Around here

Things are growing.

There isn't much wind.

I made a bean trellis from an old swing set frame.

There is the other part of the swing set.

Tomato plants are looking good.


So is the lettuce and broccoli.

The clothes line is up.

I found this giant wok in a freebie pile at a garage sale.

I can picture stir fry on the fire pit this summer.

Little Mama says hi.


Do you see our little treasure?

Here's a better view.

(I haven't weighed it yet for all you egg weighers out there)



Thanks for visiting.

Around here

We're taking many trips out to the coops.

The hens are enjoying the ramshackle run.



Trying to get a pic from the inside.

Pretty wants to be in a picture too.

Chubby (cheeks) is trying to stay warm.

We are getting low on firewood.

Sniffing fox tracks

Following deer tracks through the garden..

..to see that they were munching on unpicked beets.




Feeding the birds from a homemade Christmas present.

The garden tool shed is waiting for spring.

So is the duck nesting box.

The dock is waiting for summer.

Hi

I know its been awhile. I'll try to do better now that things have calmed a bit.

My last show of the year is done. It was good not great, with working out of the house I didn't have as much inventory as past years, but it will help our family come Christmas Gift time.

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I got a fun surprise in the hen house the other day.

That little one, upper right, is way greener than the picture shows.

I believe it is from one of my new chicks. She is a Hamburg/Americauna mix, one of our May babies. You can see how happy it makes the egg in the middle.

We are having a gift exchange at the artist group. It's supposed to be small and homemade, I wanted to try some new techniques so i figured I'd would kill 2 birds. I made this little lunch bag using all scraps. Scrap lunch sack? I used this stuff called Insulbright for the batting. It is supposed to retain the cold or heat and is washable. I hope the recipient likes it.

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Thats about it, I'd better get ready for work. No jammie pants there. Dang!

big things today

We got 9 new babies out of 9 eggs.

Here is a peek of a few of them.

We put that found goose egg under a broody hen.

Its day 24. We candled it (high powered flashlight) and it is growing.
It could be wild or domestic, the neighbors have geese.

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Best of all, my boy is 15 today.

He gets to drive in Drivers Ed, have tacos for dinner, ride in a parade in my Dads 57 Chevy and toss out candy, then on to Dairy Queen for a waffle bowl sundae. Not bad for a birthday.

Raindrops are falling on my bags.

With all my shows coming up, I put myself on a working schedule that I am trying my best to stick with.

This rain has not been much of a problem since I work in the basement. But since I am trying to take pics of my work, I need good lighting, FROM THE SUN. And my schedule says today is picture day.

So the fashion model and I went out to do the best we could. These four are what I've been working on this week.

The fashion model and I weren't alone for long.

Curiosity isn't just for cats.

I see you back there.

Oh geez.

I'm not known for my photo skills anyway. I frequently get on line customers informing me how much better my bags look in person. I still try anyway.

Luckily we missed the raindrops and no bags got wet in the making of this post.

Feeling Broody

I got my first batch of chicks 6 years ago, and ever since then I was hoping to have a broody hen so I wouldn't need to buy chicks. I like the idea of having some self-sufficiency around my mini farm.

Last summer a couple of my Golden Laced Wyandotts went broody. I got fertile eggs from my dads Jersey Giant and from under 2 hens I got 6 chicks. Sadly raccoons found their way in, I lost all the chicks and one of the moms.

In the fall, one of my Dark Cornish went broody. I didn't want chicks during the cold winter so I placed wooden eggs under her, she snuck in a real one when I wasn't looking and we ended up with our Uno.

Here is our Uno today. She is from our Silver Spangled Hamburg roo and a Dark Cornish Hen.

So Unos mom (i call her my baby mama) went broody again in February. I was taking care of my Dads chickens then so I took 4 of those eggs and another 4 from mine. The four from my dads were duds as well as one of mine, an egg eater got 2 so we ended up with one again.

This is Winky today, I believe she is a pure Dark Cornish (and a girl).

Are we destined for one chick at a time?

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I had a few more Dark Cornish (the queens of broody) go broody.

Hoping to hatch out some chickens for meat this year, I left the 2 Dark Cornish roos free to roam with the Dark Cornish, Partrige Rocks and Golden Laced Wyandott hens. They are all dual purpose breeds.

I separated our SSH roo, he's a smaller breed and put him in with our Americaunas. I had read somewhere if you cross a white laying breed Roo with a green laying egg hen, you may get more green egg layers. We shall see if that is true.

So 3 weeks ago, I placed 9 eggs under one of my broodys (7 brown, 2 green) and yesterday morning, I heard the sweet little peep sound coming from under this dedicated mama.

By the time I went to bed, six had hatched and by this morning the other 3 were dry, fuzzy and looking adorable.

This broody hen was in the box next to the first hen and thinks some of them should be hers. The one below is on some eggs too.

I moved the mama and chicks and she keeps trying to get in and claim some as her own. She got in once already and had a little chick under her. She has her own clutch that should be hatching in the next couple of days, if she will stay put.

In the last few days I noticed this Dark Cornish is in the Broody way. She wouldn't even leave when Hoot wanted to lay an egg so she just moved over.

That's not all!

This hen is Broody Too!

My husband found a wild goose egg out in the yard yesterday, do you think I should try putting it under her to see what happens?

That's Crazy!


Dark Cornish are a friendly breed, have tasty meat, not as pretty as some breeds but are wonderful if you are looking for a broody hen.

muskrat love

Sunday morning I let out the chickens and T-Bone and I went for a walk about. We noticed a muskrat on the opposite end of the pond. Not good news.

Muskrats dig burrows into the edges of the pond and as you are walking around the pond your foot and leg will suddenly disappear into the earth, deep deep down into a mucky hole past your kneecap. (Don't ask me how I know this)

T-Bone was after that muskrat like a shot but the little destructive beast had just a short distance to the water.

T-Bone let me know about 2 holes the muskrat already dug and I blocked them.

We had our boat on one edge for less than a week and it had already had an impressive hole started underneath.

Every time the muskrat popped up, the hard working farm dog chased him back in.

This lasted the whole day.

The chickens came to check out what was happening.

Some got drinks.

Refreshing.

Even the dog worked up a thirst.

The dedicated farm dog never did get that muskrat but we believe he packed his bags that night and moved on to another pond.

I love having such a handy helper keeping my legs safe from harm.

T-Bone is now out in the rain trying to rid us of a family of chipmunks wreaking havoc behind the chicken coop.

Thank you pup!