I've been thinking about this blog for about a week now. Its been such a crazy busy summer with lots of visitors, a vacation and some work in between. I almost posted 4 days ago but then I cut my index finger doing something stupid. I took the band-aid off this morning so I could type and now my finger is sticking to the keyboard. Such has been my world for the last 3 months.
I'm going to start this with an update from the long ago last blog. The pullets are no longer pullets. They are full grown layers now and their eggs are very popular in the neighborhood. Mostly because they are cheaper than free range eggs in the stores and fresher as well. They are laying enough to supply our household needs and those of egg customers and some for the local foodbank. Our community building experiment with the chicken feeder went well during the summer but it is definitely dropping off now that the light is going away and the kids have gone back to school. I'm on the fence about pulling it for the winter. Its kind of a pain to lug it up and down the hill everyday and when we get a downpour its kind of messy (I need some sort of rain hat for it) but I don't want to disappoint the 4 people that come by every week like clockwork. And I don't want to have to retrain the chickens in the spring, to run to the fence. So I gotta think about this one for a bit. Jimmy says I started it and I need to keep going. Kenmore is in the middle of a lot of changes right now. Tons of development going on and to be perfectly honest the stuff they are doing downtown is oppressively over crowded and looks like Halloween colored, post WWII ,European reconstruction housing. Jimmy affectionately calls them " Tomorrows ghettos ... Today!". So, our community kinds of needs a gentle activity right now. That alone might keep me trudging out there twice a day even though it feels like a Sisyphean task.
Canning and winemaking got put on the back burner because of all the chaos around here. While the kids were here for three weeks the DIL and I did manage to get in a little jelly making and we spent an afternoon getting the dried herbs ground and into jars. The 4 year granddaughter was a delight. She was so excited to work 'on the farm' and participate in the grownup activities that she took every single task very seriously. She carefully spooned ground sage,thyme,rosemary and tarragon into jars. She fed the chickens every day and gathered eggs religiously. Together we made enough hawthorn tea to last the winter and we even did a couple of very simple sewing projects. She also fixed Charlotte. It took her a few days to get comfortable with the idea that she could pick up and carry a chicken (Charlotte is so TAME). Then I began to worry for Charlottes safety. The kid was relentless! After a few days of being targeted by a 4 year old, Charlotte began running from her on sight (unless she had food) running ,not limping. Just when I was going to intervene on Charlottes behalf I realized that our little crippled chicken was getting a form of PT that I never could have provided her with and that my coddling of her had done more harm than good. I decided to let their relationship continue to build with some judicious monitoring. The granddaughter left a few days ago and Charlotte has been missing her constant companion (and endless food source) And I miss her too.
We have new additions to the menagerie. While we were on vacation someone tiptoed into our yard, in the middle of the night, and put two coal black Cayuga ducklings into our chicken coop. The house sitter LOVED that one. Jimmy named them 'The Tweedles' We introduced them to the pond outback and they have happily integrated. Two days ago they filled my heart with joy. They were up by the house ,in the garden area, slurping up one giant slug after another. Once again my Grandmother was right. She said 'ducks or geese will solve your slug problem'.
I also need to say thankyou to a couple of generous neighbors who provided me with fresh tomatoes and cucumbers that they couldn't use. We got 13 jars of pickles and will have quite a bit of tomatoe sauce when I get them done. The freezer is full of fruit that needs to be turned into something delicious so I guess the next couple of weeks are already scheduled for me. I just hope I have enough jars!
I'm going to start this with an update from the long ago last blog. The pullets are no longer pullets. They are full grown layers now and their eggs are very popular in the neighborhood. Mostly because they are cheaper than free range eggs in the stores and fresher as well. They are laying enough to supply our household needs and those of egg customers and some for the local foodbank. Our community building experiment with the chicken feeder went well during the summer but it is definitely dropping off now that the light is going away and the kids have gone back to school. I'm on the fence about pulling it for the winter. Its kind of a pain to lug it up and down the hill everyday and when we get a downpour its kind of messy (I need some sort of rain hat for it) but I don't want to disappoint the 4 people that come by every week like clockwork. And I don't want to have to retrain the chickens in the spring, to run to the fence. So I gotta think about this one for a bit. Jimmy says I started it and I need to keep going. Kenmore is in the middle of a lot of changes right now. Tons of development going on and to be perfectly honest the stuff they are doing downtown is oppressively over crowded and looks like Halloween colored, post WWII ,European reconstruction housing. Jimmy affectionately calls them " Tomorrows ghettos ... Today!". So, our community kinds of needs a gentle activity right now. That alone might keep me trudging out there twice a day even though it feels like a Sisyphean task.
Canning and winemaking got put on the back burner because of all the chaos around here. While the kids were here for three weeks the DIL and I did manage to get in a little jelly making and we spent an afternoon getting the dried herbs ground and into jars. The 4 year granddaughter was a delight. She was so excited to work 'on the farm' and participate in the grownup activities that she took every single task very seriously. She carefully spooned ground sage,thyme,rosemary and tarragon into jars. She fed the chickens every day and gathered eggs religiously. Together we made enough hawthorn tea to last the winter and we even did a couple of very simple sewing projects. She also fixed Charlotte. It took her a few days to get comfortable with the idea that she could pick up and carry a chicken (Charlotte is so TAME). Then I began to worry for Charlottes safety. The kid was relentless! After a few days of being targeted by a 4 year old, Charlotte began running from her on sight (unless she had food) running ,not limping. Just when I was going to intervene on Charlottes behalf I realized that our little crippled chicken was getting a form of PT that I never could have provided her with and that my coddling of her had done more harm than good. I decided to let their relationship continue to build with some judicious monitoring. The granddaughter left a few days ago and Charlotte has been missing her constant companion (and endless food source) And I miss her too.
We have new additions to the menagerie. While we were on vacation someone tiptoed into our yard, in the middle of the night, and put two coal black Cayuga ducklings into our chicken coop. The house sitter LOVED that one. Jimmy named them 'The Tweedles' We introduced them to the pond outback and they have happily integrated. Two days ago they filled my heart with joy. They were up by the house ,in the garden area, slurping up one giant slug after another. Once again my Grandmother was right. She said 'ducks or geese will solve your slug problem'.
I also need to say thankyou to a couple of generous neighbors who provided me with fresh tomatoes and cucumbers that they couldn't use. We got 13 jars of pickles and will have quite a bit of tomatoe sauce when I get them done. The freezer is full of fruit that needs to be turned into something delicious so I guess the next couple of weeks are already scheduled for me. I just hope I have enough jars!
