CHORE BOY - A CITY BOY ON THE HOMESTEAD
I was originally going to make this post the other night, but the whole piglet incident was just too funny.
In case you missed that post, you can find it here: https://steemit.com/adventure/@papa-pepper/chore-boy-vs-a-piglet
CHORE BOY - THE BASIC IDEA
Since @truconspiracy brought his two children with him when he came to visit us, I thought that it might be a good opportunity to give his son, a city boy, a good taste of some country life on the homestead, so I walked him through some of our daily chore routine.
Honestly, I didn't think it would be that hard for him, since sometimes our two year old "Sweet Pepper" even does a lot of them. While many things went well, a few things did not exactly go as smooth as they should have.
C'MON CHORE BOY - LET'S GET STARTED
We started off by taking care of some of our rabbits. Even though "Chore Boy" was "doing the chores" the @little-peppers were still filling up the water bottles and taking care of some of them.
Chore Boy got to feed them the pellets though, and make sure that every one of the rabbits had some of those as a food option for the day. Up here we have five males and four females that we keep.
Along with the pellets, we also offer our rabbits a variety of fresh greens. One way that we do this is by using our reel mower to collect some fresh cuttings from the grasses, plantain, dandelion, and clover growing nearby.
The rabbits get excited and eagerly await the cuttings once they hear the reel mower.
The chickens, guinea fowl, and muscovy ducks were next on the list. Even with instruction, a few things were done a little differently, but that is all part of the learning process.
Personally, I think that animal husbandry (AKA taking care of farm animals) is a rewarding experience. It is an amazing experience to interact with animals in this way, and I am glad that the son of @truconspiracy eagerly arose to the occasion and took advantage of the opportunity.
While we were doing the chores, we noticed a katydid nearby. These are tasty treats for our poultry and an opportunity to train them, so we called Chore Boy over to it.
Like a champ he caught the creature and was soon calling the chickens over.
Opportunities like this are first come / first serve, so this lucky little hen got the treat for obeying the call the quickest.
DOWN TO THE LAND
While the chickens do enjoy some table scraps, the bulk of them go down to the hogs right now. Our next stop was to head down to the land and take care of the creatures there.
Some corn and pellets were served to our pigs, and their water supplies were all checked and topped off.
Our larger sows and the boar got the table scraps as an added treat. They are currently also eating a lot of plants and grasses on the land.
The whole attempting to capture the piglet ordeal was an entertaining one to watch.
One little piglet had who was supposed to be getting weaned had snuck back in with his mother. Chore Boy had to get the piglet back in with the other ones, but it took a while and we laughed and laughed at the failed attempts. The event was so entertaining that I made an entire post just focused on this part of our morning the other day.
What I didn't mention the other day was that Chore Boy managed to help let some of our rabbits down on the land escape for a bit. After all of the piglet rounding up now he had a new chore.
This one was a little entertaining to watch as well. Ignoring simple rules like "don't chase the rabbbits" can add to the entertainment value of the situation, but they also make the task take longer.
Sometimes they would even get lost, and they could be hard to find. In the photo above Chore Boy is hard at work looking for a lot rabbit, and the rabbit is cleverly hiding from the poor boy.
A few entertaining photos of this roundup were also captured.
Thankfully Chore Boy did a better job picking up the rabbits than he did with the piglets.
Soon enough we returned to our scheduled chores and finished feeding and watering the rabbits down on our land.
Just for good measure, when we got back by our other animals, I had Chore Boy attempt to do one more task. I had him move a couple buckets of rabbit manure for me.
And then I had him move them back. ;-)
As always, I'm @papa-pepper and here's the proof:
proof-of-chore-boy
Hi there Papa, I hope you are great.
In a series called "Steemit lessons with the big ones" I have mentioned you and studied your profile a little. While being a great example in Steemit, I do this to make people take a closer look at some details so they can learn how to become better Steemians. Please feel free to check it out anytime. It is written in Spanish and English.
Thanks for being a great person and a great Steemian.
A big hug from Venezuela @papa-pepper. Gracias amigo.
The link to the post: https://steemit.com/spanish/@theghost1980/lecciones-en-steemit-junto-a-los-grandes-2-papa-pepper-creatividad-disciplina-y-familia
Something he'll never forget. Hopefully he'll be able to draw upon the experience at some point. It's important for everyone to at least have an idea of what's involved.
I like your post .thanks
Lolx. Chore boy....phew! he still has a lot to learn...but at least his father will be proud of him.
Very many pet papa. Sometimes feel funny because they have to chase them .. :-). May always be successful for you @papa-pepper
Fun reading about rabbit, hen , katydid, little piglet, watering and specially or hero chore boy. Anyone would love such experiences specially when it's once in a year kind of thing. Enjoyed reading ur article
Well you had enjoyed the whole movement and it really exciting other to have fun .
Sir can u plz do visit my blog and give some suggestions to improve its quality.
I have a very busy day ahead of me and will have to be driving for at least six hours, but I will try to stop by your blog later, evaluate what I can, and offer any advice, insight, and encouragement that comes to mind.
Ok sir as you wish. sir I welcome all your response.
good share. thanks
Nice post
Hello @papa-pepper
Pepper them gang, well that's what they call people that are society with pepper both literately or other wise.
Yes...Chore boy is awesome.
I kinda like used to be a chore boy.
P.S
I have rabbits and I love them.Once I get back to my town..I'm gonna see them again.
Cheers
@dante31