kirstencan

Chicken Coop

In the nick of time, we finished the chicken's new home.  Those chicks grew SO fast!  The coop is tucked away behind the playhouse.

We all helped build Aaron's design.  I rather like it.  Canvas is up for shade until the fruit trees grow a bit more.

It was a fun evening when we transferred the chickens to their new coop!

The perch is made from a branch of the cherry tree that burned.

We kept them in the coop for a couple of days, and then let them out into their run.  Chicken-watching got SO much more interesting!

They LOVE dandelion greens, and have enjoyed leftover cabbage and watermelon as well.

The Redhead LOVES these chickens.  He "checks" them all the time, and usually is found sticking more dandelion greens through the wires.

Remember our cute fuzzy favorite?  She looks ... different now.

Our yard has gotten more popular as the neighbor kids come to visit.

I find watching them weirdly and surprisingly relaxing. 

But they still rather remind me of dinosaurs...

Peeps

To say that I'm 'not an animal person' is an understatement.  I like WATCHING animals, but I don't ever want to touch or smell them*.  I definitely don't want them in my house.

So you'll never believe what's in my house right now:

But let's back up, shall we?  To when we went to the farm store and they shoved chicks into two paper bags and I was carrying a squirmy bag around the store.

Yeah, that happened.

Some were already a couple weeks old (we think).  Some were still super fluffy. We got Rhode Island Reds, Buff Orpingtons, and Americaunas.

First we had them in a clear box.  Much more fun to watch.

We quickly moved them to a bigger box, though (cardboard to prevent roosting on the feeder!).

Guess what?  Chicks dig tunes.  They noticeably calm down or go to sleep when the kids play piano.  Also they seem to like Arcade Fire.

My favorite (the tiniest/fluffiest with cool eye-markings) has quickly become everyone's favorite.  Also she's the smartest.

She better be a she...

The kids LOVE watching them (they can be pretty funny), and the redhead has sketched them all, learned the breeds, and checked out a couple books from the library. We've never had pets, so they are all LOVING having animals of any kind.  Me? I'm putting on a brave fake-smile.

I HAVE held a chick.  Not for too terribly long, but I did it (I AM trying, but this is REALLY hard for me!).

Boring, they are definitely not.  And they sound like songbirds with all their chirping. 

Sorry, ladies, you are getting booted to the garage this weekend while we wait for you to grow enough for your new coop.

We have been looking at getting chickens for years but stuff (including home disasters) kept coming up.  We are grateful our city allows us to have them. 

We have had a couple books about them (for years!) that are great if you are interested:

And here are the books we found at the library:

We finally did it.

Deep breath.

I can't wait for fresh eggs!

 

*no lie - I have to hold my breath in the pet aisle of the store or I gag.

Peach Blossoms

In the morning:

This baby peach tree has the most awesome hot pink blossoms.  The mature peach tree behind it is the typical soft pink.

Afternoon:

We are very grateful for these blossoms (especially since we lost mature fruit trees in the fire, and the ones we've planted since aren't producing yet).

Seedlings are out, we get home from activities when it's LIGHT OUT (!) and evening walks around the garden making plans seem just right.

Spring.  Love it. 

Pears

We have a pear tree.  Technically we have two, but one doesn't produce anymore (fire).  Only two of us like pears (sadly, I'm not one of those two), and most years we end up wasting some of the fruit. 

So rather than just painting them, I decided to try drying them.  We have a dehydrator that we've barely used.

I cut the pears into a bowl of water + lime juice.

I dried two trays to try it out.  But guess what, the girl liked them (Mikey likes it!) and even said they tasted like candy.  And we had more pears, so...

We ran the dehydrator back on the porch so we didn't have to hear the fan all the time.

(Four trays)

I don't like dried fruit, but I have to admit, these are good! 

I ended up drying 10 trays total.  I figure I could fit about 3 pears per tray (I got better at squeezing them in), so that's 30 pears preserved!  And way easier than canning.  Those 30 pears fit into two of these (3 cup?) pyrex containers and are in the freezer to last an extra long time.

Mostly I just got excited that I found a fruit the girl WANTS to eat!

notstagram #nose

The kids thought it was hilarious that this tomato grew a nose.

I agree.

Peaches!

These made an excellent peach crisp dessert, served warm with ice cream!

notstagram #scraps

In the right lighting, even compost scraps look pretty.

I'm afraid this might be our last batch of homemade salsa this year.  That is truly sad.

notstagram #sunflowers

Also good when not so sunny:

How does your garden grow?

I was looking for a photo of my niece in the treehouse when she came for Monkey's baptism.

And I was shocked how much our garden has grown.  I mean, I KNOW it has, but sometimes it's cool to flashback.

So that wasy May.  My dad and brother are up there with the kiddos (my mom even got up in her dress - my parents are amazing).

This is July:

Nuts, right?  Sunflowers to the left, hollyhocks, raspberries, and Black-eyed susans to the right.


Can't forget the grapes.

Our garden is crazy and overgrown - but in the evenings it's magical and I love it.

Hollyhocks

This post is for my mother in law!  She loves hollyhocks, but isn't here while they are blooming.

The first to pop up and bloom were these pale yellow ones.  They are tall - well over 8 feet.  Last year after the fire we were finding hollyhocks popping up all over, in random places (also tomatillos).  Aaron had planted some seeds, but not where they were coming up and they were supposed to be a variety of colors but they were all yellow.  So we thought that was all we would get this year, too.

It's hard to get a good shot to show how tall they are - here's one I took about a month ago - so they're much taller now (they're in front of the treehouse).

Except along with the yellow, there is a blush/peach one with pompom center.  Gorgeous.

The other big one (8ft?) started blooming pink!  Super pale pink with a purply center.  Yay, not yellow!

Then we got several of these darker pinks blooming, one right next to the lighter pink - great contrast.

This warm (ballet) pink is my FAVE.  And we almost took it out since it's in a weird spot.

And then just recently:  pale pink, yellow, darker pink, and plain white (and yellow).  We're not even watering this area.  I don't know what the deal is with hollyhocks, but they pop up everywhere.

The other one in the back started blooming - red?  Crazy stuff.



We planted a few more this year - and they're tiny, they'll probably bloom next year I'm guessing.  So who knew we'd have a rainbow this year?