From Just a Dream To Raising Chickens

We have finally got our chickens!! Last fall I was discussing with a fellow mom at Jared's school about how we wanted to start our homestead by raising chickens once Daniel was back to work. I told her I didn't feel we could afford it at that time, so she held on to 4 of her 20 chickens for me. Well, she stuck to her word because just this last Saturday we went and picked the girls up. Thanks, Katie.

We wanted to be as frugal as possible, so I went to the library and grabbed several references on chickens. Self-Education = $0

Then, Daniel picked up some old fencing from his mom's house. We also had some boards laying around. Lumber = $0

Chicken wire, hardware cloth, and screws and nails were all things we had laying around sorta speak, as well. Other Needed Building Materials = $0

Wheels were taken from a rolling gardener seat that was not being utilized. Wheels That Turn the Coop Into a Chicken Tractor = $0

Chickens = $0

Hay, Feeder, Waterer, and a 50 Lb Bag of Pellets = $30

$30 Total (Not including gas)? Not too bad.

Chicken tractor in the making....

 

Here, we have it parked in the garden to get it tilled (from scratching) and fertilized (nitrogen-rich poop...Yummy). They love to roam!!

Daniel still has to complete the roofing. But, for now, it is sufficient. We plan on making a larger run and expanding the coop as we expand our flock in the future. 

This is Goldie. She is our Araucana. She is special because she is the only one of our 4 that gives us light green eggs.

Rhody and Brownie (aka Brown Head, according to Jared), are our Rhode Island Reds. They are the friendliest of the 3 breeds, I have noticed. Rocky, our Plymouth Rock, is behind them.

Dust baths. They love it!

Here is a better shot of Rocky.

 Goldie wedged her way in Brownie's dust bath hole. Heeheehee...

They really are quite amusing to watch and have very distinct personalities. 

And in the first 3 days, this is what the girls gave us. :) 

Chickens are awesome!! We totally want more now, but we will take it day by day.

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~ Autumnal Equinox ~

Celebrating the Autumnal Equinox is super fun. I love the smell of approaching rain, the kite-worthy afternoons, the occasional gray skies, the cooling air, the harvest, the food possibilities, and most of all, the colors. It has taken me nearly a week now to share with you a glimpse of our celebration, but here it is.

 The boys and I sang some Autumn related songs at circle time and did a brief Autumn meditation to welcome the changing of the season and to renew ourselves, for the equinox is a time of new beginnings.

I was going to have Jared do this project, but it was more tedious than I had originally thought, so I decided to make these Autumn leaf spirits, inspired by the Magic Onion. I cut out leaves from wool felt, sewed on wooden beads with thread, glued wool roving for hair and acorn hats for fairy caps, and when dry, I hung them up with wool yarn.

Dylan and Jared painted some wet on wet watercolors, exploring the varying shades created when using red and yellow. Dylan's painting became the leaves for Jared's thankful tree below.

With my help, Dylan was able to gather and design this Autumn mobile above the boys' nature table.

And here is the nature table, set up by Jared who wanted to ensure a degree of symmetry. The corn on the table is Red Murieta corn from our garden. And below the table is a book basket, also inspired by the Magic Onions. We gathered our favorite fall time stories and placed them in this basket. Included are:

Autumn   by Gerda Muller

Woody, Hazel, and Little Pip   by Elsa Beskow

Around the Year   by Elsa Beskow

Christopher's Harvest Time   by Elsa Beskow

Thunder Cake   by Patricia Polacco

Mother Earth and Her Children   by Sibylle Von Olfers

In the Woods   by Cristini and Puricelli

Oh What A Thanksgiving   by Steven Kroll

The Ghost-Eye Tree   by Martin and Archambault

The Changing Seasons   Grange Books

Homemade play dough play is a necessity in autumn colors, of course.

Jared was working on his calendar. He was focusing on festivals primarily at the end of September through the beginning of December.

Jared's Thankful Tree. He painted the sky with red and yellow, and the earth with blue and yellow, then placed all the finished leaves of thankfulness in their place on the branches. He said he didn't want any of the thankful leaves to have fallen to the ground, hence their sole placement in the tree. My favorite are the little leaves that symbolize our values. He did a fantastic job!

Carrots from the garden! Oh, I love the harvest!

Corn! We yielded corn!!!! I am so trying again next year, even though they aren't that large, I still cannot believe we were actually able to harvest corn from our backyard!

And, surely, we had to bake some harvest bread with sunflower and poppy seeds. We love baking bread around here. :)

So, how was your transition into the harvest season? .......or the spring season, for those of you in the southern hemisphere. Did you let it pass you by without notice, or have you looked around and noticed subtle changes? Enjoy the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of the season. Have a fantastic Autumn!!

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Around the Garden

The garden has been a surprise to us lately. I have never seen carrots nor squash.. nor even corn flourish this well here, especially with the late start of the season and, of course, lack of full sun. It feels like a little jungle when we are among the beautiful plants. I was a little discouraged to begin with, but we are very excited now.

Our assorted cucumbers are doing pretty darn good. I tried to capture this little polinator, but he was too quick to capture a clear photograph.

Our carrot tops are thick and tall!

Our wax beans and green beans were delicious with dinner tonight.

We have a few selections of squash: golden zuchinni, crookneck, and butternut. I have already harvested a good-sized golden zuchinni. It was delish!

 

Dill: flavorful and gorgeous!

Corn..... the stalks are as tall as me, and some are taller! We are actually getting some corn, too!!!

A little harvesting this evening.....

Ahhh, the fruits of our labor.... or rather, the veggies of our labor.

It really did pay off, despite our skepticism to begin with.

Gleeful gardening and happy harvesting!

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Around the Garden

It seems I haven't posted the progress of the garden in a while, and despite Farmama's absence from her blog in these busy Summer months, I will still show you the slow progress of a shady garden. Our corn is cute, but doesn't promise to produce any crops for harvesting. Squash is coming along, as are beans and pumpkins. Beets and tomatoes are slow-going, but the carrots seem to thrive pretty well. I am sure that once we own a proper piece of property for gardening and farming, I will be more organized and thus worried about timing and perfect soil preparation and....... For now, we do what we can with what we have.

Another week has rolled by in Summer. Make the most of it. Enjoy.

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