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Farmers Entertainment

It is fun to watch the young chickens running and jumping into the air to catch whichever insect flies into their paths. All insects are fair game, except the wooly bear caterpillar. When these caterpillars wander into the chicken’s path of danger the prickly caterpillars remained unscathed. I’m not sure if it is the prickles on them or maybe the chickens share many farmers belief that these caterpillars are a predictor of how harsh the winters will be. The caterpillars have black rings on the outside and a reddish brown one in the middle. It is believed that the larger the red ring is the milder the winter we are suppose to have. All the caterpillars that escaped sudden death had large red rings, which means we are suppose to have a mild winter. The chickens and the farmers will like that, since during the winter the chickens refuse to wander outside when there is snow on the ground. Each snowy day they patiently wait and look outside their small chicken door until we shovel a path for them. Once the snow is removed they will venture outside. Maybe this year we can give the snow shovel a rest.

Marian Listwak, White Pine Farm