The Girls of Butterfly Ranch...

We don't name our chickens, but we love them just the same. We currently keep around a dozen hens — no roosters — fed a wholesome diet of laying mash, scratch grains, and supplemental blocks, along with all the fresh scrap greens from our kitchen and garden, which they absolutely love. In return, they reward us with wonderfully fresh, healthy, and delicious eggs. We keep our flock intentionally at about that size — any more and we simply couldn't consume them all without starting an egg business! Ranch life, however, is not without its heartbreaks. We have lost hens to the fox and the hawk — the very wild creatures we also celebrate on this ranch as part of God's creation. It is one of the more humbling lessons this land teaches: that we are stewards, not sovereigns. As Job 12:7-10 reminds us, every creature — the one in our care and the one beyond our gates — is held in the same hand of the same Lord. We grieve our losses, we do what we can to protect our flock, and we trust the rest to Him. That is, perhaps, the very definition of faith on a working ranch.