The chickens peer out of the roost and if they can’t see the ground, they don’t come out. In this kind of cold, they don’t come out either. Maria brought them an afternoon snack, a broken egg, some old blueberries and some slices of apple. They hopped out of the crate, ate their food, and then hopped back in.

Chickens have remarkable instincts about some things, they are like Labs, they are very smart about what they need to be smart about, very dumb about everything else. And they are very lucky to have a human like Maria around, their diet is diverse, healthy and generous.

I would love to come back in my next life as one of Maria’s animals.