7 months, Baby, Black Copper Maran, chicks, Cream Legbar, garden, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, peach tree, permaculture., sick, vikings, warehouse 13

Mini Farm update

After I posted on Monday I started feeling icky and on Wednesday morning I got the stomach bug that the boys had had. It wasn’t pretty. My husband took the day off and took care of my children only bringing Alex up to nurse (yeah I was loosing liquids but still had to feed my giant baby). I spent the day in bed. Ached all over. Not doing well at all but for some reason not able to sleep. When I gave up on laying with my eyes closed feeling like poo I would turn the TV on for a few episodes of Vikings and Warehouse 13 and then turn them off for a while and just lay there trying to sleep even though sleep did not come. But after all of this I woke up yesterday feeling renewed. I felt grateful and happy and ready to take on my day. Here are some of the images from my beautiful day yesterday.

Alex turned 7 months old yesterday. Weighing in at 29lbs and 30inches!

Magni enjoying a snack of veggie straws on the back porch.

Odinn playing with the baby chicks Sassy and Chipmunk while they had their first day outside.

Sassy the Black Copper Maran 2 and a half week old chick.

Chipmunk the 2 and a half week old Cream Legbar chick

My Peach tree that didn’t make it through the winter.

Tomatoes, Kale, Lettuce, Broccoli, and Collard Greens.

My first harvest of the season. 1.7 oz of asparagus that I added to the veggie soup I made last night.

I spent the day just catching up on chores and enjoying my boys’ time. Making mental notes of the things that need to be done around the mini farm in the back yard like digging up the dead peach tree. I don’t know what killed it but it only gave us one crop of fruit and that was last year and the animals ate them all before we could get to it so we never even enjoyed it. Sad to wait so many years for a tree to mature only to have not enjoyed it much at all.

The baby chickens have hit the punk rock stage of loosing their fluff and getting in feathers. It will be an interesting experience to introduce them to the big girls since I have never done such a thing but my sister in law gave me some good advice and we will see how it goes.

Now I sit at home and my poor husband has the stomach bug. I feel for him but I hope he feels as renewed as I did after it is over.

I plan on weighing everything I get in from the garden this year so far I’m at 1.7 oz. from the Asparagus and I plan on harvesting it into the early summer. That is the joy of permaculture. I was hoping the peach tree would be another easy harvest but alas no. I planted a grape plant and hope that in the summers to come we will get some grapes from it and we have the cherry bushes that have just finished their bloom.

If you are interested in learning more about permaculture (the art of keeping plants that come again and again to feed you) then you might be interested in this book.

Backyard Farming, chickens, chicks, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Strawberries, veggie

Chicks got Names and Garden Update

The chicks have gotten names. Meet the girls Buff, Owl and Mathilda. Starting to think Dinner is a boy so that is why his name is dinner for now.

And here is my honest try to start the season off right

I just planted the strawberry containers. Ordered from Amazon 25 Evie Everbearing Strawberry Plants and got WAY more from the seller than 25. Planted 18 plants in those 2 red planters and another 4 in another and there is at least that many more still left to plant. They are also all live and sprouting, unlike so many packages I have gotten from my local hardware store.

Also got Backyard Farming on an Acre (More or Less) in the mail today to review. Can’t wait to dig into it and tell you what I think. Hope I learn something new. From what I’ve seen by looking through it quickly it is pack full of useful, specific information on plants and breeds of birds. Tell you more about it soon.

being in the moment, chickens, chicks, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Right now, weight, wine, yoga

::right now::

Borrowing this being in the moment from Amanda at Soule Mama. Join me and link to your blog in the comments thread.

Right now I am………………….

Silly bird stay in your brooder

My brave boy!

:: glad that when we took our 3 year old to get his blood drawn to check on iron levels, heart issues and other things that I was able to mentally prepare him well enough so that he didn’t freak out. I told him that we needed to see what color his blood was. If it was red then he was human but if it was green then he was an alien. Thankfully it was red and it was time to celebrate.

:: relaxing after having taken the 3 boys out for pizza with my husband because that is what Magni chose after having his blood drawn.

:: thankful for having a pediatrician that listens and is thorough.

:: feeling the tension in my shoulders that I am sure will not go away until I get the results from the blood test.

:: listening to my baby chicks chirp from the kitchen and glad that I got medication for their bacterial infection because now they don’t smell as bad and hopefully Buff (the blond one) will bounce back and start putting on some weight.

:: finding it funny that while I was sitting and watching the birds earlier the Australorp (the black one) was staring at me and suddenly the name Mathilda popped into my mind. So now that is her name. Mathilda. I like it. Would have never thought I would own any animal by that name but I believe that is what she wants to be called. Starting to think that even though she will just be black that she might become my favorite.

:: hurting after a cycling class I took last night. Not my muscles but my bum is bruised after the saddle. Ended up having to quit before the class was over because the saddle just hurt too much.

:: looking forward to tomorrow morning’s yoga class. Wondering which teacher I will get this time.

:: deciding that I need to start running in the evenings after dinner now that the time is changing and we will have daylight longer.

:: disappointed after my dear husband got batteries to put in our scale and found out that I had put on 3 pounds in the last 3 months. Sigh…. You would think that supporting such a big boy on breast milk alone would be making me smaller. I guess I will have to do this the good old fashioned way. Stop eating like a pig and move my rear.

:: staring at the amount of laundry that needs to be done. Ug.

:: thinking about poring myself a nice glass of wine, watching a show and knitting for an hour.

:: wishing you a beautiful weekend full of adventure and people you love.

Ameraucana, Australorp, Backyard, Buff Orpington, chicken tractor, chickens, chicks

Chicks are Here!

I did it! I actually did it! I got chicks. We are now proud to introduce you to the newest additions to our family the feathery 4! No names yet. Need some help on that point. We have 2 Amereacanas (the brown ones that will lay some cool looking greenish blue eggs), one Buff Orpington (the blond one) and an Australorp (the black one). All four are 3 weeks old but boy are the Amereacanas big! Thought the Buff and the Australorp  would be the heavyweights but the Amereacanas are so much heavier.

Finding that I will have to change out their bedding twice a day while they are inside. They are stinky! Thankfully my husband is almost done with the chicken tractor and I will be able to take them outside as soon as they finish this ugly stage of shedding their baby feathers and getting their big girl feathers.

Welcome chickies! Now what to name you? Any ideas form you dear readers?

Ameraucana, Australorp, box, brooder, chick, chicken, chicks, Cube, egg, Eglu, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Orpington, Tulsa

Got Chickens on the Brain

Yep, I have got chickens on the brain bad! Yesterday I drove all over Tulsa County trying to find the chickens I wanted for my backyard coop (that we have yet to build). I want colorful eggs and good birds. I chose an Ameraucana, a Buff Orpington, and Australorp. I also want some Icelandic hens and will be hatching some out later this spring. I found a farm here that has all 3 breeds for me and a breeder of Icelandics sending me some eggs from Washington. I´m so excited! So then I have green or blue eggs, brown eggs and white eggs!


Yesterday we set up a brooder box for the chicks and now we sit and wait. I’m using a cardboard box until I have organized my deep bins in the basement and free one up to use for chicks.  Hubby is putting together my coop this weekend. Is it so odd to be so excited about feathery farm animals? The boys keep asking “Can we go get the chickens now?” I´ll be letting them decorate the outside of the box tomorrow.

I’ve read and researched and getting my chicks now against a wiser person’s advice of waiting til April (I do value this advice just to impulsive to go by it). Just getting a little start means I am just that much closer to having eggs, hopefully. Some of the birds I´m getting are even 3 weeks old already. Hope the stench in my house won’t get too bad if I change bedding every day until it is warm enough to put them outside.

Yay for being a step closer to being more self sufficient!

Is anyone else getting ready for spring? If so, how?

Here is the book I have been reading on the subject of chickens the last 2 days.

Free for Prime members


Dreaming of owning one of these Eglu Cubes.


And getting some of these for my kids to run around in the backyard in this spring.