Three crows

It takes time to get to know a place. I really haven’t had the privilege to stay long enough in one place to say I really knew it. I’ve lived here on this farm for five and a half years now. I know a lot about it, but I keep learning surprising new things. Now I know the farm is always three to four degrees colder than what the weather sites report and I know that plot 1 is prone to frost. This is important information that only comes from observance over several seasons. I know which way the wind blows in the upper and lower fields not at all like plot 1 which is protected by a line of large cedars and also lies flat in a shallow valley which explains the frost.  

East to west pointed greenhouses logically hold up against the north and south winds at least in plot 1 but in plot 2 not so much they might be off a few degrees which means they get beat to shit by the high winds rushing over the pasture. Something I would never had guests upon surveying the best place for three large greenhouses that now require a lot more repairs and sturdiness. The coldest part of the day in the winter is just after sunrise and in the summer the hottest part of the day is 4-6 pm. The persimmon trees leaf out last in the spring and drop their leaves the first in the fall. Every year I worry that they’ve all died then suddenly they burst with life!

Aside from all the intentional critters on the farm like the goats, sheep, llamas, chickens, dogs and cats, I’m beginning to get to know the other animals that we share this land with like the coyote that has learned to bark like a dog, the occasional bobcat, owls, possums, raccoons, ducks, deer, cranes and occasionally geese. Of course there are rabbits and more species of birds than I can count and the three crows. 

There are three crows I see practically every day, at least that’s what I suspect. The truth is I never gave them much thought and it never occurred to me that the three crows this morning were the same three crows last week and even last month. But why not? I don’t really think I have a way to tell but their presence just keeps becoming more familiar and they don’t fly off as fast as they used to when I approach. This morning they waited until I was the closest I had ever been to them and it’s not even like they rushed off. It was more like hop hop hop fly a little further away, like they have a specified distance requirement. Okay I won’t argue with that I just acted like it was no big deal and went on my way. Maybe I look like a different human every day. All us humans probably look the same to them.

 

The three crows I see visiting the chickens. I watch with my binoculars from the kitchen window wondering what they are up to. Then they just fly off and I forget about it. But they are always around. I bet if I went outside right now they would be in the garden poking around in the fresh tilled soil. Linda once read an article on crows and turns out they will “adopt “a flock of chickens they’ve become accustom to seeing. They will even chase hawks away, which I have seen with my very own eyes. I think by the looks of things this morning they may have adopted us too. To a degree that is.

Crows are brilliant little creatures. I hear them holding court and I wonder what they might be talking about. There are more crows on the farm than these three but these ones must have position of ambassadors, the others I hear but rarely see.  They can be loud. So now I’ve met the neighbors. After years of just passing them by with not even a wave of acknowledgement, how shameful. I’ll be paying much better attention from now on.