Farm Stories

I grew up on a farm not too far from right here where I am sitting. Not only did I grow up on a farm, I LOVED growing up on a farm. I may have had more interesting experiences than my sisters (but not my brother) because I loved to 'hang' with my dad, uncle and grandpa as they worked around the animals and in the fields. Crazy and awesome things happen to kids on farms--sometimes they don't even know how crazy the experiences are until later when they relate the happenings to someone else. THEN they sound larger than life!

When my kids were growing up, as we were putting them to bed they would sometimes ask me to tell them a 'farm story'. I never seem to run outta these little 'speriences. They are jammed in my memory, and I can pull them out randomly to relate. Sometimes I even use them in my Lessons on Sunday. Maybe from time to time I should post a farm story when one pops into my mind.
A couple of weeks ago I remembered this one...

From time to time stray animals would show up on our farm. Particularly in the summer we would find strange chickens in the barnyard. Seems folks think baby chicks are so cute they can't resist buying one for the kids at Easter, and then when they lose their fuzz and grow into homely chickens they find a place to ditch them. The sad thing about these chickens that were dropped off at our house is that they were 'outcasts' because they were raised in captivity, and they never fit in, so to speak, with the rest of the chickens. This made them into very frustrated chickens and usually they grew aggressive and hostile.
One year we had an aggressive and hostile rooster that used to chase us, fly at us and peck us. He was really annoying, but he really cooked his goose one day when he attacked my little 2 year old nephew. My dad and uncle Thurm decided that he would make a good stew for Sunday dinner, so they started to chase him around the yard. I, as usual, was with them, watching the games. They finally trapped him in the corner of the yard. My dad reached out to grab him, and to our astonishment, this MEAN, bully-of-a-rooster fell over in a faint. Yes, folks, animals can pass out just like people, and there he was, limp as a rag on the ground. I won't finish the rest of the story because I believe he did, indeed end up for Sunday dinner--but this was the first experience that we had with a fainting animal. If you want to watch a hilarious you-tube clip about fainting goats, try this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we9_CdNPuJg