Cute, Eh?

I found the little egg in one of the nests the other day, and yeah, I had to save it. It's almost as though a small bird flew in and left it - very diminutive, and therefore cute. The middle egg is of average size; about what the ladies give us every day/every other day.

We've had a few of what I call "rocket' eggs, really large ones, even larger than the one shown. Too large for six-month old pullets, methinks.

Still, the range is interesting.

Rainy day, inside, about to bake more of this:

I baked it a couple of days ago, and it's gone already. I think I may make an herbal loaf (rosemary, or something). Haven't decided yet.

Festive Friday

Well, the gang had quite the little treat today!
I hard-boiled some of their eggs (older and cracked ones) -
Made up a pot of oatmeal -
Crushed the eggs (with shells) into the cooked oatmeal -
Opened a can of pumpkin near the expiration date, added two big glops -
Added some crushed red pepper flakes, turmeric and garlic (good for gastrointestinal chicken workings). Whew! Good thing chickens can't smell.

Took it outside. They came running immediately.
Added some of their layer mash and scratch seeds to the mess. It looked sort of like...alien egg salad. But a weirder color.

By this time, they were all waiting outside the tack room. Some were peeking in through the cat access door. Impatiently. Tapping their little chicken toes on the concrete.

Emerged with the bowl in my arms, and proceeded to spoon out the gunk into their flat Tupperware dishes. Old ones, you know, that we don't use anymore.

THEY WENT WILD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone had some, and some more, and YAY! PARTY! And some more. YAY! (again)...peck, peck, peck...chickens waddling everywhere with egg/oatmeal/whatever all over their beaks, faces - oh, the joy of just snarfing something extra yummy on a Friday afternoon! And then to doze in the sun!

Later, I came back out to take some photos of some lazy pasture-ranging as the day wore on:

Stonewall and one of the girls relaxing on the cart:

Buddy patrolling the front of the barn:

In other news, a clandestine friendship has apparently sprung up between an evidently lonely bachelor pheasant and several of our ladies. I caught them together on the loft side of the hill (again) this afternoon:

He had spotted me by the time I took the picture and retreated to the left side of the rain barrel. He is gorgeous, very vividly colored, so who knows - maybe the ladies think him an odd but companionable sort of fellow, a rooster! maybe, then again...maybe not, but hey, whatever, plenty of room to hang out, so yeah...let's!

Happy Friday!
Happy Spring!

The Newbie

Isn't he a beauty? Allow me to introduce Buddy, our new Plymouth Barred Rock cockerel. He was dropped off by persons unknown at my neighbor's house a few evenings ago, poor fellow. My neighbor brought him to us to determine if he might be a good fit for the flock, and, since we had been considering acquiring a youngish roo (one that wouldn't challenge our alpha male), we took him in. Stonewall, our adult rooster, is teetering upon the brink of exhaustion in his zeal to keep up with twenty-four ladies who seemingly have minds of their own. A junior cadet might be just the ticket...as long as he keeps to his rank, that is.

He spent a couple of nights sequestered in a cage, away from the others, and DH let him out today after the others had had a chance to inspect him (he really should have been quarantined for 30 days, but DH made the call). Stonewall immediately stepped between the interloper and his girls, dropped a wing, circled and pushed him to the edge of the group, assisted by a couple of indignant ladies who flew at Buddy for good measure. Buddy wandered away, cooperative, if a bit lost.

This went on for the greater part of the afternoon. The two males did not fight, and I was frankly (and quite pleasantly) surprised, but Stonewall did keep a sharp eye on the newcomer, broke up spats, prevented any romantic, er, interludes from taking place (not that the ladies were entertaining overtures), and generally kept order in the yard. Impressive achievements for a creature almost universally disdained as stupid. (Chickens aren't stupid, by the way. They are charming. And very good at being exactly what they were created to be.)

Buddy exploring his surroundings:

He had cautiously re-approached the far orbit of the flock by evening and, upon finding that he was, by then, huffily tolerated by most of the ladies and the celestial ego object Stonewall himself, he happily pecked around the coop before retiring for the night.

Changes, Soon

Although I have been working on drawings, paintings, gourds, the set of old doors and other projects (I may score yet again today in the "old stuff" category (maybe, we'll see, and if I do, I'll post those photos), I probably won't be posting here about art much anymore. Soon all existing art posts (and images/information on anything new that I have been working on) will be migrating to a Wordpress blog, and this blog will be devoted to farm/homestead life. It's too random this way, for one thing, and it's also difficult to post photos to this blog, for another. I don't know if it's a blogger issue, a Mac issue or an ISP issue, but it is annoying to have to spend 15 minutes or better to post a single image. I hope WP is a little more user-friendly, to drag a term out of mothballs. If I find the process works better and saves time, the farm/homestead blog will migrate there as well.

I figure it probably doesn't make a lot of sense to add posts here that I'll just have to cut and paste to a new blog in the next few weeks, so sorry for that. I hope that those of you who are interested in in farming/homesteading will continue to visit me here - or there, however it ultimately works out - and those of you who like art and art-making will visit the new blog when it's up. It's been great to see the many countries around the world listed daily in my stats. I appreciate every interaction.

Is it too cliche to write that I hope your day brings you joy?

A Very Busy Day

Our neighbor came over this afternoon to load our beautifully composted cow/chicken poo into his manure spreader, the contents of which were then shot over the area to be plowed under in a couple of weeks for the soon-to-be garden space. We are so grateful for neighbors who are willing to take the time to lend a hand, and we try to reciprocate in kind. We were also glad that Andy was able to return home with a bucket of compost for his wife's planter box.

Speaking of compost, this is some good stuff:

And seeds started in it simply burst into life (here comes the eggplant!):

Poo is a actually a blessing, when it isn't siphoned off into great lagoons and mixed with toxic sludge and chemicals/pharmaceuticals that make it unusable, hazardous to human health and offensive to anyone who may catch a whiff downwind of it.

Allowed to compost with hay, straw and other organic materials, it breaks down into nutrient-rich, black soil that may then be tilled back into the earth to amend it for crops that sustain both human beings and animals. This process also provides the animals an important role to play as team members; they help to close the nutrient cycle.

Paul, a very dear friend who has been a tremendous blessing over the last several months, installed an additional two new sets of motion lights around the barn today, working well into the evening. The barn looks amazing.

We also cleaned stalls, tidied the chicken coop, fed and watered every animal that calls our home their home, DH and Paul helped Andy load and unload a piano, and we entertained (after a fashion) some dear friends from church this evening. They were so gracious to allow us some extra time to finish up outside before we hurried in, washed up, made a pot of coffee and arranged dessert on a tray to be enjoyed in front of the fireplace.

I am beyond exhausted, tonight we move the clocks forward an hour (losing a bit of sleep), but we had a fantastic day.

ETA: Happy girls on pasture (or wherever they choose to range. Sometimes it's on/under straw):

Natural Beauty

These eggs, given by a Buff Orpington, a Red Star and a Black Australorp, all of whom are pastured chickens, had only moments before been snuggled in a clean nest of sweet fresh straw and pine shavings. I gathered them yesterday to make this meal, so simple and nutrient-dense, for myself and a friend:

Eggs poached in diced tomatoes with Herbs de Provence on toasted bread rubbed with garlic, sprinkled with a little grated cheese.

So simple, and yet so good.

Morning

The view this morning:

Winter is sensing that she is needed elsewhere, and bends to gather her long white cape about her to betake herself to other lands; the geese are beginning their long flight back to northern climes and baby animals will soon be instructed in the art of survival by their mamas. Spring, and the promise of new life is nearly here, repeating a cycle as old as the earth itself.

The light is changing again, and seems to flood all living creatures - and even inanimate objects - with a hale and hearty anticipation of good things to come. (Hope.) It seems alive, this Light. It is certainly a joyful thing to awake in it, to watch as it dances through the windows in the morning hours of a never-before-day.

Despite the challenges we have faced (and continue to face), I know I am tremendously blessed to be able to live this way - to have been entrusted with the care and stewardship of this spot of earth and the animals who flourish upon it, to be able to walk into the barn every morning and hear the welcoming nickers of our horses. My raucous (and often demanding) ladies make me smile as they crowd around me at feeding time, hoping for treats, as do the barn cats, who leap and run ahead of me each morning as I bring their food to the tack room. These moments may seem insignificant to others, and that's okay. I receive them as gifts from a loving and bountiful Creator.

I'm grateful. For my life, exactly as it is, and for every obstacle and trial that has sculpted my soul; for my family, friends, home (yes, even with everything that we have had to contend with), but most of all, I am grateful for my Savior and Lord, who loves me greatly, and teaches me daily to love him, love others and trust in his goodness.

New Life

Look at these little beauties! I started several kinds of broccoli, cauliflower and eggplant on February 26 in the deep, dark, rich soil from the compost heap to which my chickens have been making regular "contributions" since last September - and already these tender little shoots are growing up to turn their faces to the sun. The seeds from whence they have sprouted are so tiny - but all that is needed for them to flourish and thrive (and reproduce after their kind) is contained in that wee package.

Sowing. An act as old as humankind. No wonder it stirs something in our blood.

The fig tree has really taken off. (See my pet spider in the window? OK, she's not really a pet. She's a web-sitter and has managed to make a very good living in a high window where no one, except for me, is really aware of her presence. I sometimes sit and watch her as she quietly goes about the business of being a spider - fascinating in itself. She doesn't bother anyone.)

I'll start my tomatoes this afternoon. I'm sure by the time all the vegetables that need an indoor start are sown, every shelf and windowsill will hold a flat or two. Maybe next year I'll have devised a more systematic approach to getting the garden underway, but this seems to be working for now.

Besides, I may put the seeds into the ground, but it is God who blesses them to cause them to grow, and who gives the increase in this as in every endeavor of life.