cottage geese

you know when you get those bright ideas? the ones that are so bright you are inexorably drawn to them like a moth to a flame? yes, well, i had one of those. last Christmas as i was standing in front of the freezer case looking at the price of geese, around $80 each, i thought: how hard can it be to raise geese? i can raise my own, spread out the cost, and get fresh meat! a win, win, win situation! i know you're already laughing at me, yuck it up. i can take it. my first clue should have been that each gosling was $12.99. i knew that geese were mean. i knew they weren't bright. what i didn't know was that they are the most perverse, clumsy, idiotic creatures ever created. or that they could destroy a respectable vegetable garden in one day when left unattended. i am also learning that their favorite place to poop is a freshly hosed front walk, and they innately know whom they can chase without earning a smart kick in the chest and whom they cannot. have you ever seen a goose trip on it's own feet? i have. it almost makes this whole thing worth it. i now laughingly look back on those first weeks when i was explaining their presence in the yard and people were telling me "don't name them" or "don't feed them by hand" so that i wouldn't get attached and therefore not be able to go through with the butchering. HA! the trouble now is going to be not killing the cusses until Christmas....