Dutch Rooster

Jonathan Hero and Jenny from PR recently bought the farm. Tenspeed Hero Farm. They were looking for specific qualities in a farm: Access to great cycling, pasture for their horses, a barn, and hopefully the former owners would have left some cats and chickens behind. They found the perfect spot in Idaho. Plenty of space for all the animals that they already own, and the former homeowners left 11 chickens and four cats. But most of all they left Reuben the Dutch Rooster, named for Rooster Cogburn (the John Wayne version, not Jeff Bridges, though he did a good job too). Reuben is a beautiful (please refer to the photographs) four year old (half the age fellow Dutchman,Erik Dekker*, was when he first raced a bike)Lakenvelder. Reuben keeps an eye on his flock but is also a bit of a loner. He can often be found on top of the hill surveying the land, presumably keeping an eye out for danger or maybe waiting for the former homeowners to return. Not too long ago I found him under the front porch crowing and cowering – at the same time. There was a cooper’s hawk in the tree that he and his hens sleep in.

The former homeowners also left a portrait – if it can be called that – of John Wayne in the barn. We think of it as a tribute to the many faces of our Reuben.

*No relation to Desmond Dekker.