Here is our hen, recently named ‘Zen’ after almost a year of being called ‘Hen’. I have just spent the entire morning with her as she helped me to ‘dig’ and ‘weed’ the garden. She is the last survivor of a long line of hens bred by our elderly neighbour who died 2 years ago. We thought she would be lonely so this spring we got three new hens to keep her company but she still seems to prefer to spend time around humans. I suppose moving three ‘teenage’ hens in to share her home was a bit cruel!
We can always learn things from spending time around nature and hens are no exception. They can apparently recognise more than 100 faces. Each hen has its own unique personality and they have 30 different sounds that they use to communicate with each other. They are of course very much ‘in the present moment’ as animals tend to be – not having our ability to think about events in the past and worry about what might happen in the future! As I write this she is lying in a hollow in the warm soil that she has carefully crafted – where I have just planted some potatoes. I think she is probably sitting on one – probably she thinks its an egg!
Maybe today’s ‘Zen hen lesson’ is to sit in the sun while its shining – especially when you’ve been busy scratching about all morning! Nature always has times of rest and everything still seems to get done! 
