Farms' male emu finally embraces fatherhood
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They follow his lead as he scavenges through the grass, looking for food. At night, the chicks follow him into the emu shed and snuggle down to sleep under his feathers. The female emu watches the babies briefly, then stops to preen her feathers. Female emus lay the eggs; then the male takes charge. He incubates and hatches them and raises the babies.
This dad was a slow learner. It took him a decade to figure out the system, but this year he finally sat on his mate's eggs long enough to hatch emu chicks. They pecked their way out of their shells about 10 days ago.
Their appearance was a surprise to farm owners Bonnie and Gary Remlinger.
Bonnie purchased the breeding pair at least 12 years ago. The first couple of years she collected the emu eggs and hatched them in an incubator.
"We stopped incubating them when the market never developed to sell the emus," she said.
The emu couple have continued to mate each spring. The female lays several 12-inch-long sapphire-blue eggs, and every year the male dutifully has sat on the eggs, but lost interest and wandered away before they hatched.
Emus, native to Australia, are the second-largest birds in the world. They typically stand between 5 and 6 feet tall and weigh 150 pounds. They're prized elsewhere for their meat, feathers and oil. Raising both emus and ostriches was popular in this country during the early 1990s. Breeders anticipated a market for low-cholesterol meat from the flightless birds.
"The market never took off, partially because there was no (government) approved processing plant," Remlinger said.
When the demand for emus waned, the Remlingers kept the birds as part of their farm menagerie, which includes goats, sheep, rabbits, geese, ponies and horses.
"I didn't even see the babies at first," Bonnie Remlinger said. "One of the farmworkers came and told me there were baby emus, and I was so surprised. After all this time, the male finally figured it out."
Although there is no walkway to the emu enclosure, they can be seen from the miniature steam-train ride when the farm opens for the season from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. The steam train is part of the Country Fair and Barnyard Park and will be open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets to the park are $8.75 for children and adults and $7.50 for seniors. Both the farm and the park are only open weekends until summer.
During the growing season, Remlinger Farms offers u-pick fruit and vegetables and also sells produce in the Farm Market.
Remlinger Farms is located at 32610 N.E. 32nd St., Carnation.
Sparkling evening: Costume jewelry has long delighted women — and some men. There was a boom in quality and quantity in the late 1940s, when glittering rhinestones and other baubles were stylish, affordable and available after World War II.
Today, many of those pieces our mothers and grandmothers stashed in their jewelry boxes are sought by collectors.
But how do you tell the trash from the treasures?
Ask Rosie Sayyah, who is known as Rhinestone Rosie. The owner of Rhinestone Rosie Estate & Costume Jewelry in Seattle has appeared on "Antiques Roadshow," the popular Public Broadcasting Service television show that travels the country and appraises people's antiques and collectibles.
Rhinestone Rosie will give costume-jewelry appraisals at an Overlake Service League's Meydenbauer Circle party May 13.
Tickets for the party, to be held in Clyde Hill, are $25. For further information or reservations, call Pat Chantrey at 425-455-5013.
Date on ice: Inglemoor High School hockey player Zac Schulze recently had a great night on the ice — and got a date in the process.
First, he scored a hat trick (three goals) in the 5-4 win over Bothell.
After that achievement he looked at his girlfriend in the stands.
Schulze, who wears jersey number 66, had placed a banner above the stands that read: "Tricia + #66 = Prom???"
Tricia Yee gave him an affirmative nod.
Sherry Grindeland: 206-515-5633 or sgrindeland@seattletimes.com