By Dr. Bruce Smith ——Bio and Archives--August 10, 2023
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How could anyone drive through our beautiful and bountiful Heartland and think it was boring? There’s no telling what you might find around the next turn or over the rise coming up. If you’re lucky when driving west along the old National Road west of Indianapolis, and in the surrounding countryside, you just might come across a fine mixed gaggle of geese.
Time was when it was common for a farm to have a resident flock of geese and ducks. Both were highly valued for their beauty, their habits, and their products. Geese are grazers. They’ll move along a slow moving frontal boundary plucking blades of grass one at a time through gracefully curved necks, their deep orange beaks doing the snipping. Ever hear of a goose-necked hoe? They will keep a grassy area shorn to a good height, spreading nitrogen-rich deposits as they go. That keeps the grass nice and green. Call it recycling the lawn.
That same farm of yore would have a hardworking farm wife laboring long hours throughout the day, busy with many chores. One of those tasks would have been collecting feathers for making pillows. In the days before polyester stuffing, there were few materials that would hold a loft and remain fluffy enough to make a pillow or a mattress. Geese and ducks shed down and feathers as they move about. These can be carefully collected, cleaned, and dried for later use. When dressing a goose or duck for the table, large quantities of downy feathers could be saved for pillows and feather bed covers. The best feathers come from close to the skin under the wings, along the belly, and toward the back end. Ducks produce downy feathers, too. Some ducks were famous for their down, like the Eider.
Perhaps you’ve heard of the tradition in England of preparing a Christmas goose, as in the Dickens story A Christmas Carol. Geese, swans, capons, and ducks were all considered fine fare in early modern England. At Christmas time, geese and ducks may still be found in grocery stores and at meat markets in England and her former colonies. There’s a fine Sherlock Holmes story, The Blue Carbuncle, about a stolen jewel. Holmes uses his keen logic and powers of observation to unravel a mystery that includes a Christmas goose and a false accusation of theft.
Geese and ducks are messy. They love to work or ‘puddle’ in standing water. They’ll foul a pan of water or a fountain in minutes. This makes keeping them in confined areas a challenge. The geese you see here have a lovely spacious pond with shade trees and a stand of cattails for cover. They forage and range about all around their pond and seem perfectly content.
There are several breeds represented in the group. I think I see Sebastopol and Chinese geese, which are considered light breeds. There may be a West of England goose, and there are some African Geese. I also see crested ducks, perhaps crosses with the dark Cayuga ducks. Sometimes I see Khaki Campbell ducks. They’re all interesting.
Hardly anyone dresses poultry or collects goose down on the farm any more, but beautiful geese are still easy on the eyes, anywhere I find them. Perhaps, dear reader, you have visions of farm flocks in your memories. A gaggle this nice is something you don’t see every day.
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Dr. Bruce Smith (Inkwell, Hearth and Plow) is a retired professor of history and a lifelong observer of politics and world events. He holds degrees from Indiana University and the University of Notre Dame. In addition to writing, he works as a caretaker and handyman. His non-fiction book The War Comes to Plum Street, about daily life in the 1930s and during World War II, may be ordered from Indiana University Press.