July Harvest

In the mornings, I pick the cucumbers, summer squash and green beans for the humans. For the chickens, I pluck the tomato worms from the plants. I squirm as I drop the plump, green slugs into the can of scratch grain. If I were into equality and fairness, I would search the plants until I had 13 worms -- one for each hen. But the sun is rising and work beckons. Six worms will have to do. I let the hens out of their shed and dump the scratch grain and worms onto the ground. A hen spots the green worm, snatches it in her beak and runs from the group. As she slurps the worm and clacks her beak, I note that she eats the worm with much more gusto than I eat my harvest of cucumbers and beans.