Inbetween the raindrops

I kind of love that it's been raining the last couple days.  Watering the garden is not a chore I love, and I have yet to put a system in place that doesn't involve me dragging a hose around the yard for a couple hours.





The Winter and Spring rains give our garden a great start.  It feels very nearly self-sufficient up until July and August roll around and the plants starts gasping for refreshment.  The last few weeks we've lucked out and had a steady cycle of sunny days punctuated with rain.  Right now the yard looks full, robust, perhaps even overgrown.  At this point in the year, I feel I have far too much Lady's Mantle, but I dread the bare spots that result when it's removed.







Sadly, the deer have also made their way through.  Looking around you can see signs of their trespassing... the fig, the grape, blackberry, vine maples, strawberries, geum, dogwood, and hosta have all suffered.  But over the years I've learned a thing or two about what the deer will and won't eat.  Many of these resistant plants thrive in our garden, fill in wide swaths, and very nearly take care of themselves, (Lady's Mantle, iris and crocosmia, foxglove, euphorbias, a little silver leafed spreader, these pink (and purple) spiky guys, lamb's ear, catmint, grasses, lavenders and sage of all varieties.)

This year I decided to pretty much not bother with a vegetable plot.  It's just too darn risky with the deer.  Jeff did put in our 4'x8' bed of potatoes that I know they won't touch.  And the other day a friend shared some kale starts with us, and I couldn't resist the thought of a bounty of cucumbers and red peppers, so a few seedlings were bought knowing the risk.  The kale and peppers were planted amongst other things the deer avoid, so hopefully they won't get noticed.  The cukes are rather exposed, but we'll just have to wait and see if they make it.  Fingers crossed!







Against the never-ending list of never-ending projects (so so sadly true, and yes, we are those people), today, I'm rather more interested in enjoying my garden rather than expecting to be fed from it.  Happily, the raspberries have come on full force.  I did nothing to wrangle their spread this past year, so they are everywhere and bountiful.  We picked a pint plus in a matter of minutes inbetween the raindrops this afternoon.  The eggs are always beautiful, and at this time of year we are not lacking.  And finally, a gift of lavender discovered on the doorstep upon our return from the morning's outing.  Sweet sweet neighbors, thank you.

Other gardens and farms will feed us this year.  This Spring we paid in advance for our veggies from the farmstand down the street, not a CSA but a special neighbor's credit arrangement that I am loving.  And I'm not going to stress about the deer or the slugs or really, even, the watering.  I think it'll all be okay.  We've found a pretty happy balance here on our little plot of ground, and this year, maybe, I'll just get to enjoy it.

Made to trade

These came in the mail yesterday.

Jillian's postcard set, "Eggs: From The Hen To The Breakfast Table", seemed made to trade with my "Feather and the Egg" print set.

Her images actually tell a story, the life of an egg from hen to breakfast table, while my set simply reflects my love and admiration for our little flock.  There were just too many parallels.  We had to swap.

Do you know Jillian, aka The Noisy Plume?  She's making a beautiful life in Idaho with her man and her critters, pouring her heart into her handmade jewelry and soaking up the wild.  Man, does  she have a way with words.



Keeping chickens brings people together.  It's a beautiful thing.

We've got over 3 dozen eggs in the fridge right now.  Ah, Spring.  When it rains it pours!

I hear the coop tour is coming up again.  That was fun.  Seems ages ago.  I'm happy to see our coop - and most of our jazzy ladies - are still standing strong.

For the eggs

Just to get it out of the way... no, this is not about chicken eggs (or the lack thereof.) Our girls are back to laying their (near) daily eggs much to our pleasure. There are currenly 21 fresh eggs in the fridge. Borrow from us anytime!

This post is about the handmade treats we're putting in our Easter eggs this year. The annual hunt is approaching, and I just love an opportunity to do a little handmade for the masses. Last year I did some mini chalkboard necklaces, the year before there were painted wood pins, and before that some ribbon streamers on wood rings like these. I really do love coming up with the ideas, making them en masse, stuffing all those silly plastic eggs, and then watching the kids on their mad hunt and the ensuing cracking open of the found eggs to discover all the surprises inside. This year a lot more people are doing handmade treats, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what shows up.

It didn't seem, with all the art supplies around here, that the crayons were being used at all. So, I decided we'd try our hand at making multi-colored chunky crayons. I wanted them to be in Spring/Easter shapes, but was stumped by the plastic candy molds that wouldn't hold up to the oven-time required for melting the wax. I was happy with my solution.

After a torturous hunt with the boys through multiple craft stores for small Easter-shaped cookie cutters, I finally landed on a set of minis with some good shapes, an egg, a chick, a bunny, a couple flowers. Okay, good.

Then we peeled the wrappers off all those crayons, and took a break to watch that awesome Mr. Rogers video that shows how crayons are made.

I dumped all the peeled crayons on a parchment-lined, 1/4 sized, rimmed baking sheet and put it in a 250F oven for 15-20 minutes following the directions here. Actually, I probably left them in there for a good 10-15 minutes more to try to get more of them melted. From what I've read, Crayolas are the best for this, and I probably had some schwag crayons in the collection that messed with the timing/temp. Just keep an eye on it.

When you have a good, thorough melt, take it out carefully and let it cool/harden for a half hour or so. Then it's time to cut out your shapes. See, I had tried melting the crayons into a cookie cutter sitting on a lined pan, melting them into a cookie cutter with the bottom wrapped with foil, and melting them into one with a rock resting on top to hold the bottom down flush with the pan. None of these ideas worked all that well. They were messy. The wax leaked. Just a pain.

So, I decided to create a 1 inch thick sheet of melted crayon and then use cookie cutters and an iron to "hot knife" my way through the wax. I set 7 cutters close together on the wax, rested the iron (on high) on the tops of the cutters, and let it sit there under slight pressure as the iron heated up the metal and slowly cut through the crayon. It worked really well! The shapes were precise. The new crayons slid out of the cookie cutters quite easily. And we're left with a lot of random crayon monster shapes to keep with our art supplies. I think I'll be using crayons a lot more now that we have these.

And in honor of two great friends, Bear and Gatina, who passed away very recently, I did this drawing to test out the new product. Love how the line changes color oh so unpredictably!

Wow. I've never been finished with a product like this so far ahead of the deadline. This is weird. Well, I couldn't wait 'til Easter to share, so there you go. Thank you Easter Bunny! Bawk! Bawk!

Waking

It's taking a bit of time to wake this blog (and many I read) from its long winter's nap.



Besides a small gathering on New Year's Eve, and a sizable one here on New Year's Day, I seem to be entering 2012 at a perfectly slow pace.



I'm surprised to find it's only now January 6th... the 12th day of Christmas. I think the tree and other decorations about the house will come down tomorrow. I like to honor that time after Christmas, letting the days draw on, trying to notice the little minutes of light added to each day.





Our girls are still not laying. I really don't mind giving them this break as it's part of their natural cycle. It's just been really clear this year. They're 2 years old and can't be relied upon for a daily egg. We haven't wanted to force them into laying with lights in their coop, but eggs are a big part of our diet. After a couple weeks of buying terribly unsatisfying eggs from the grocery store, even the co-op's were sub-par, we have turned to friends with flocks to feed our egg habit.







Just a couple blocks from home, some friends have started an egg business. They got their girls this spring, so the eggs are abundant even in this winter light. (I remember those days!) It costs a bit more, but I love the process... the walk, the possible social call, the trust involved with the fridge and envelope for your money in the shed. Oh, and the eggs, as fresh as if they came from your own chicken.



I know our girls will start laying again one of these days. And when they do it will feel like spring has sprung!

Simple

Simple, open days. They're as good as we make them.







I find the openness daunting a lot of the time. Breathe. One step at a time.







It's always wonderful when the clouds burn off and we can be in the sun.



I needed to know that at the end of today there would be pie.



The dance party that ensued when Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes came on was an added bonus.

Feathers, feathers, feathers

And not an egg in sight.



The Fall molt is in full force around here.



I bought eggs yesterday. Haven't had to do that for a year.

The feather and the egg

Check out my shop update with this new print set!



The Feather and the Egg is a set of 5 art photography prints inspired by my love for the small feathered flock we care for.





Each card is printed with my original photograph on the front. The backside is blank. There are 5 different photos. A set contains 1 of each design. They come packaged together in a glassine bag.







The prints measure 4.25"x6". (You can send them as postcards if you wish.) Professionally printed on 16pt cover stock with a matte finish, they are nice and sturdy.



Please pop over to my shop and take a look.

The new girls

Better late than never. Gotta introduce the new girls. There's 3 of them. That'll make a total of 8 hens once you account for the 2 boys from the original 9, (who are, we hope, helping make more baby chicks on a farm north of here,) and the sad loss of Sarah and Diana to coons back one winter's night.

We brought these girls home as day-olds (or thereabouts,) but I didn't get around to their portraits until recently.

There was debate over whether we should continue the "ladies of jazz" theme with their names. In the end, there's a nod to jazz - and one of the original girls who was really a boy - but otherwise we just used what came to mind. Calder was much more involved this time around.




Robot (barred rock)




Toshiko Barns (americana with a last name) (Toshiko Akioshi is a fabulous jazz pianist. We couldn't let her name escape our flock with the departure of the original Toshiko.)




Frank (rhode island red)

With the exception of Helen and Ella, our two buff orpingtons, we continue to keep a rainbow flock with a "one of each" aesthetic. This has influenced our ability to view them as pets rather than livestock. Not only are we just inclined to do that anyway, but when they all look different it's easy to tell them apart, call them by name, and develop our relationships with them as individuals. Did I really just type that?

While they are not yet integrated into the primary flock, they have already moved outside the kitchen. Much better timing than the first girls who were in the kitchen with us for almost 2 months. (I guess it's understandable when your mom/granmother/m.i.l. gets run over by an SUV. Geez!)

These three will likely keep their distance from the big ladies for a few more months. From what I've read, they need a good 4 months or so before they're big enough to hold their own in the pecking order.