attempting the undones…

Upon returning home from my week away, attending {the most amazing} The Creative Connection event, my eyes wander to all of the undones in my life.  Last month felt like a whirlwind of life and now I can settle my mind and heart a little and just take it all in and yet keep going at the same time.

…one of the undones being, this fun little chandelier that was forced out of my chicken house because one of my Rhode Island Reds insisted on roosting on it every night…her little head tucked high near the ceiling of the coop.  silly girl!  I truly did not want to disturb her because she found that to be her comfy spot each night but her eliminations were landing right in the waterer…therefore causing unnecessary contaminations!

solution: remove the chandelier until I can come up with a better idea

This morning it just sits there as one of the undones that I now need to attempt to do!

It shall be a happy, happy Monday as I hope your Monday will be too!

p.s. I also find myself singing this happy Cinderella tune…

I’m in the middle of a muddle
In the middle of a muddle I am
I wanna have fun, I wanna have fun
But the work is piling high

I wish I were twins, I wish I were twins…

all of the lyrics are super cute {and somewhat meaningful}! 

life on my little {growing} hobby farm…

It’s been such a busy couple of weeks here.  When I was getting ready for my booth at the Farm Chicks show I had to let everything else slide a bit so I could put all of my time and attention into that.  That’s just how it goes and I know that.

I had 10 new chicks {layers} that had to be integrated in with the old chickens.  They had been penned off inside the chicken house for two weeks so they could all get used to each other.  On Monday morning after the show I let them loose.  When I went out a little later, all of the old chickens had pushed their way under the fence and were out in my strawberry patch.   I don’t know how a chicken’s mind {do they have a mind} works but I found it quite funny.

Since that morning, the chickens have all stayed in but have been very bossy with the new chicks.  Slowly they are letting the little ones come outside.

There has definitely been a lot of drama in the hen house!

During this time we have also butchered 27 chickens with the help of my brother and sis-in-law.  That might not be a popular thought with every reader but since we do eat meat in this house it seemed to be a perfect fit with our desire for a sustainable, healthy, farm-to-table way of living.

This was our first time for this and the process was surprisingly smooth and easy.  I wouldn’t want to do it every day but am more than willing to do it again and again.

This sweet pair were in my booth at the sale and because a friend gave them to me for that purpose {saying he didn’t want them back} I am now in a dilemma as to how to make them a part of the flock.  Because of the wee~one, it will take a bit longer.  Right now they get the whole garden to themselves.  They stick pretty close to this horseradish plant but as soon as my strawberries start ripening I’m sure that they will not be welcomed in here any more.

We had a separate little pen for the chickens that are now in the freezer and although a bear cub found it’s way into it for a bit yesterday, it’s nice and big and I think that this hen and her chick will enjoy spending the rest of the summer in there.

So…as our little hobby farm seems to be expanding, it seemed only natural to bring home a couple of goats {in the back of my car}.

I was able to jump right in to milking one {oh, my aching hands} with the intention that the little one will some day also be a milk goat.

They are SO SWEET and lovable and so good with my nieces and although I haven’t let the dog in with them yet, he is very anxious and I think that they will get along fine

When I’m in the pen this little one is always right at my side.

♥ BellaRose & DaisyMae ♥

This does change my life…I told my friend this morning that I can go anywhere I want as long as I’m back in 12 hours!  🙂  I have wanted a milk cow for a very long time.  I didn’t envision milk goats but it really is a perfect fit.  I’ve made yogurt, ice cream and ricotta cheese.  It’s all very tasty…no different that cow’s milk…I promise!

Farm Chicks 2011

Hi Friends!

I’m here to share my own [somewhat limited] Farm Chick Experience.

it’s limited because i’m very attached to my booth…literally…although, i was very blessed to have my sister join me for the fun this year [thx. sis]

It truly was a great sale…better than ever!

♥loved the junk!

♥loved the people!

♥loved the sales!

I brought a little live chicken display that made it all the more fun! They are silkies…a ‘mom’ and her baby chick {farmchicks}. They were so, very CUTE!

I didn’t get a great picture of the full effect but they were contained w/in a rusty-wired skirt attached to a wire dress form.

…my favorite part?…the little cuties that would gather ’round!

I’m already looking forward to next year’s Farm Chick fun!

chickens in the basket…

So many of the people in my life know that I am always a good source for getting rid of some of the ‘junk’ they have lying around.

I could spend a lot of time evaluating that and just what it might say about ME, but I won’t!…not today anyway!  After all, I have the greatest junking weekend of the year coming up…this weekend!!!   The Farm Chicks Sale   {hooray! hooray!}

My son recently said, “I have an old bike out back, do you want it???”   …”sure!”

…and such a cute bike it was ~ I saw lots of potential there!

Let me just insert another ‘love’ here…Jennifer Paganelli’s “Sis Boom” fabric.  From the moment I saw a write-up in Country Living magazine, many years ago, on her new line ‘Girlfriends‘, I have been a fan.  I’ve had a little stash here {from quilthome.com} that I have envisioned sewing into something grand but slipped a bit of it away to use on this vintage bicycle re-do.

All I can say is, “Too Much Stinkin’ Fun” ~

I loved every minute of wrapping this bike up in such fun, beautiful fabrics.  I think that I smiled the whole time!  🙂  I called my brother and asked if he could come ‘up’ and take some pictures…he did!

Baby Chicks…

I picked up 40 baby chicks last week.

Oh, My…Are they ever cute.

Any time I get chicks I like to keep them in the house as long as I can just so I can keep an eye on them.

There were just too many of these little critters to keep them in for more than a few days.  

I love listening to their little chirping noises…

So does Tripp…he just wants for them to come out and ‘play’!

Winter, it’s probably time….

…to say “Good~bye”!

My poor chickens have been locked up since mid-November.  Although their ‘yard’ is still covered in several inches of condensed snow and ice I decided yesterday that they had to be let out.

They stuck pretty close to their house where they could find a wee bit of bare ground but they were happy.

…see my little naked-neck, Penelope?…she’s so sweet!

This is our garden…still sleeping under the heavy blanket of winter…

…and our sweet little orchard with raspberries along the end…

There were a few rocks from our raised beds peaking out…

but, we’ll still be waiting a while for anything good to come from this ground

Now is the time to get our seeds ordered and the garden planned out…pretty soon I can even get some of those seeds started inside the house.  I won’t let myself think of spring yet though…we’ve had some fresh snow just about every day for the past couple of weeks…it’s too early to dream of spring.  {soon though…soon}

Mr. Cash still likes the snow…

Sweet Treats for Eggs:~

I neglected to show pictures from the day we decorated our gingerbread houses.

I was frustrated with how all of my pictures turned out and life just kept moving at such a quick pace…I felt like as the days progressed I was just ‘keeping up’   …{barely}!

So, what to do with the The House of Gingerbread after Christmas?

Give it to the chickens, of course!

We have so much snow that they have just been ‘cooped up’ for weeks.

They may not make it outside again until spring with the way this winter is going…

They haven’t seemed to mind too much and they are still giving me a few eggs a day so I’ll share some of my sweet treats with them.

home~tweet~home

My long weekend to the big city was full of grandness.  I loved every minute.

Coming home always brings excitement too.

How fun it was to find a baby chick when I got home yesterday.  My first chick that we’ve hatched-out here.  I’m really not sure what to do with it but I am hoping it will be a her.  Do to the advice of a {motherly} friend, for now I’m letting it hang out with it’s surrogate mom.

Oh, the freshness!

This hasn’t been a good garden year for me but the things that I do have are appreciated all the more!

Raspberries are a faithful contributor.  We started picking last week and they’ll keep going for a while.

They are so perfect…

so fresh…

so tasty!!!

When I’m in the garden I’m surrounded by friends.

Beauregard and his girls love to talk to me and my dog, Cash, comes and picks alongside me.  But, as with any 3-yr-old, his pickings go right in his mouth.

Chick madness!

Amber gave a great little ‘shout out’ for the up and coming Art Retreat!

Every day I am getting more and more excited for this.  I would love to have YOU jump in too!

Check it out!!!

I’ve also been trying to work my way to my sewing machine.

It’s been a task but yesterday I finally got there and was able to make two aprons.

Both of them are so fun and different in their own way.

This one has 4 different white layers going on.  It is truly sweet and beautiful.

With this apron I put to use the beautiful, vintage feed sacks that I wrote about in this post.

It seemed appropriate to start this new push on apron making by using one of these bags because my first show for the season will be the Farm Chicks Show in Spokane Washington.

I think about my next season of shows nearly every day and it can make me a little crazy!