Rochester parents … if your preschool son or daughter came home from school on Monday afternoon and asked you if they could raise chickens at home, you can blame it on a rather handsome hen named Dorothy.

Dorothy came to Rochester Memorial School on Monday, November 6, for a little story time with the youngest of the students at RMS – and you could say that the gentle, social, and generally unaware-that-she’s-a-chicken Dorothy charmed the children right to the very heart of their giblets.

“We like to say that Dorothy is the most well-behaved chicken there is,” said Evelyn Golden, Dorothy’s beloved owner and also the Plymouth County 4-H Extension program assistant. Along with Molly Vollmer, 4-H extension director from the Plymouth County 4-H Extension, Golden brought Dorothy to RMS to introduce the students to the science of embryology before the students endeavor to incubate and hatch chicks of their own in the spring.

Golden read the children’s book A Chicken Followed Me Home by Robin Page – rather apropos, since that is exactly how Golden began keeping chickens.

The book mesmerized the kids with fun facts about the ‘familiar fowl’ and introduced the topic of embryology, explaining the life cycle of the chicken from egg fertilization, the 21 days of incubation, all the way through to adulthood.

Golden then took a handful of seeds and slowly coaxed Dorothy out of her crate where she had been waiting, nestled comfortably in the warmth of her wood shavings. But Dorothy was still content from her last feeding on one of her favorite snacks, an apple, so Golden gently picked her up and placed Dorothy on the floor (atop a plastic protective barrier, of course) in front of the youngsters. Above the ‘oohs’ and ‘aws,’ one could hear the sound of little hearts melting.

“Not all chickens can handle a crowd like this, so Dorothy is pretty special,” said Golden. “She likes children and people, but I think that’s because she doesn’t know she’s a chicken.”

But don’t tell Dorothy.

Half of the time, Golden says Dorothy might actually think she’s a human; the other half of the time, she acts as if she were part chicken/part dog. Either way, Dorothy is one chillaxed individual. So, how chillaxed is she?

“Last year during the 4-H fair, Dorothy was so relaxed that she laid an egg right in my lap. That’s how chill and relaxed she is,” said Golden.

Thus, Dorothy is the perfect poster hen for spreading the joy of raising chickens to kids.

Not only was this the first time RMS has ever welcomed a chicken for story time, but this was Dorothy’s very own first visit to a school – and during a follow-up interview, when asked if she would like to visit a school again, Dorothy said nothing would delight her more.

“We’ve never had a real chicken in here before,” said Project Grow teacher Cindy Baronas. Only one student in class raised his hand when the teacher asked if anyone had chickens at home. Half the rest said no, and the other half said “not yet.” But if Dorothy has her way, RMS parents will cave to the request of their kids to keep chickens – if not for the sheer fun of it alone as the kids perceive it, but for the farm fresh eggs. (After all, one hen can lay up to around five eggs per week. With five hens on your yard, that’s a lot of omelets.)

So, perhaps it’s not a question of which came first, the chicken or the egg, but rather which one is the most treasured part of keeping chickens, the affection or the nutrition – the chicken or the egg?

If your little one expresses an interest in animals, including chickens, and would benefit from a youth development program that teaches about leadership, citizenship, and life skills, 4-H can offer a hands-on approach to learning in addition to providing opportunities to make new friends, learn from an adult leader, and gain exposure to things like animals, crafts, sewing, science, fishing, and the environment.

RMS kindergarten teacher Melissa Weigel leads a local 4-H group based out of the First Congregational Church of Rochester known as “Tails n’ Trails,” now in its third year. The group recently won 1^st place in Plymouth County for its window display, now on display at RMS. For more information on local 4-H groups, contact the Plymouth County 4-H office at 781-293-3541.

By Jean Perry

In the art of quilling, all it takes is a little bit of glue, a lot of thin strips of paper, and a healthy amount of patience to create something beautiful and unique.

As usual, the Mattapoisett Free Public Library offered up more than books on Saturday, November 4, in its downstairs lecture room turned craft room for the day.

Children’s Services Director Jeanne McCullough knows a thing or two about quilling, a.k.a. paper filigree. She did a lot of quilling, she said, “B.C.”

“Before children,” said McCullough, when she would spend hours upon obsessive hours getting into quilling projects. Now she is passing on the basics of that skill to others who have a little bit more time to enjoy it.

The art of quilling is the careful twirling of thin strips of paper into tiny curly-Qs that are then glued at the end to keep them from unraveling and attached to other “teeny tiny toilet paper rolls,” as McCullough described them, to make a larger cohesive shape, such as an animal, flower, landscape, or anything else the imagination can spin out. You’re really only limited by your supplies and the patience you can muster up to see your creativity through.

McCullough led a group of about ten kids of at least fourth-grade age (younger kids likely lack the attention and fine motor skills) step by step with her homemade quilling tools (a thin wooden dowel with a clipped wide-eye needle at the end). With the paper strips stuck neatly to the end of the little “fork,” the group began their chosen “recipes” from quilling books offered at the library.

“Hold it steady with your fingers to make one nice even roll,” said McCullough. And watch out for those “tornados” that can result from the unsteady spiraling out of the paper strip.

Once the little rolls were finished, McCullough and the kids carefully dotted the end with a touch of glue from the end of a toothpick and let it dry on some parchment paper so it doesn’t stick.

The ‘quiller’ can control the tautness of the paper roll, and pinch it at different points to make shapes other than circles, and even add different colors to the rolls by gluing different paper strips together at their ends and continuing to spin.

It looks easy enough, but with practice it can become second nature, McCullough said.

The quilling supplies and books containing quilling project ideas will remain out and on display for anyone to use at the library’s STEAM center.

“So now you can sit and quill ‘til your heart’s content,” said McCullough.

So come chill out and ‘quill out’ at the Mattapoisett Library. Happy quilling, everyone!

By Jean Perry

Judging by the turnout on Wednesday night, the Mattapoisett Historical Society Museum’s photography workshop series is a hit with the local community.

Board President Jen McIntire introduced Deb Fraine, the first of three in a series of local photographers, noting that the impetus for the workshops is an effort to “…keep the museum vital and relevant.”

Fraine first met McIntire while selling her photographs at the Historical Society’s Annual Holiday Craft Fair. Fraine describes her approach to photography as rather relaxed, and pictures often are a result of luck, not skill, saying, “I walk around town with my dog, and it keeps me in the moment. Pictures tell a story.”

Fraine, who works as an occupational therapist, stated, “Working in healthcare is so fast-paced; this slows me down.” She thinks anyone can be a photographer in this era of smartphones, which allows one to always have a camera at hand rather than lugging around bulky equipment.

Fraine presented a broad selection of her photographs, which included landscapes, nature close-ups, and family and friends. Most of the pictures were taken with her digital SLR, but she did allow that some of her favorite shots have been captured with her iPhone.

Fraine used her photographs to describe to the audience the basic tenets of taking a photograph, such as lighting, composition, shutter speed, and aperture selection. When asked if she uses a tripod, she responded, “I don’t like to use a tripod. I like to be mobile.” Fraine also cautioned against using too many editing tools, saying, “I like to keep the natural colors – I think it’s kind of fake to edit too much.”

While many of her photographs were taken locally, she showed a number of pictures from out of state. Of particular interest was her photograph of Kettle Pond in Stowe, Vermont. Using it as a cautionary tale, she suggested that people can Google great places to photograph while they are on a trip. However, while the Kettle Pond location was quite beautiful, it was also quite crowded with other visitors and photographers, even some using drones to capture their shots.

Fraine also suggested that often the best times of day to shoot photographs are early morning and dusk. She suggested to the group that they experiment by taking photographs of the same location at different times of day to determine the best shot. She also noted that while photographing people to be aware of the background, looking for lights or other items that may detract from the quality of the picture.

The Historical Society hosted professional photographer and Marion resident Corinna Raznikov on November 8 and will host Mattapoisett’s own Peter Mello on November 15 at 6:30 pm.

By Sarah French Storer