March 7, 2011 Babette's Avocation

Some stars are born; others are cultivated; but now and then, one is hatched.

That one would be Babette. Of the Boss Chick and the Babes family. Originally there was one tiny chick that we named Boss Chick, whom we adopted after she was found strolling along a neighborhood road. The human mother and daughter rescue team rightfully thought that she needed to be with other chickens. She was less than a week old. Still in her yellow fuzzy feathers. It was a mystery as to her lonely meanderings, but the main thing we hoped for was that she would not turn into a rooster!

Since one chick is harder to care for than twenty, and she was way too young to be in the Hen House, where the pecking order can be extreme, the next day I went to Callahan’s feed store and bought three more chicks with yellow fuzzy feathers. I called the foursome Boss Chick -- for she was a natural leader...one with street smarts -- and the Babes. They lived on our kitchen table for the first two months, as November’s typically cold, wet weather would be a catastrophe for baby chicks without a mama. It was a cold winter that year, and even our farm house was a bit chilly inside, so the chicks’ cage was fitted with a heat lamp, and a blanket encapsulated the cage. Each morning, we would lift the blanket with a bit of dread, fearing that the Babes had succumbed during the night. But no, they were a hardy lot, ate well, pooped healthily, and enjoyed getting outside on a sunny day in their little fenced run. Pure joy, that’s what they exhibited.

Alas, dealing with nature complicates everything on a farm. The Babes were a delight and I was sorry to see them grow too big to continue living in our house -- additionally their cage soon required a complete cleaning every day -- and so they were installed in the barn in the Big Chick Cage that Larry built. The sixty September chicks (the Spotty Dotties, the Rumpies, and the Rosies) had matured enough that they were out of the Big Cage and in the Hen House under the watchful eye of the now dearly departed Aunt Tootie J. Tootums. The Babes loved the extra space in the Chick Cage, admired the big girls in the close-at-hand Hen House, and even more they loved the dirt floor of the attached pvc/chicken wire run. There they could finally take their first dust baths!

Eventually the Babes grew up and joined the others in the Hen House. They were easy to tell apart from the twenty other White Leghorns (the Spotty Dotties) because although the Spotties’ whiteness was flecked with black spots, Boss and the Babes were solid white with a yellow blush that was ethereal yet noticeable, under their tails.

Treating them as special, I let them out almost every day, partly so they could avoid being pecked, but also because they looked so beautiful against the green of early spring. They stayed primarily in the back yard with forays to the porch to pay their respects to their former home. The benches and reflecting glass of the windows intrigued them

Soon, the teenager, Babette, stood out. Mainly because she talked a lot and desperately wanted to get back inside our kitchen! In her quest, she, especially, spent a lot of time waiting for an open door. There, on the porch, she was discovered by photographer Jody Horton*, who staged a still life on Uncle Mac’s green bench. Babette was curious over his arrangement wondering if it might contain something she would like to eat. Jody snapped photos and the one that was chosen to advertise the first annual East Austin Urban Farm Tours included Babette with her comely neck stretched up for a better view. She got nothing to eat in compensation, however, and this set a bad precedent for her new avocation: modeling.


The next spring, a more mature Babette was again spotted by paparazzi on the back porch. Heck, if the papas came here every day, they would spot her. It is her territory. The porch leads her to the back door and also to the kitchen garden. She and another pet, Spotty Dottie, spend a lot of time in the garden getting rid of any flowers that might want to beautify the farm in the spring, but mainly throwing mulch here and there in search of protein. 

The photographer this time was Jenna Noel**, of Edible Austin, who needed a photo of a chicken for Callahan’s General Store’s ad in the magazine. Not just any chicken of course. It had to be one who was not camera shy, and one who projected the intelligence and personality of a superior chicken (as well as muddy beak and toes -- proof that she is a hard worker.) That one happens to be Babette. And it may have helped that Babette spent a day at Callahans in transit to the farm. So she was the authentic choice for the ad photo!


Babette is so comfortable in her own feathers (note the yellow blush above) that she cares not if they are stained. After all, modeling will not fill her craw, so daily she is hard at work on her real job, working the mulch and mud, and accompanying cultivators in the field to snag delicious cut worms or grub worms, her personal comfort foods.

If I am tardy in letting her out of the Hen House, she calls to me from her perch on the water faucet. Once released, she roams the farm, searching for prey, often fearlessly venturing down the driveway. She shows this confidence in the Callahan ad. Just notice her posture as she strolls along the boardwalk of the farm house porch. It cackles in her soprano voice, “This is my porch, and if I had hands instead of wings, I would have that screen door opened in a second.”


That Babette. Along with her natural beauty, soiled as it is, she’s very social. She will break out of a gang of chickens when her name is called and run with all her might to an outstretched hand, but no touching of Babette, please. She is not into physical contact, just admiration. And worms.

Carol Ann

PS: Mark your calendar for the 2nd Annual East Austin Urban Farm Tour:  April 17, 2011, Sunday,
1 PM to 5 PM. 

Tours by the farmers on the quarter hour (1:15, 2:15, 3:15, 4:15) at each urban farm: Hausbar, Rain Lily, Springdale, and Boggy Creek. Each farm will host chefs serving tastings of farm food; also beverage sampling will be available. (At Boggy Creek: Chef Eric Polzer of WINK, Baker Barrie Cullinan of Word on Food, Live Oak Brewery. Babette is very excited about this culinary line up!)

Tickets, $35 for everyone over 12 years old, may be purchased online at http://farmhousedelivery.com. (Farm House Delivery is a sponsor of EAUFT.)

Proceeds from the tours benefit http://farmandranchfreedom.org, the organization that is lobbying for farmers' right to farm and consumers' right to choose foods of their choice. For information on and a list of food bills currently in the Texas State House and Senate, visit farmandranchfreedom.org and then call your representatives and ask them to support these bills.

PPS: Photo credits: *http://www.jodyhorton.com  **Jenna Noel of http://www.edibleaustin.com

For the Produce Report: http://www.boggycreekfarm.com/