Here’s what I’m learning from one of my ducks this weekend.

I have this one duck - admittedly, she’s one of my favorites. The only one of her kind in my little flock. Her hatching-mate was, sadly, DOA the day the tiny, peeping box of ducklings made its way into my hands via the USPS.

So she is, in case you’re a duck nerd, she is my only Welsh Harlequin.

She’s always been a pretty duck; mottled, with cream & brown feathers, shining with hints of dark blue & green in the sunlight.

Until…this summer. 

I don’t know what’s up with this duck, but at three years old, she’s having a MAJOR molt. 

Molts aren’t unusual - ducks usually molt a couple of times per year. And this particular duck has molted before.

But this time around? She’s had a big enough molt that she looks quite different. Her head is more spotted, the coop is full of her feathers, & she’s looking a little worse for the wear. 

She’s also stopped laying eggs. It’s been more than a month since this girl has given me anything.

But here’s the thing - all of this? Normal duck behavior.

Looks? Changing. Productivity? Ceased. Condition? Not at her best.

But all of this is totally fine. It’s not only permissible, it’s normal. Expected. Just part of being a duck.

I do miss the eggs…but it’s not like I’m angry or surprised. That’s what I have chickens for, anyway. I call it a diversified egg-come stream.

This is what I’ve been noticing all weekend. I’ve even had a few words with my duck, telling her to take her time, rest up, get her molt on, & start laying when she can.

It’s comical how quickly & intuitive I accept seasonality in a DUCK, when I am often so terrible at accepting seasonality in MYSELF.

It would be foolish to expect my ducks (or my chickens, or my garden) to be productive year-round. It’s not possible. It’s not how they’re designed.

It’s not a stretch to draw the same conclusion about myself; I am also not designed for constant, unceasing productivity. It would be deeply strange if I kept up the same pace, the same rate, the same output all the time. I would be like a creature out of step with everything around me.

I’m convinced that’s not how I’m supposed to be. 

So I’m trying to take a page from my duck’s book. I’ve started sitting out in the sunlight every morning, before I turn on my phone or drink coffee. Just me, the moss in my front yard, & some water. No auditions, no productivity, not even a to-do list. Just a few minutes to set my pace with the created things around me, remember that I too am a created thing, & make peace with shifts & changes. 

It’ll be nice when the eggs come back. But in the meantime, as usual, I’m rich in life lessons from the homestead.