So we have a blind chicken this year. When Joan Jett lost her sight a couple of months back, it didn’t go well for her at first. She could find her way in and out of the coop, and maybe to the waterers, but she couldn’t get to the food before all the sighted members of the flock – and couldn’t navigate the social order.

Fortunately we humans eventually realized what was wrong, and isolated her in a private coop with her own water and food. She looked rough, and I thought she might falter and pass, but she grew stronger and seemed to thrive, even. She passed the summer regaining her luster, listening intently to the vibrant world around her, her sisters and daughters and rooster admirerers visiting through the chickenwire of her gated community of one.

She looked better, and I think I can tell that she doesn’t find her more limited lifestyle repressing. Last week, someone asked if she is still laying eggs – nope, I said – either the same illness that took our her optic nerves also messed up her reproductive system, or, well, stressed hens won’t lay eggs – so maybe it’s not easy for her being blind … which didn’t sit well with me, as I didn’t want to induce an existence of suffering, and it kinda-maybe-probably contradicted my just-stated subjective belief that she looked well in the way she held her head, the shine of her feathers, the way she looked around, sightlessly but still tuned in.

Yesterday, Otis announced that he’d noticed two eggs in her coop! I was … skeptical. I wanted to believe. But the eggs were strangely positioned, not in a depression but willy-nilly against the wall … the one with the access hatch. Which made me think that Otis might be playing a prank on me. When interrogated, he promised innocence … but sure acted guilty to my eyes. So I told him that I wasn’t sure what to think yet, but he remained my primary suspect….

Well, he was telling the truth.

Today while we harvested your veggies, she laid another, back in the far side of her coop. So Joan Jett’s recovery is official, Otis’s word can be trusted, my bullshit detector can’t, and if anyone wants to adopt a blind hen before winter, let me know. She’s a survivor, a good listener, and will make someone a lovely animal friend.

I didn’t get any updated photos of her this week, all glossy and iridescent, but I did get these:

inside box Fifteen

• Broccoli – hydrocooled for freshness!
• Hakurei Salad Turnips
• Red Potatoes – best for uses where they need to hold their shape, such as potato salad, roasting, boiling, and soups, because their waxy, low-starch texture prevents them from becoming mushy. They also make great smashed (not mashed) potatoes, adding color and a satisfying crispness.
  

• Onions
• Sweet Peppers – still mostly green, this is a year that peppers refuse to ripen it seems
• Thyme

• Tomatoes
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Eggplant

• Zucchini
• Bok Choi – Kristin is considering the stems as a celery substitute for ants on a log. Or dipping them into the oddly compelling fruity Mexican hot sauce we have.
• Winter Squash – You got one of these pictured, can you find yours?

Oh, and I was also wrong about the whippoorwills – they’re still here, and back to their nightly serenading.