoming a Brown Owl Mumma and a Chicken Referee, especially after a long day of teaching too. You certainly need some new badges to stitch on your uniforms! ;)
Thank goodness for your sky watching and keen ears at night and the ability to not only find the owlets but to raise the temperature of a chicken fillet to that of a just killed mouse, that's cooking for nature at its best!! You could start your own Chicken fillet branded food for baby owls....not! I should know when I pick up, or (sorry) tread on, plenty of just made warm ones in the middle of the night when my big boy brings me gifts!!
Jokes aside Susie, as always you make me laugh out loud and read your words with wonder all at the same time!
My sad news from our Spanish Hill is that our red squirrel population seems to have totally disappeared since winter :( Not a sign of a single one anywhere here. Water is no longer being taken at the tree feeders and we just cannot understand, unless it's some kind of disease, where they have gone.
Oh my goodness...I wasn't expecting to see my name at the bottom of your beautiful post! Thank you for your sweet recommendation, lovely you. I think the world of you, so this is very special to me.
You know that little emoji with the hands covering the eyes... that little peek between the fingers? That is how I read your words this morning. My heart was swelling over those little owlets, adoring them...wishing, hoping they would be ok... yet scared to read the next sentence. But of course, this was written by you. And of course you would tend to them. Oh, I hope they thrive. Please keep us posted!
What a gift, to have a place where owls return, year after year. They know who they can trust. They feel safe to raise their young near you. My heart breaks for the mother owl, and what might have happened to her, but I believe on some level, she knows that you will protect her babies.
Thank you for looking out for all the vulnerable creatures. It must be heartbreaking at times, and so so rewarding to live so close to the land.
Kerfuffles... such a delicious word!
Much love to you, Susie xo
Oh I do hope you will keep us posted on your owl babies, Susie.💜
What a wonderful piece Susie. I recently read The Company of Owls by Polly Atkin and I think you would love it if you haven't already read it. I have been on a wonderful journey of learning more about birds this past year or so, owls included, and have found it just so enriching.
Thank you for this lovely piece, Susie.
How kind you are.
I think the reason the owls have returned to your barn for generations is because that family know that if disaster were to occur, as it did this time, you in your goodness and kindness would help them.
I imagine you walking about on your hill, speaking with everyone, breathing or blooming, in their own particular language.
And I’m sure those languages do include owl and chicken speak!
Your interpretation of what was going on with the chickens sounds pretty accurate to me!
Well done for tackling the murderous Mademoiselle. I wouldn’t have been so brave.
Feral daisies. A sign of hope growing and growing, running wild?
They do what they do - we do what we can, and you, my dearest Susie, are a saint - keeping together and keeping it all together so perfectly imperfectly. You are gentle and wonderful and kindhearted, Saint Susie of the Hill. I pray for a settling in the henhouse and that the owlet thrives on shredded chicken from its surrogate mama, and that it soon finds its wings. Sending all my love for a less chaotic week xx
Oh dear Susie. I do pray the owlets survive. I would have wrung that chicken’s neck. Love n light such is life 💖
Eleanor Anstruther talks about writing kitchen drama. You are writing barnyard drama here. And it is superb! I truly loved this piece, Susie.
And I am in awe of you. That anarchist chicken would’ve scared me silly.
So lovely Susie! I felt it all. The owlets’ cries getting weaker, your sweet offerings of just-the-right-temperature chicken, and that sassy Mademoiselle! Goodness! All vivid and inviting, there for the seeing, hearing and smelling on a sweet Sunday afternoon an ocean away. Thank you for sharing, my friend! Always a delight to peek into your world❤️
What a lovely story about saving the owls! We once captured a small one one in a garbage bag -- not sure of the breed -- that fell down through our chimney in our house on the Lévézou. We actually thought it might be a rat because we couldn't see it. We took it out on the terrace and released it; it looked at us for one magic moment, then flew off.
I've of course heard of "Les Saints de Glace" but didn't know which saints they actually were!
We were also surprised by this chilly weekend de l'Ascension, but with daughter and grandson here, made the best of it. It almost felt like Christmas.
XOXO
Oh, the dramas of spring-chicken season! I'm glad you managed to play surrogate mama owl and take the pecking hen down a peck or two, Susie.
Wonderful writing and beautiful photos as always. And the eclectic collection of just-in-case-items in the barn sounds familiar too. much love xx ♥️ 🙏 🪶
I have friends in LA who have an owl nest in a tree near their house. They fear going near because the mother owl might be fierce to protect the little ones. So you seem super brave to me to have done what you did, saving them from the cold May that has hit us here too in CA. Are they wrong about going near? —though we're not nearly as cold as you explain and I suspect the food is still plentiful still here.
Your humanity and lyrical writing move me so, Susie, dear faraway friend and supporter of my work. What a love you are and what a dear essay this is added to all the others that move my heart.