Thank you very mulch

A gardener must possess a sense of humor to sustain her joy. No one knew this more than Dale and Will, brothers and former operators of Uncle Luke’s, their grandparents’ feed and seed store in Troy.

Andy, a friend who kept hens and roosters, recommended this little gem when I established my former lavender farm in 2004.

Whether seedlings for gardens or feed for livestock, Uncle Luke’s “boys” knew their business and helped me build mine.

The vision for my little farm included laying hens we fed Uncle Luke’s organic feed. My late husband complied, for as boys, Mel and his twin brother somewhat managed a flock of hens and roosters.

“But no rooster,” Mel stipulated. “They’re loud and mean.”

I recalled the terrible bruise on a sister’s leg caused by a rooster’s peck during a summer vacation to Granny’s Kentucky home, and agreed.

Furthermore, a township code doesn’t allow residents to keep roosters. Although several neighbors have hens, you’ll never hear a rooster crow on our road.

Mel and I hired Andy, a local builder I met in an agricultural program sponsored by Michigan State Extension, to design and build our darling, little henhouse.

Andy and Mel taught me what they knew about hen care.

Indeed, the Isa Browns and Barred Rocks provoked my laughter as they scratched, pecked and chased one another to steal a worm from the other’s beak.

Yet, I panicked upon my first witness of an Isa Brown flailing dusty wings within the pen, and ran to Mel with my report.

He offered his wry smile. “Haven’t you ever seen a hen take a dust bath?”

“No.”

The hens soon pecked every blade of grass from the pen to create one, large dust bath.

Mel and I collected and consumed farm fresh eggs. He stopped by Uncle Luke’s for chicken feed on his way home from work.

In one visit, I discovered Uncle Luke stocked Hull Farm cocoa bean shells and drove home with ten bags for my flower gardens.

The scent of chocolate filled the air, which provoked an appetite for the lavender truffles that Romeo’s Juliet’s Chocolates created and boxed for me to sell.

Dear Reader, Will and Dale retired from Uncle Luke’s after I closed my lavender farm in 2014.

Yet, Mel stopped in the store for chicken feed until he fell ill and passed away January, 2024. Last fall, I found a shelter for my four menopausal hens.

Presently, Debbie, and marvelous painter, renovates my henhouse, soon to be “Le Coop”, my summertime reading and writing space.

Mel and Andy would approve.

In my visit to Uncle Luke’s last week, Gil’s was the only face and voice I recognized from the original team of Dale, Will, and Gil.

“What can I help you with?” he asked.

“Ten bags of cocoa bean mulch, please.”

In this ever-changing world, I would like to say, “Thank you very mulch, guys, for making my dreams come true.”

Contact Iris at irisfarmletters@gmail.com