What could be more right on a beautiful spring day than waiting for a baby to be born?
There are innumerable things to think about at any given moment. Worries, distractions, advertisements. They come thick and fast from all directions.
For years now, I’ve tried to spend at least a few minutes a day ignoring all of that and just focusing on something wonderful. It usually takes the form of a walk in the woods, focusing on paying attention to the details around me.
But today, the world handed me another lovely circumstance to focus on, excluding all distractions.
Last year, we bought some baby ducks for our farm. There had been a lovely white pekin duck here when we moved in, but sadly, she had passed away. My son was devastated, so we decided to bring in a small flock of ducks.
At the moment, we have three adult ducks (sadly a few of them shown in the picture have passed away over the past year). They are Anconas, so I hoped the mamas would be good at sitting on their nests and hatching their babies, but that didn’t turn out to be true for ours. Maybe because they never saw a mama do it? I don’t know.
Since it was clear the eggs weren’t being tended, I bought an incubator and set it up about a month ago.
It’s my first attempt at incubating eggs. I warned myself (and my son) not to get our hopes too high. The eggs might not have been fertilized. I might do something wrong during the weeks-long process. Who knows what could happen?
And here we are at the end of the hatching period. Yesterday, I stopped turning the eggs. If there are any baby ducks in those eggs, we should know it in the next few days.
What do you think I saw yesterday evening, as I peeked through the window of the incubator? One of the eggs had clearly been pecked from inside. There was a tiny break in the shell.
I looked it up online, and it turns out that’s called a “pip”. That egg has been pipped.
This morning, my son delightedly shouted, “The egg moved!”
Sure enough, the pipped egg is now a few inches away from where it was yesterday.
Spring is working its magic! I still don’t want to get my hopes up, in case something goes wrong, but fingers crossed, we’ll have a baby duck to take care of soon!
Journal Prompt: What’s something positive you can focus on right now that is more important in this moment than any of the worries or distractions around you?
Nature through the senses
Scent:
The time has come for the roses to bloom. Mine aren’t in bloom yet, but we went to Tennessee yesterday, and in the lower elevations, where it’s warmer than where we live, the roses are blooming in profusion! My son picked one and carried it around, sniffing it occasionally, for quite a while. I’m not sure what variety it was, but it was pretty.
Sight:
Scientists in the UK have come up with what they call the “Greenery Hypothesis”: that humans feel best around lush, green vegetation because in the evolutionary past, that meant prosperity. A drought ravaged landscape meant times would be hard, and it led to feelings of sadness and depression. I’m not convinced it’s so transactional. As a member of the tight knit relationships of the natural world, we could simply rejoice in the well-being of our creatures and feel sadness when they suffer. What do you think?
Sound:
In an effort to learn more of the critters we’re hearing outside, I looked for a guide to frog calls and found one from UNC-Charlotte!
Taste:
Spring peas are one of my favorite seasonal vegetables, and I owe my pea salad recipe to my aunt, who made it with an extra serving of love every time. It’s super simple. Just lightly steam some fresh peas, chop up a spring onion, and mix them together with your favorite dressing. My aunt liked mayonnaise for this because it let the flavor of the peas come through. I sometimes use a homemade vinaigrette when I want something tangier, but it can overwhelm the peas, so I use it in moderation.
Touch:
Healing from connection with nature is a powerful concept, and there’s a charity in East Tennessee putting that into practice for veterans by building backyard gardens for free. I love it!
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