Spring flowers

On April 8, 2020April 4, 2020 By CarynIn Flora, Garden

I no longer need to have spring flower envy for my neighbor’s beautiful bluebonnets, Indian paintbrush, and forsythia. We have our own flowers! And it really isn’t surprising that it is all the shade flowers: columbine and shamrock. Our property is very shaded. We have crossvine too, which does fine in shade, but better in sun. We do have some honeysuckle blooming, some speedwell, and a daisy that my youngest picked out two years ago that turns out to be a perennial. It will be interesting to see how the meadow does. I seeded bluebonnets, but we had only a couple flower this year. I didn’t reseed any other flowers, so we are looking to see what reseeded itself. The columbines in the front bed have done a great job of reseeding, and may manage to take over the whole bed eventually, which would be awesome.

Laminated feather book marks

On April 7, 2020April 6, 2020 By CarynIn Craft

What to do with those feathers that the kids collect outside? Or in this case, the feathers that my eldest decided to keep because our inside cat managed to snag some off a bird from INSIDE her catio. Rather a badge of honor, that. How about laminating them and making a book mark? Any potential pathogens are sealed in, and frankly, we can never have too many book marks. I think this one came out nice; the small feathers arranged and cut out to be part of a larger feather shape. The natural caught in the unnatural. I placed the feathers between the two layers of plastic, gently fed it through the laminator, then cut out the shape. I have a hot laminator, but I think this method would work with cold lamination, or even clear sticky tape.

We also did this with the feathers from our chicken’s first molt.

Going on a bear hunt

On April 6, 2020 By CarynIn Craft

I’ve seen great posts about people putting out bears, so kids walking the neighborhood can go on a bear hunt while social distancing. What a neat idea! We have some scrap corrugated metal, so I thought I would try a cut out bear (that would stand up to the elements).

First, this stuff is sharp. If you do try this, wear gloves. Thick ones. Preferably leather. I used metal shears to cut the shape and made the bear as big as possible to make cutting easier. After I cut, I hand sanded the edges and removed as many sharp bits as I could. This is definitely something better seen than touched! I painted the back with black spray paint, but I kind of liked the look of the shiny wavy metal, so left the other side as is.

Although my family all identified the shape as a bear, I feel it looks a little bear/hog cross. Maybe the kids in the neighborhood can go on a guess-the-creature hunt.

Happy Homecoming!

On April 5, 2020April 4, 2020 By CarynIn chickens

One year ago today I brought home our Faverolle chicks! I bought three extra because many people told me that a few would die. All 12 are still alive a year later. Navi still has a pendulous crop, but seems no worse the wear for it, and as they get older and bigger they are prone to bumble foot. They still aren’t full grown; Faverolles grow slower than commercial breeds and should be at their adult weight at 18 months. We are getting an average of six eggs a day, which we do a good job getting through, and occasionally have some extra to give to neighbors. So really, my chicken math was OK!

The other five, plus one photo bomber that had to be in both pictures

The coop size has been great, but the runs are on the small side for 12 hens. They clear out the grass in one day when I open a new run. But keeping them in chicken Fort Knox has become even more important. Someone in our town lost 22 chickens to two-legged predators. After hearing that, I changed the locks from raccoon resistant to human resistant. I also set up both cameras to be able to record for playback. The chickens don’t know and don’t care, as long as I come out and give them mealworms!

Spot the cat

On April 4, 2020 By CarynIn Cats, Coop

Little stinker. I put up the sunscreens and Sophie thought she can wiggle into the coop like she did last year (she can walk on the fabric, but not the wire). She forgot that I used 2x4s to block her entrance. So she’ll settle for looking over the edge like a gargoyle.