In Memory

As followers of this blog know, our farm's name, Wayward Goose Farm, is an homage to Oscar, the 21 year old blind African Grey goose who is indirectly responsible for our being here. (Visit the "our name" section to see the entire story)  He has been a very visible and vocal fixture 

around the barn from the very beginning and visitors to our farm have become accustomed to his

inquisitive and sometimes downright overbearing nature.  

It is with an extremely heavy heart that I write about Oscar's recent death.  Without going into too much detail, a new milk customer had just been visiting with Oscar, petting and talking to him with her little boy.  As she was not familiar with the farm, she had no way of knowing that Oscar was blind, and since we were not there to warn her, she could not know that he wouldn't be able to see her car as she backed out of her parking spot near the milk room door.  The poor lady was horrified but there was nothing she could do.  We buried him under the big old lilac bush by the pond.

This was one of the last photos taken of Oscar, in mid February.  Dan thought he'd
enjoy a day in the sun after being cooped up in the barn for much of the winter.  Dan
was right.... Oscar loved it!

Maybe it was kismet, but I had just placed an order to MacMurray hatchery just 2 days prior to the accident.... a pair of African Grey goose goslings, male and female, to keep Oscar company and maybe prevent him from wandering off.  The 2 day old babies are due to arrive mid April so, even though they won't replace Oscar, we will have something to live in his memory.  

Here are some photos of Oscar's year with us.  It was a pleasure caring for the crazy old coot.  He was the heart of Wayward Goose Farm and we will miss him.

Funny as it sounds,
Oscar was not a strong swimmer, so we used to have to carry him to and from
the pond every day otherwise he'd get tired and try to find his way back to
the barn, often getting off course and ending up in the swamp next door.

Oscar has been immortalized in the farm sign I painted last summer.

Here is a short video clip I took last summer of Oscar hanging around outside the milk door,

listening to NPR on the radio. 

Random pics

Dan recently started sharing photos he takes on blipfoto.  For those of you not familiar with blipfoto,

it's an online photo journal for which the only requirement is that participants are limited to one photo per day, and the photo must have been taken on the day that it is uploaded (click on "Dan's photo journal" under "favorites" on the right to see the rest of his photos).  This means that there are lots of nice shots that, for one reason or another, don't make the cut.  I decided to share some of Dan's most recent "rejects" here.

I love the guineas and I thought this was a particularly good shot of their
photogenic little faces.

Chou Chou and Mimoulette lounging in the sunshine while Hugo looks for a spot of his own.

Heather, making sure the barn's all clean.

Jill and I thought this shot of the geese on
our pond should've been Dan's photo of the day.