Recycled Breeding Pen, Part Two...

After work yesterday, Wyatt and I got to work on the pens for hte d'Uccle pairs again.  Looks like they will be 3 feet wide, 5 feet deep and 5.5 feet tall, for each of the pairs.  We did a double roof, reinforcing the mesh Wyatt wanted for more breath-ability in the roof by doubling it and putting the wire support. (Take that- Mr. Owl!)  

We will use heavy gauge wire mesh for the windows, although Wyatt is wanting the shade cloth for the windows on one side so they have more shade in the morning.  He is worried about the Arizona sun in the earlier part of the day discoloring them.  (Light colored birds become brassy and cannot be shown under those circumstances in Arizona.  While we want a very natural life for them, we can mitigate the issues )  This may change if it turns out to be too much shade.  I will design the doors today, but won't put them on until we move it into position.  We had wanted to move it last night, but have to wait for Charlie to move his quad that is in the way!

Here is Wyatt, carrying the staple gun for the roofing.  I require the use of the safety glasses, but don't know what's up with him returning with a mask on!

Shadow climbed up in Charlie's lounge chair by the shed to "supervise" our building standards.  Wyatt she was filthy from playing in the dirt next to us by this point, but consistently supervised up all afternoon!

Well, we will share more photos as this progresses!  Have any of you tried to up-cycle spare parts from other projects into livestock spaces?  What has worked (or not worked) for you?  Please, share your photos and stories with us in the comment section!  We would be glad to have guest bloggers, or share your ideas for others working on similar projects, and if we have enough folks, we will hold a contest!  Hope you all have a great day!  

The Leprechauns Take the TCC

Many of you know that I have been struggling to feel caught up again, with issue after issue running me in circles, and trying to make a break from caffeine, all while returning to running again through the flare up of my hamstring injury and transitioning Bailey to homeschooling, and keep a straight face as my younger child begs to switch over to homeschooling. (We have mandated that if there is not a drastic reason, we are not making that kind of a change this late in the school year.)  It was that big a deal with Bailey, but Wyatt needs to finish the year out.

So on top of the crazy already present, the run up to county fair, and work and the little farm, I haven't felt on track.  I spent a whole week at Bailey's school trying to get through the transition, after four weeks trying to muscle through only half of the meetings.  Needless to say, I have A LOT to catch up on.  Still, that isn't slowing the growth of this years hatch, it doesn't stall the goings on in the incubator, or the spring planting, blogging, teaching, or the personal goals I set for myself this year.  Honestly, I sound like every other mama on the planet, right?

So this last week, I oopsed.  Not a little oops.  Not an unmanageable one, but an oops, none the less.  After turning their science fair projects in to the regional science fair they had advanced to, I looked at the website for the schedule.  Bailey had interviews the following day, Wyatt would not need to stand for interviews until next year.  They were feeling the need to work on school work and animals, so opted out of young innovators' night, and I read the site to say that we needed to pick up their posters Sunday morning between 8 and 12, or they would be recycled.  Wednesday night, I checked and learned that neither of them had advanced further in competition, and told the kids we could go by on Sunday to pick up the posters.  Wyatt is planning his to double over for county fair.  (The project is he same, and I am big on not wasting!)

So yesterday, Bailey and I drove almost right near there while running errands and heading to work out.  Last night, I saw an email that concerned me, so I rechecked the site.  OOPS. We were supposed to get them Saturday.  Uh. oh.

Then this morning, the three of us piled into the car on the way to town, and headed off early to hopefully see if there was any way to get them.

We found the convention hall deserted.  But there was an open door.  So we figured someone, security at least, was in there.

The three of us, dressed in green for the St Pat's Day, headed into the convention center.  The kids were whispering, and silly.  I was calling down corridors, looking for anyone who worked there.  We got to the windows above the hall where the fair had been set up, and still saw piles of boards.  So they weren't all gone- yet.  We knocked on office doors, went up and down stairs and quiet escalators, and looked for security.  There was a truck and a golf cart besides our car, so someone must be there, right?  We decided we were leprechauns on the loose in the convention center!

Just as we were beginning to wonder if we could find anyone, we saw someone.  We asked if he worked there, and he was clearly surprised that we were in there.  We told him about the open door (he called security) and we told him of our mistake.  He showed us down to the hall and let us look through the remaining piles.  Bailey found hers rather quickly.  The man mentioned that he had found hers quite interesting, having looked at it previously while they were set up.  Then just as I was thinking Wyatt's was already gone, I looked in one stack a second time, and saw the telltale camo he had covered his board in.  YAY!

So, all is well.  We printed out the photos Wyatt needed for his dog project poster, but didn't have to reprint the poultry ones.  I am off the hook for the oops, and we have our silly story of clandestine leprechaun operations.  And we know there are still very sweet folks out there, willing to be understanding and take a few extra minutes out of their day to help a couple kids and a mom.

Did you have any fun, GREEN adventures today???

You Might Be A Redneck...

As it was growing dark, and I was needing to take a break for the night, Wyatt giggled and told me that "You might be a redneck- if you can construct a chicken coop on demand for roosters growing up too fast from only extra materials you already had on hand..."

The story?  Wyatt had talked me into these two pairs of d'Uccles back in the fall.  There was already a Silkie roo in the pen, breeding with his hens, but we figured we had until around county fair time to separate them all to prevent any funny babies.  And in terms of prevention, we still have time.  But his little porcelain d'Uccle, the smallest at this point, has decided he wants to run the bantam pen.

Run the pen?  Not likely says the Silkie rooster.  So he took to deciding who was allowed into and out of the house and in what order in the evening.  Wyatt doesn't appreciate anyone pushing his hens around, so he picked up the little roo, then encourage the hens to resume their walk up the plank into their house the other night.  As the ladies seemed to be getting back on track on their own, he sat the roo down on the ground, and turned to check something in the house that I had asked him to.

No sooner did he peek into the door of the house, then little roo jumped on the back of his head.  (I had no idea that little one could fly so high!) While perfectly sweet one on one, this was just not going to work.  So yesterday we began measuring out what supplies we had, and when we returned home from town this morning, we got out the tools.

These little pens will remain small, around 3x5x5.5, which will be fine as there will be only one pair of bantam birds in each one.  Wyatt will be designing the roosting and box locations tomorrow while I am at work, then we will finish the pens and move them into place tomorrow afternoon.  For right now, this is how we left things where we were working out b the shed today:

I hope things go quickly tomorrow, because we also had a feeder project planned for the early evening, and we had already had to slide weighing his heritage broilers to tomorrow due to the wind!

Wow, he is keeping me busy!  We will catch you up tomorrow!

Surviving

As I was just moving things around outside, I found myself thinking that for all of the work and all of the ups and downs, I don't feel as though I am moving as far forward as I would like, but instead just surviving.  But then I thought, for all we have been through, is that really so bad?

Over the last few days, I have said to myself, over and over, "I will not borrow trouble."  I know that at my age, I should know better than this.  But as I learned that the bullies who doggedly pursued my child have, in several cases, been befriending the true friends my daughter has, just as they did before they isolated her in the last couple years before viciously tearing her down, I found myself having to say this, and remember that she does have true friends.  And she will need to learn to handle those people eventually.  I have her homeschooling now, so that she can at least focus on schoolwork without the constant bully garbage, but she does need to learn to stand up to people like that.  So, "I will not borrow trouble."  I do know that it only makes things worse!  Enough overprotective mama!

I had originally planned that I would take time to blog today about the power of those little moments in life, where you turn around and just say "wow."  Those moments of connection with nature's beauty are where my husband feels most spiritual, closer to God within his own heart.  But as I was looking through magazines for recipes to save so I could recycle the magazines, something reminded me of the need to count our blessings regularly.  This right after the thought about surviving, made me think I would take time for that in today's blog post.

Each evening at dinner, we say grace as a family, led by the children.  The simple prayer hasn't evolved as the children have aged, despite my suggestions.  So, after grace, we share around the table what we are thankful for on that day.  That simple act of counting our blessings, and rejoicing in those special to those we love, is so special to me, and I think it helps ground me, too.  Especially on the days that worrying- as much as I know not to- sneaks into my consciousness.

It is interesting, as we have heard the phrase, "from your lips to God's ears" that each little prayer of hope, thanksgiving, and self reflection is a small conversation that helps us become the person we want to be- and that we can be proud of.  Regardless of your personal beliefs, these simple acts are also scientifically proven to increase the level of joy in your life.

So if you, like me, find the need to remind yourself to let go of the worries and count hte blessings in your life- consider yourself blessed- and on the right track to more blessings.  Good really does breed good, right.  In our outlook as well.  And now we have science to back us up- yet again!

Have a great day, all!

Heaven is in the Eye of the Beholder

This may seem like a strange title- and to be quite honest- it is.  But read along, then tell me what you think.

I pulled over a couple weeks ago to take these photos along the side of the road on the way home from the farmers market in Marana, looking West as the sun set behind the mountains of the Tohono O'odham Reservation, casting the last glowing light of day across a farmer's fields.

Then this afternoon, I turned off of the highway coming from town to the farmer's market at the Marana Healthcare center where I can be found most Tuesday afternoons, I saw a large sign in a farmer's field near the highway.  At first, I saw the word heaven on the sign, and thought it must be referring to a conversion to organics, until I turned straight on the road and got a good look at the sign out of the corner of my eye.

Across the top, the sign said, "We're moving earth to bring you heaven."

And at the bottom: The shops at Tangerine.  Tangerine being the road that intersects the freeway there.  While I would love to see smaller, organic farms infilled with the communities they serve replace the large factory farms, I definitely DO NOT want more shopping malls at every highway off ramp.  Not that anyone asked me, but it makes me even more determined to move forward with the sustainable farming project!

Well, I hope we will all do our best to support our local small farmers and keep our food system more secure.  If you are growing and contributing to the local farmers market, we salute you, and hope you will continue to do so!  All the best to all of you, and here's to hoping those new shops will feature local goods at least!

Redneck Saturday Night...

Like so many of us, feed cups double as egg collection, since the kids seem to have an aversion to taking the egg baskets with them.  In this case, the feed cups piled up over the last couple days, and ended up stacked on the counter.  As I stacked them for Wyatt to take out, I said "Feed cup legos!"  Bailey corrected me- "No, Mama- Jenga!"

Seriously, if this is what as become of Saturday night at our house, we are either becoming truly redneck, or ready for the sequester to hit!

Pasture Raised Eggs

Did you know there is a significant difference between pasture-raised chicken eggs and eggs from the supermarket?

Eggs from chickens raised on pasture have:

• 4-6 times more vitamin D
• 1/3 less cholesterol
• 1/4 less saturated fat
• 2/3 more vitamin A
• 2 times more omega-3s
• 3 times more vitamin E
• 7 times more beta carotene

than typical supermarket eggs. 

 

(source: Mother Earth News)

Chickens with room to run around, forage and peck are healthier, and lay eggs with better nutrition.