There actually IS a book called that Can't recall the EXACT name my friend lent it to me. OWNED BY DUCKS or something like that. I have a small flock and they are EXTREMELY demanding. They come and stare thru the glass doors sqwauking "Get out here and feed us!" I chase them back to the pond but they turn right around and follow me to the house.They also run into the garage the minute the door is open and eat catfood(we have a garage cat loooong story),birdseed etc. til we chase them out. We put it up now but some dribles on the floor plus they remember. I try to feed them goodies DOWN by the pond Y know salad castoffs ,lettuce tomatoes and they also get fed egg layer crumbles.We have turtles who come up out of the pond and eat with them TOO cute.One red slider actually gooses the ducks and works his way into the dish of food.Fills up with 3 BIG bites. Goes to the pond to drink and the smaller turtles,fish etc eat what escapes from his mouth and turtle lips(?) Your ducks are beautiful! The place where my dad lives is SR housing. Nice pond and ducks and geese. They only feed their ducks cracked corn and the residents(elderly) toss them bread and cheese and all sorts of CRAP. No matter what anyone tells them but the ducks seem to be doing well I have visited them for 5 years now! Ducks are so funny,our flock got up to 21 and I was going crazy so we gave away more than half and are down to 8. Tanya

Hello to you all My kids and I had to live on top of a hill surrounded by 100 or so acres (that belonged to my late ex husband's grandmother). We had no home, no money,nothing to our name except a car that eventually got taken back. We had a tent and an old run down camper that had been up there since my husband was a kid. Our kids stayed in that and we in the tent. Most of what we eat for that year came from what I could find in those woods that were edible. We did get foodstamps but when you dont have a fridge there aint much that you can keep for long when it is a hundred degrees out. We cooked on an open fire using my cast iron pans that my parents gave me when I first married. Alot of what I knew about living off the land came from what I had learned as a kid from my family and from reading. I am far from being a city girl and my anxieties make living where I am now hard especially being a single mom. My kids loved living up on that hillside. No electricity, no video games, just nature. My son was healther than he'd ever been. I finally broke down and using only a hand saw began cutting trees down to debark and build a cabin. It took me 6 mo. to do this with little help from my mother-in-law and husband. We lived a total of a year this way. Though my marriage wasnt great and he spent no time with our kids. My kids and I we happy. I homeschooled both of them during this time and they learned more then than what they are now in public school. I had a controlling husband who was controlled by his mother. My kids and I went through more mental and verbal abuse than any kid should. I finally got the courage up to divorce him when my 9 yr look at me and said, "mommy its time. Its not right how daddy treats us or you." By this time we had just bought a 60 acre farm and I found courage from my kids to tell him I wanted a divorce. I almost lost everything. When it was all said and done We had lost the farm for he wouldnt give me time to find a job ( stay at home mom for ten yrs). Our 9 yr old daughter lost her 2 horses, 6 dogs, and 4 cats. She took care of them her self. up 6 am feed them 1st then herself and would go out and spend time with all of them (rain, snow, sun, 12degree to 100 degree weather didnt matter.) I know what it is like to want to go back to that time on the hill. But we dont have the land nor the money. We still go through the woods with permission. We collect seeds to continue the growth of the wild and If there is plenty we will dig a plant or two up and replant them by the house. Most of my garden has come from the woods near by and the rd side. We still go out to find edible but we watch what we take and we try to give back to keep it going. So rembrance consider collecting a few of the plants (provided there is plenty and not endagered. with permission) put them in pots and grow your own. (easiest done with perenial plants) Collect seeds and start your own. Just a suggestion from three who enjoys being in nature and live the way we feel we were supose to. I am just glade to have my kids. The judge listened to what they had to say. As for the colledge degree, I dont even have a high school diploma. Though after my divorce I have been trying. One day My anxieties, panic attacks,and partial siezures will not controll me.

Alexa, my favorite duck so far came out of the smoker, Roger and Sherry came for dinner and they've sampled that, Roger really liked it. Deep fried might be really good! As for "unmentionables", I've confessed to eating everything from testicles to head cheese. (shrug) Some I liked, some I didn't. I tried to get cabrito when we went to Mexico, but couldn't find any. I ate sushi in California, although I liked the deep fried version best, LOL. (Thanks, Diana!) The only time I got a lot of criticism here was once when I posted pictures of the new calves and had the "annual naming of the beef". I did get a couple of hateful emails from a woman who couldn't stand me "talking ugly about food" and a couple of others about being the next thing to a murderer for raising beef and then having it killed. (shrug) I'm a big girl, I can deal with it. I got a lot more nastiness on the tomato forum and from one male poster on Harvest who was always right and got not just nasty, but threatening. It happens. (shrug) I get past it. Annie

If you are near RTP then it is maybe not a terribly long trip to Burnette's Seed and Feed in Louisburg. It is around the corner next to Moss Foods at the intersection of 401 and Hwy 56, 810 S. Bickett. They also do DMV so the signs are easier to find than the store name. They have Mason jars with a variety of loose flower and vegetable seeds, barrels of raw peanuts to grow your own, huge bags of seed corn, cover crop seeds, and such, and a variety of "farmer" seeds by the ounce or pound. A few years ago I bought rape and mustard seed mixed for a green manure crop, 2 ounces, about $.75. Enough for 1/4 acre. It is fun place to go - like stepping back in time to the '40's, even though it is just a little shop, with very sweet owners. They also have wonderful transplants of vegetables when the weather warms - grown locally by real farmers and for cheap. If you get over that way, visit Moss Foods - a creaky but wonderful place to experience where you can watch through the glass their butchers (full time young employees) cutting up fresh meats and poultry, and rounds of local cheeses, also all for cheap. There I buy unsweetened finely shredded coconut in plastic baggies of weighed sizes that they do up themselves, and other things the big stores would not even consider handling without fancy packaging and yelling labels from conglomerates. Just up the road(401) is Smith's Town & Country Supply that also has Mason jars of seeds and a huge selection of real farm stuff, lots of it for horses, cows, poultry, and goats. I used to buy my floating catfish food there when I had a pond. Closer to you there is Carpenter Farm Supply in Morrisville. Haven't been there in years but you could call to see if they have what you need in bulk or if they can order it for you. That's another "step back in time" place with wood floors and a pot belly stove, old timey implements hanging from the rafters. At least that was true 10 years ago, but times and Morrisville have changed, oh my! Yes, you can buy stuff on-line but visiting historic seed and feed shops that cater to real farmers more than makes up a fun day of adventure. Shop local!