The New Brood

Well, let's all cross our fingers that the sickness has left the building. I swear, this has been the ill-est school year in history, for the whole family. I am well and truly Over It! Ah, but let's talk of more pleasant things shall we?

It occurred to me that you were not formerly introduced to the new Brood in the coop. Last November we lost our other beloved chooks to some vicious critter, so a couple of months ago we began again with 3 wee baby chicks.

Pictured up above is Starr, a Leghorn, and so far seems to rule the roost.

This here is Loretta, an Australorp. She follows Starr around constantly, though she seems quite good at scratching up worms.

This is Van Zandt (named after the late singer/songwriter Townes), a Silver Laced Wyandott. She is independent and wiley.

Now this particular group of little hens is nothing like any other brood we have had. They are far more skittery than past chickens, even though we had the same routine as the others and handled them often. They are also contrary, they do not do what we expect them to do, what others have done. We shall see how it all works out. Meanwhile we are all happy to have chickens again. I am looking very forward to September when we may start getting fresh eggs again!

Oh and check out this video of The Engineer's brilliant automatic coop door opener that he created to keep the little ones safe.

Wordless Wednesday

And then there were none

...with the exception of the old man Buddha Cat, we are down quite a few of our animal friends. 

It is with sadness I must report that the last of our brood have passed on. Taken by varmints most foul.  Our sweet long time survivor and last original member of the first group of chooks, Chick Chick, aka Tweet Tweet, will be sorely missed by Pony Girl. They had a special bond those two, going way back to the beginning.

More sad news from over a month ago, Pony Girl's kitten, Angel, just didn't come home one day. We are inclined to believe she was adopted by Gypsies and is now travelling the country in a brightly decorated caravan and having many grand adventures.

You shall all be missed.

Summer Time

Our faces have the full flush of Summer, rosy cheeks, tanned shoulders and hours of play with good friends. These two in the photo have been buddies since they were babies. After hours in the kiddie pool, catching bugs, and playing hide and seek - they ended up in the cubby house for a break with the chickens. I love this photo. I had to sneak up to the window to get it. It speaks volumes about summer, childhood and good friends. It tells the story of a perfect day. 

All my crafty plans seem to have vanished with the sunshine. It's all about kids, family, fun and lots of towels in the laundry from all those kiddie pool/sprinkler adventures.

Summer has also been all about the produce! Our first full summer at the new house with all the garden has to offer, has been a busy one. I'm learning a lot about how I am not managing the maintenance as well as I could. But who has time to pull weeds when the food keeps dropping into our laps, literally! 

These gravenstein apples completely took me by surprised. They are falling from our tree about three weeks early. Maybe it's all the heat we have been having. This is about 25 pounds worth, and there's more. I'm grateful, believe me... but applesauce and dried apples and pie have made the top of the list over any stitchy shenanigans. 

What are you making?

Wordless Wednesday 12.12.12

Oh Hello!

Well hello you!
I do so hope that everyone had a lovely holiday weekend!
I have had a most refreshing and rather busy break, but I am back and full of big ideas. Spending time with family was so good, and so needed. There is quite a lot to tell and share with you, I will have to do so in snippets here and there. I do believe the best way to begin, is for me to tell one good thing at a time.

So, good thing #1: The Weather. You may not think that the weather is any sort of exciting news, but after so many dark days of rain trust me, the truly fantastic Spring weather we were granted over the weekend is very exciting indeed. I cannot imagine a better gift than a bit of sunshine. It has put a big smile on our faces and made for a frolicking good weekend!

Even my latest thrifty finds came in all sunshiney yellow!

And as a special bit of Spring happy, two new members of the flock came to stay. Meet Daisy and Chavez.

...and though these two have nothing to do with the weather, two fluffy baby chicks sure do make for a sunny feeling in one's heart.

The weather was so glorious that there were altogether 3 egg hunts to enjoy. Now that is one determined basket wielding girl!

I do believe that as I type this the sun is slipping behind some ominous clouds and the rain may be returning. No matter, I am simply grateful for the sun's visit and the time with my beautiful family.

I shall return soon with more good things to tell!

Sweet Mollie Chickens Can Fly!

A friend of mine gave me a little scolding this morning, saying I had been quite remiss in not mentioning my pages in Issue 5 of Mollie Makes. It is still available on the shelves in the USA, but not for too much longer!

I have a little wallet how-to in this juicy issue!

There is also a gorgeous looking bag I might have to make one or 5 of!

This issue can still be found at Barnes and Noble!

Thank you to the very sweet Mollie Makes Mag for all the love!

In completely unrelated news, we have discovered that some chickens can fly! Cookie is a flying Houdini that one is! She is worrying me and my neighbors to no end. Time for yet another trip to the hardware store to secure the perimeter!

Have a lovely day and watch out for flying chickens!

This is how it all starts

First, you build a hen house in your back yard. Not just any hen house mind you, but a fancy chook palace. Then you get yourself a few fuzzy little chicks that really are the sweetest and you make a great big fuss about it.

You name them, raise them, the chicks turn into 3 lovely lady chickens, and you fancy yourself a sort of glamorous yet earthy urban flock tender. You do your best mother hen taking good care of your feathered family; often whilst wearing a vintage apron, and you make a great big fuss about it.

When one of your chooks lays the very first egg, you do a little song and dance number, you take lots of photos, tell all your friends, and generally make a Great Big Fuss about it.

Inspired by your back yard farm, you whip up some happy chicken themed projects, you make slightly less of a fuss about it but you do show it off a little.

You know, I have often wondered how people with large collections of a particular animal say, got started on their collections. I once had a neighbor who's house was filled with pigs; piggy banks, piggy towels, piggy salt and pepper shakers, paintings of pigs, softie pigs, and so on. I never asked her how she came to own so many pig items. Did she set out with a passion for pigs, collecting every pig she came across? Or did the collection find her? Perhaps one day she mentioned to a friend that she thought pigs were cute, and that friend bought her a little porcelain pig for her birthday, then because she liked pigs and it was a present from a friend, she went on to make a great big fuss about it...then all her other friends thought, 'Ooh, I know what I'll get her for Christmas!' and it just grew from there.

I do see how that could happen; it does appear that a few friends and family members have noted my making a Great Big Fuss over chickens and have thought to themselves, 'Ooh, that Lola really likes those chooks!' So, over the last couple of years a wee flock of vintage chickens have arrived at the little green cottage.

It is a sweet little collection, just manageable without seeming like too much an obsession. But before it gets out of hand, maybe, just maybe I should start making a Great Big Fuss over something else... like chocolate.
my favorite is the little vintage hen and chick bank from my mom

This, that, and a little bit of the other

Woke up this Saturday morning to find that the Engineer had hatched a plan to take Pony Girl fishing! So, with some quiet time on my hands, I made myself a large cup of delicious coffee and took a little tour of the garden. Just to see what I could see.

The lavenders are in full bloom with their heady scent luring the honey bees.

Peas! They were planted so late I wasn't sure but, here they are coming along nicely, sharing space with tiny spiders.

A riot of potatoes!

Introducing the newest member of the flock, Cookie! She's a Barred Rock pullet, very sweet. Unfortunately, our other 2 ladies have not been ladies at all, instead they have been quite rude to the new girl. It is to be expected, pecking order is very real. Still, each day they seem to grow a little more used to her presence and soon the novelty will wear off. I hope.

Well, I'm off to pull weeds, mow lawns, and maybe stop for cake.

Lovely weekend to you all.

So Long Good Buddy

Our ongoing battle with the neighborhood raccoons has sadly taken a casualty. Our dear little red hen Fran, is no longer with us. She was a lovely lady chicken, queen of the roost, our best egg layer, and she will be sorely missed.

a young Fran in 2009

So long good buddy.

Today I am

Sorting through beautiful ribbons in happy colors.

Collecting a pile of pitching rocks at the back door to defend our ladies from rascally (not the word I wanted to say) raccoons. Two of the critters got a hold of our dear Fran and nearly tore her to bits! Fortunately I was quick on the draw and ran them off. Poor dear, she has a rather bunged up wing but seems to be otherwise alright.

Savoring going through a 'Big Box of Happy' from my mother (who is famous for her big boxes of happy); full of things that belonged to my Nanan. I love the primitive granite ware and crockery.

Gorgeous tea towels and pill box!

Today I am so glad to have my family all together in the little green cottage, with the sun beginning to break through the clouds!

How about you?

Animal House

A tale of the little green cottage, a wounded sasquatch, butterflies, a broody hen, a leaping stag, and a wild pony.

Life has been a little wild around here lately. The Engineer had his first surgery late last week, all went well and he is beginning to have less pain and hopefully beginning the healing. He's already talking about bowling again, "Sasquatch" is his bowling name and no, he wont be bowling with his injured hand, his bowling arm is just fine. It may still be some time before he's 'pickin' the banjo again though.

This last week the cottage has been taken over by animals. We had some caterpillars, we watched them turn into chrysalids and then watched them turn into painted lady butterflies. What an amazing process to see up close! I highly recommend doing this if you have some small ones at your house. Pony girl loves bugs and she completely loved watching them change and then letting them go. I did too! We ordered our caterpillars online from here.


That sweet girl there is Tweet Tweet, she is the most docile of our ladies and tolerates Pony Girl's shenanigans with great aplomb. This week I noticed some changes in her and it finally became clear that we have a 'broody hen' in our midst. A 'broody hen' is a hen that wants to set on the eggs until they hatch. The hen's body temperature rises and she will stay on the nest constantly. If she has no eggs of her own, she will often set on other hen's eggs. Now, we have no rooster in the hen house so...Tweet Tweet is setting on the ever unhatchable clutch, even when no eggs are present, she will not leave the nesting box poor dear. This can be a dangerous situation, even fatal, for sometimes a hen will not even leave the nest for food or water or to relieve herself. So, out I go 5-6 times a day to get her out of the nest, put her on cool ground to hopefully lower her body temp, make sure she is eating and drinking. This has not yet broken her broody and we may have to resort to moving her to a well ventilated cage away from the nest and her two gal pals.

Ah, the majesty of the leaping stag with the cuteness of a sweet fawn! I thought I would also share this wee dress that started the whole blue and orange business. This little number has been waiting around and chastising me all week for not finishing it. As I was making it up, I fell for the orange and blue combo big time! I'm hoping that the Fraulein and I will be spending some quality stitching time together this weekend and this dress will be leaping into my little shop.

No menagerie would be complete without a wild pony. Spring has her sprung with a herds worth of energy. Her enthusiasm unbridled, she jumps for joy and I can hardly keep up.

May you jump for joy this weekend and go wild!

First

Yesterday was a day of "Firsts" 'round here. Very exciting stuff I tell you.
After waiting, and waiting, the ladies finally delivered. We found our first egg in the hen house!!!

This made for quite a lot of excitement, more than may seem reasonable to some still, we hopped around and exclaimed joyfully, even did a little jig.

It was also the night little Miss Ringlet had her very first sleepover! Oh my she is getting so very grown up.


...and if that wasn't enough...
I got to play music and sing on stage for the first time in almost a year. My dear friend Little Sue, invited me to sing at a benefit with a whole mess of incredibly talented musicians.

Photo of Little Sue

I had such a good time! Made even better by being able to sing along with The Engineer on banjo and his cousin on cello. We enjoyed so much wonderful music and company, it was a hoot!

Quite a day to be sure...and a very late night for me. I stayed up way past my bedtime and woke before the morning light so, tired I am. I am off to make that 2nd cup of coffee now. I shall return on Monday much rested and with a tale of a lark.

Wonderful weekend sweets!

Something Fishy

I had not intended to take a short break but, sometimes life gets busy with livin' and you just gotta roll. So, while I was busy with the livin', days flew by and it's already Monday for goodness sakes!

We reached a milestone in our family this weekend. A while ago the wee one pleaded, begged, wailed, cajoled, promised and pleased herself into a regular frenzy. She was on a mission, she had a fish wish of a most desperate kind. After striking a clever bargain, we agreed that she may have a fish of her very own. Her first, "just all mine" pet.

While I had visions of a sweet little bowl with colored marbles and one wee fish swimming lazily in circles, not taking up but a speck of space, we instead ended up with a full blown aquarium set up and two extra fish (one for each of us you know). The Bearded One made a good call on this; I can see that now, the fish will be much happier and healthier.


Let me introduce you to Goldie, Igor, and Django

Happy Monday to you all and I will be back tomorrow with some crafty business.

Give Away Winner & Operation Chicken Coop

Thank you all for joining in the fun. The winner of little bear is Carrie from Whole Cloth Designs. I will be sending you an email today. For those of you who so sweetly worried about my girl missing out on the bear, do not fret, my girl's soft toy collection runneth over, a lot!
I am planning to have another give away soon so, stay tuned!

Now, in other news...
This weekend was glorious. The sun shined triumphantly and I soaked up as much vitamin D as I could to carry me through whatever weather lies ahead. We were abuzz with activity. Lettuce and Chard and potatoes oh my, all planted snug in their beds. The big buzz though,was the setting into motion of Operation Chicken Coop! Yes, it's official, we are on our way to becoming the neighborhood chicken folk. We can have up to three hens within the city limits. No roosters allowed (I am perfectly fine with that as I have had my share of rooster show downs ala spaghetti western style, but that is another story entirely).

Most of our time and labor was spent hacking away at the behemoth laurel hedge to make room for our feathered friends. On Saturday we had a couple of helpers and still only managed to take out a third of said behemoth.

Bessie was called into service to haul nearly 500 lbs of shrubbery to the city compost. That was less than half of the pile! The rest will be fed into a rented wood chipper dontcha know, next weekend.

Cutting away the hedge has revealed a few things. A much bedraggled Camellia bush/tree struggling for light, a much bigger back yard and an ugly cement wall belonging to the building behind our house. Eventually the rest of the hedge will be removed and my aesthetic sensibilities will need to be appeased in another project, but for now it just looks awful.


During this makeover it was discovered that my girl is indeed part monkey.

Here is the super handy Mr. Nova at work on the coop. See the little monkey in a tutu in the tree?

She took a little break from the climbing to do a bit of booty shakin' to Led Zepplin.

Looks as though it's becoming a right proper little house for our tiny flock. All that's left is walls, windows, nesting boxes, a caged run, a fenced run and...whew! And boy are my arms tired.

P.S. Thanks to all our helpers, Mr. Nova for being so handy and dandy, Mr. Sun for shining on us and to all of you for inspiring me.