stinging nettle fast cure, Unicorn farts, first night fuss,

Do not...I repeat....DO NOT pick the pretty yellow flowers on the side of the house.  They BITE!  You would think after all this time in western WA, that I would know what  indigenous  stinging nettles look like.  But ...no..... My  dumb ass.... thought they would look pretty on the kitchen table.  Fortunately great Granny's   cure worked pretty fast.  1. Wash area with apple cider vinegar.  2. Make a paste of baking soda and apply to affected area... let dry completely.   It takes about 1/2  hour for the cure to work... but you really do need that half hour to contemplate your own stupidity and to plan how not to be  THAT grossly retarded again! 
I thank who ever was looking out for me yesterday that I had already   taken out the integration pen the new girls were in and had set up the big coop  for its new occupants.   Jimmy and I were prepared for the after-dark chicken hunt  that always seems to happen  the first night  new girls go in with the old girls.  Last night the surprise was on us.  All the chicks went in together and settled in and the old girls kept  looking in the coop and  backing away.  When  Jimmy and I came out to assist in the tucking in... the old girls looked at us like  "really?  You are making us sleep with 7 kids?... awwww gyod ....its gonna be a long night!".  It took some convincing but by dusk everyone was in bed with minimal fuss.
And now for the great news. Jimmy and a friend finally got the  mower/tractor  put back together and running.  Its been in pieces all over the driveway for  over a month.  Jimmy's friend convinced him to work on it  one more time.  Jimmy of course told his friend  that his head was full of  fairy wings, rainbows  and  unicorn farts, if he thought the thing would ever run again.   Two hours later  I heard it fire up ...gave it a few minutes to see if it would keep running.... and went outside to congratulate the boys.  The most delightful sound in the world?  Unicorn Farts!  An hour later our 1 acre looked like people live here.  All smooth and pretty! We just might be able to do this!

RIP Hash, killing a monster, $10,000 tea towels,

Yeah, I know.... no updates for a month.  Two reasons. The first... I really messed up something during the move and  have not been able to type. Its just now  beginning to get better.  Second... I almost gave up on the whole  chicken/micro farming thing when hash was killed  a month ago.  That broke my heart.  Seriously .... how do you get so attached to one tiny creature? It didn't help that it was a brutal death.  I completely   penned  the chickens in, top and bottom, so nothing could get in or out.  what I didn't know was that death lived in the tree inside the pen. So, I essentially locked them in with a monster.  It was my fault.  But the monster is dead by my own hand. 
Jimmy had to keep talking to get me to  the point where I would consider getting the new birds we had already planned on.   I'm glad he did.  Last Friday I picked up 7 pullets: 5 rhode island reds and two barred rocks.  They should all start laying in late July.   They are cute..... but I'm NOT getting attached.  Food ...NOT pets.   The murder did bring home the fact that we need a dog...... A classic farm dog.  A working animal. 
On the gardening end.  We have one bed in and planted.  Jimmy is still terracing the  future  kitchen garden.  Its been long slow work.  First we had to clear an area the size of most peoples back yards  from 10 years of blackberry overgrowth.  Because its on a hill  with a live waterway running under some of it, we have to do some erosion mitigation.   I wanted to just  throw down some boxes , put some dirt in them in get going  with the planting but,  Jimmy decided we need the Versailles  gardens.   So,  after much  discussion, which contained a great deal of  "you don't get it" snorting on both sides, I decided to  take myself out of the equation.  The last time he said :what do you think?" I said  "It will look very nice when you are done.  Call me when it is ready for planting. Oh ... and don't forget to put in an extra  large box for potatoes.".  I get it.  This is his  investment in the  lifestyle.  But I am always amazed at his ability to take something simple and turn it into an engineering feat.  Don't believe me?  When I  told him I was going to go to ross and pick up   all cotton tea towels for a grand total of $6.99.... an hour later, I still didn't have tea towels but he had a $10,000 kitchen remodel all planned out on paper.  How did he get there?  There's no convenient  place in the kitchen for a towel rack.  To put in a towel rack  he has to tear out  a wall... and then he has to ........... I  waited 2 days  for him to forget about  the exorbitant cost of tea towels, bought them without telling him, used them, washed and put them in the cabinet space  designated  for kitchen towels and waited for it...... two weeks later  it came.   A little spill on the floor:  He opens the towel cabinet, pulls out one of the towels  from the pile and says  ..." See... we have plenty of towels, there is no reason to buy new ones." .  I'm not gonna tell him and neither are you!