We’ve officially hit summer around here. With the recent rain and finally a few days of warm temperatures, things are really taking off. Here’s a look around our farm as June comes to an end.
Definitely not fuzzy peeps anymore.
(They don’t call them leghorns for nothin’!)
Oh my.
And this big girl proudly tied her first bow today (on top of her tent). Everything….just growing like weeds (including the weeds!). Hope you have a most lovely week.
Again. No need to say more.
They have arrived and now have constant companions.
Earth Day. Every Day.
Happy Easter. Happy Monday. Happy Spring. Again.
It’s been a big week around here. First of all the three hennies (as they are affectionately known) moved into their new digs. Check it out ladies!
My what fancy digs. Aren’t they such a vast improvement over the old ramshackle chicken tractor? Four (4!) nest boxes, two perches, a plate glass window! Hennies? Oh it seems the hennies are not so impressed. You see with their new chicken coop came a fence and these free ranging ladies are being asked to stay put (just until the gardens have had chance to mature some…promise ladies). They don’t much fancy that. Why stay in a fenced area (despite the luxurious accommodations) when there are acres to roam, horse manure to dig, flower gardens to scratch and a patio to poop on? Really. So hennies play Houdini all day long and Andy and I patch holes in the fence and try to figure out just where they have squeezed through now.
Of course the very serious (must wear two pairs of pajamas and water shoes) youngest girl guarding the door probably doesn’t help. If we let her I think she’d sleep with the chickens (as long as they don’t get too close!).
Luckily she can’t help herself and falls asleep (mostly) in her bed. Guarding chickens is sure hard work.
Oh, and the other big happening this week? Elsa switched from saying “I-wah”, her very cute year-long pronunciation of Iris, to “Iris”. One day, first thing in the morning. Just like that.
Tonight the windows are open and the evening chorus of frog-song drifts in. Tomorrow we’ll chase chickens back into their pen, clean up the maple sap buckets, and likely play barefoot in the sand. Spring is really here. Wishing you a wonderful week.
Has it only been one week since I last downloaded photos from my camera? Goodness, this was a busy week. So 65 photos later, here are the highlights (don’t worry, not all 65!)
The work on the “solid” chicken coop begins. We’ve loved the chicken tractor, but with talk of baby peeps, we need to shore this operation up!
Iris in the saddle
A trip to Ames, IA to visit friends. Sweet kids, good conversation, and bunnies!
“You will eat this carrot”
And on the way home a stop at The Old Tool Shed in De Soto, WI for a little thrifting- Papa-style. This place is filled from top to bottom with lovely old hand tools. More than you can imagine, some that you can’t. Andy was in heaven, and came home with a few new-old tools to help finish… that chicken coop?
For you local folks, this place is really worth a stop. Plan to spend a little time, but call ahead the hours are a little goofy.
Wishing you all a happy week ahead.
And a shout-out to the teachers at LaValle (Andy really enjoyed his time with you all today). With all the crazy politics our thoughts and good wishes are with you–we’re writing our representatives!
Yesterday a good winter storm blew in. Although it foiled our plans to take Iris to the Nutcracker, we settled in for some holiday baking and crafting and all was well. This morning we woke to a winter wonderland with drifts piled high. The kids couldn’t wait to get out so we all bundled up for morning chores.
Digging out the chickens!
No morning is complete without a bit of mouse hunting, of course.
Fresh hay and grain for all.
Tonight the soup is on, the fire is warm and all is snug. Hope you enjoying your winter nest too!
Last week our neighbors cut, raked and baled hay on our land. It was pretty exciting. Lots of big tractor action around here. (That’s Barry on the little tractor doing square bales, I didn’t get a photo of Jody on the BIG tractor doing big round bales). Iris was totally into being a farm kid and cheered each time she saw the tractor kick out a hay bale (that’s my girl). She did, however, refuse a ride from Jody on the BIG tractor. I don’t blame her, they are both a little intimidating. Barry puts his cattle on our pasture in the summer, so we traded his labor doing our hay for a cut in his pasture rent. What a deal!
Andy and Iris put the bales up in our new (still unfinished-but making progress) barn. Hay, we have a hay mow! (I’m all over the bad puns lately, I’ll try to lay off…speaking of which)
I keep forgetting to report that we’ve boosted our flock. Yes, three ladies, Rhode Island Red’s to be exact, now live with our two Barred Rock. Oh, and those Barred Rock, which are supposed to be such great layers appear to be a bit confused. They have begun to grow long rooster-like tail feathers, fight with one another and seem to be practicing distinct rooster crowing. Ahem. (thanks, dad) Good thing we have some friends looking for a rooster or two!
All the chickens, including the roosters are quite tame and when the dogs are in the house, the chickens love to come out and follow us around as we do our gardening jobs. This day they helped pull out all the new pea seeds as soon as they went in the ground. (Garlic harvest too!)
This adventure just gets better by the day! Hope you are having fun on yours.
P.S. Several days after writing the last post I woke up in the middle of the night (this is how my mind works) with the revelation that I had used the wrong spelling for currant (it’s since been corrected). Thanks to those of you who noticed but were polite enough not to point it out. But, don’t do it again =)
And here they are. Two Barred Rock chickens, now on our farm (can we officially call it a farm now?), to add to the brood of children, dogs and horses. It wasn’t entirely intentional. Yes, we’ve been talking about chickens for some time now, and then my dear old dad thought it would be cute (and it kind of was) to buy Andy two chickens for Father’s Day.
We went to Dad’s yesterday for a cookout and found two chickens scratching around his fenced in dog yard (he lives in town). He was well prepared, having gotten a small cage, chicken waterer and a 50# bag of feed. He knew we wouldn’t be able to leave them. So, later that evening, off we went in the Subaru with the chickens. At one point in the drive we were treated to the screams of two over-tired kids with the soft contented clucking of chickens in the background.
First order of business this morning: the chicken tractor
Helping papa build the chicken tractor.
Of course, they’ll need a ladder to get up to their roosting box.
5:30 PM. Finally the tractor is done. The moment we’ve been waiting for: the chicken release. Iris: “Can the chickens go in yet, can the chickens go in yet, can the chickens go in yet?”….
Note the little wheels on the back so we can pull it around the yard, orchard or garden. Dogs can’t get in, chickens can’t get out. Everything chickens need, grass, bugs, roosting box is all there. Pretty sweet.
Someone can’t take her eyes off her new friends.
Ah. Home sweet home.
possuminthecompost.wordpress.com 
