Chicken Poop for the Soul

The sun was out, the breeze was blowing, and I was shoveling chicken poop.

A glorious afternoon!

I realized, while scooping poop, that I was happy & content. You might be wrinkling your nose, wondering if I have lost my mind.

I see this hour that it takes me to rake out, clean, de-spider, fill up with straw/food/fresh water as a Zen moment. It gives my brain time to think about all kinds of things that are pushed to the back when I am on the computer, phone, or in conversation.

The physical side, though it does not entail much heavy lifting, gets my heart rate up and makes my muscles stretch.

My chickens are scratch, peck, pooping around me to keep m compnay :).

I have often marveled at the happiness of farmers I know, who work HARD and early, and yet are happy doing this every day. Their morning routine sounds like a marathon to a suburbanite like me. Yet, I understand now how the physical labor, the brain space, and the result (a clean coop to go in, both for myself and the chickens, who just LOVE to play in the clean hay!) can be highly rewarding & balancing.

Suburbanites: Instand of getting up in the morning, having coffee, getting dressed, then hopping on the computer, becoming a commuter, or going to some form of inside, man-made space for a big chunk of the day, you can be outside (You could just be taking a nice long walk!). What would that do for your soul?
In and out of cars, wading through wafts of email (which, I have to say, only 5% is relevant in my case), going shopping, errand running.....blech!

I'd rather scoop chicken poop.

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