we're expecting...

no, it's not another valley baby. more like 2 hens (formerly tree chickens) sitting on somewhere in the neighborhood of 16 eggs. this is our first go-round of hatching, since our roosters (lucky duck and easter) have just come of age. i can't say that they have a way with the ladies--they seem more like a pair of bumbling teenagers--but they are in fact fertile. the proof is in the eggs--we can now hold them up to a flashlight in a darkened room and see chickie babies kicking within the shells. totally amazing, perhaps not so much as feeling my own babies kicking inside of myself when i was pregnant, but certainly close. especially since the whole shebang with chickens takes a mere 21 days, and roosters don't even have penises. yah. the term miracle comes to mind every time i see a rooster pop on and off of a hen. the whole encounter takes literally one second.

we are counting days over here, waiting and wondering and asking ourselves if it's really this easy, if nature is really so complex and so very simple, all at once. stay tuned to find out!