Posted in Homestead Barnyard

Of course, depending on where you live and what is in your barnyard, the sights and sounds will be different. 

When we lived on our cactus homestead 20 + years ago, we were on top of a hill on the prairies of South Dakota.  Our closest neighbor was one-half mile away, under the hill, so I could sit and see nothing but the Black Hills and the airport to our north.  And if I was IN the barnyard, there was nothing to see but prairie grasses beginning to grow.  The sounds were only of the barnyard animals and the wind.  We had no traffic closer than two miles, no train going by and the planes werenÂ’t taking off very often.

So what do you see and hear?  Our barnyard was on a slope, so there was very little mud, even when the snow was melting or it was raining – of course, in South Dakota, there was very little rain to speak of.  I saw my cow, Ginger, abeautiful Brown Swiss / Jersey cross, resting in the sun and chewing her cud.  I saw a couple of calves either sleeping or playing buttinski with each other. I saw the chickens scratching in the dirt, enjoying the sunshine and hoping to find the first bug of the year; or they would be taking a dust bath.  I saw the rabbits in their pens, stretched out, enjoying sunshine or eating their hay and pellets.

I would sit on a hay bale, after chores, and enjoy the peace and quiet and would listen.  I would hear GingerÂ’s cud-chewing; quiet and soft, with an occasional swallow as she would swallow the cud, then bring it back up   I would hear the calves plopping their heads together and their bellows if they got too far away from Ginger and got lost.  I would hear the chickens cackling softly to each other or rustling their feathers after their baths and the roosters crowing and fluffing their feathers and flapping their wings.  I could hear the rabbits quietly chewing their hay and pellets and rattling their water dishes.  If I had babies, I could hear them rustling in the nest and squeaking when Momma went in to feed them.

But the best sight and sound that I can remember is my own “baby” – Jill was about five when we first moved to Cactus Homestead and was about seventeen when we left.  Every year, she would find time to go out to the barnyard on a soft Spring morning, sit in the dirt and pull a gentle hen onto her lap.  The two would sit there for a long time.  Jill would enjoy the Spring weather and stroking the hen; the hen would enjoy some quiet time and enjoy the petting.  What I wouldnÂ’t give for a picture of my sweet “baby” with a hen on her lap!

 Ah, Spring and Barnyards Â… go together!  The best time of the year!

Connie Peterson