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It's just a silly chicken, I tell myself. Throw the hen some feed and move on. But then this beautiful black as coal and shiny fowl begins to follow me to my car. Okay, I tell myself, I will engage the lonely chicken for a minute or two. So I sit on my neighbor's front porch steps and talk to her.
Well that was months ago, and today I find myself more and more sitting and conversing with my feathered friend as she gobbles up the few chopped up grapes I brought to her. She has gotten to the point that she allows me to stroke her back every once and a while.
I never spent much time around chickens or farm animals for that matter, but somehow this relationship with a singular egg layer has taken hold. She recognizes my car when I approach and sprints from her hiding place among the bushes. I find her running comical, like in a cartoon, as she greets me with clucking sounds.
So now she considers me a friendly visitor unlike the occasional large hawk that swirls overhead. This particular chicken has managed to escape the dangers of various predators despite her running free throughout the day. Only as darkness approaches does she automatically retreat to the safety of her coop and nesting spot.
Since overseeing the care of this chicken at the request of her owner when he is unavailable, we have been gifted with an egg a day. And they are large, perfect eggs with blueish white shells. They are delicious, too.
Watching this display of nature at its best has given me a new perspective on what this nation's farmers must go through every day.
I worry about the chicken when storms approach. Then I think about how farmers must feel with hundreds of cows, horses, goats and other farm animals they tend when bad weather strikes. Farming must be one of the hardest and most under-appreciated industries in the world.
We are blessed in this country to rely on the farmers to provide us the nutritional products we need. We only have to walk into any grocery store and fill our carts with the results of hard-working farm families.
If you have the opportunity to thank a farmer, do so. Tell him or her that a chicken sent you.
Heather Ziegler can be reached via email at hziegler@theintelligencer.net.