This is a little raw milk feeder I rigged up for the quail chicks. A peanut butter lid, rocks, milk. It seems to work well. Today they learned they like raw milk. Of course they do.

So, you may be wondering why we have a bunch a quail chicks in the bathtub at our house. A few months ago it came to my attention that my neighbors have been unhappy with my free-ranging hens for a long time. I should say, a few neighbors have been unhappy. As the hens ranged for six years and I never heard one single complaint until a new person moved onto our street, I have a good idea who called the law. Who calls the law about chickens? We can infer that person was not pleased. Asking around, I heard from one other neighbor who was unhappy because my hens were mussing his sidewalk mulch.

I'm in a new phase of my life. I'm trying to look very closely at what is, rather than what I wish to see, dropping the veil, acceptance, working with reality--what have you. Which is why, when I understood neighbors were unhappy, I folded immediately. The neighbor who called the law, felt my hens, if they passed through her yard, made her dogs too barkie. The other neighbor suffered a mussed sidewalk in silence. As completely absurd as these complaints sound to me, despite all the work my hens have done on our street eliminating ticks, small snakes, and black widows, I listened closely. People were unhappy. Yes, also short sighted and shallow, but that has nothing to do with me. They were unhappy and I was to blame. My hens were gone from my property in less than 8 hours, after I was made aware of unhappiness. I responded completely and swiftly.

I grew up listening to Bob White Quail call around our house. Bob White are indigenous to this area. They are native ground birds that eat ticks and spiders and probably small snakes. I love their size. I love their song. I love hearing them at dusk and dawn. See where this is going? My daughter has accused me of Passive Aggressive Quailing. But there is nothing passive aggressive about it. I am on a mission to repopulate my neighborhood with Bob White Quail. I can't have free-ranging chickens. But God put free-ranging Bob White here before Europeans. Now I'm going to put them back. Apparently, putting them back works. You can raise them, set them free, and hear successive generations calling for years. Bob White.

Our goat pen is being fully expanded and retrofit with a proper goat barn. Goats will have a tin roof, deep shelter, a dry place to be milked, and safe food storage. Their fence will be lined with chicken wire and next spring I will hatch proper chickens for the goat yard. We will have eggs again. But with any luck, we will have the very dear and sweet Bob White, as well.