Author: Bill Radford

I’ve learned a lot living in the country, but some things remain a mystery. Such as … – What’s up with that goat neck-twisting thing? My wife and I noticed it with our first goat, Nana; she would arch her head so that it reached her back and twist her neck nearly into a pretzel…

Spring is beckoning – and that means people looking to start or replenish a chicken flock will be buying chicks. When I last wrote on the topic, I got a call from a reader who suggested I explore the dark side of raising chickens – specifically the plight of roosters. Roosters are not in great…

Willie the cat had been vomiting a fair amount, but at first my wife and I didn’t worry. Hairballs, we figured. But Willie also was getting thinner and didn’t seem himself. So it was off to the vet. The news was not good. He had a mass in his abdomen; cancer was a possibility, but…

Diary of a snowstorm (Jan. 30-Feb. 3): Saturday morning The TV weatherman has warned the impending storm could bring as much as 2 feet of snow. So I am at Safeway in Falcon, stocking up. It’s early – just a little after 8 a.m. – but, still, I’m surprised the store isn’t busier with other…

Picky ducklings, noisy geese and grasshopper-loving chickens. The memories, after two decades, have dimmed. But they were stirred up recently when my wife, Margaret, saw a real estate listing with a familiar address. The listing, for a five-bedroom, two-bath home on South Blaney Road in the Falcon area, included this notation: “A 2nd modular on…

Back when I lived in town, deer used to stroll down the street and visit my east Colorado Springs neighborhood. Out on the prairie, there’s not many deer. (Though there certainly are some, as evidenced by the one that jumped in front of my then-brand-new Subaru Forester on Garrett Road in the darkness and died…

It’s a land rich in soil and memories. The Newton Dotson Farm near Aguilar was named a Colorado Centennial Farm in 2008; the Colorado Centennial Farms program, administered by the State Historical Fund, was created to recognize the important role agriculture has played in the state’s history. The farm is named after Betty Rickel’s grandfather,…

2015 is nearly over. And while it’s a time to look forward (made those New Year’s resolutions yet?), it’s also a time to peek back. Some highlights from a year in The Country Life: – Under the Chinese calendar, 2015 has been the year of the goat. Early in the year, I met Cheryl Sellin…