A Homestead in Saratoga Too

I am going to expand the meaning of Hale Ranch to not only mean the San Martin ranch but also our homestead in Saratoga, California. On our suburban residence we raised quite a few animals. Morris was a Cocker Spaniel mix who wasn't just a pretty little dog, he was a noisy watchdog too. We raised rabbits for years and had so many litters of bunnies. I think Ed and I learned about the birds and the bees from Dad's lessons in animal husbandry with those rabbits. We put our heads together and realized we had raised over 400 rabbits over the years. Every season we started with 24 chicks and we quickly learned how cruel chickens can be. The chickens would attack the weakest chick, pecking its head, neck and body for two or three weeks until it finally died. The chickens would then pick the second weakest one and peck at it until it too died. The cycle would continue until there was only about 15 or 16 left at the end of the season to turn into frozen chicken dinners. To this day I still have a hard time eating a whole chicken and picking the meat off the bones.