I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's eve.
Since I'm still operating without a camera (more about that later), I was forced to dig through the archives to find something interesting to serve at this meeting. I came up with this:
It's one of those fruit bouquets and trust me, it's wonderful. Be sure to grab one of the chocolate covered strawberries.
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First on the agenda this morning is Henry.
Henry looking innocent. (Photo Source - The Life of a Farmer's Wife)
Henry is up to his old tricks and on a new adventure, involving guns and homemade bombs.
HENRY'S NEW ADVENTURE
Be sure to click on the link that takes you to his previous adventures.
If you remember, Henry is the sock monkey that started as a package of Rockford Red Heeled Socks, a giveaway after my field trip to the Sock Monkey museum exhibit in Rockford, Illinois.
Look, I don't blame Henry for grabbing a gun, Ninja stars, or whatever else he might use to battle the peacocks.
Have you ever tried to take a nap with peacocks in the area? 'Nuff said.
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Although we live in a rural area, and we're on two acres, we are not zoned to allow livestock. The farmland was 40 miles away and The Farmer was the General Manager and CFO for a large fresh herb operation until it was sold. I sure miss the flow of fresh herbs but we've moved on.
I'm not wanting beef cattle or anything but I'd love to have some chickens and some fresh eggs. My thoughts are running to civil disobedience and perhaps a chicken or two tucked in the back of the property. Currently, the house behind us is empty and I'm sure our neighbors to the west would love some fresh eggs.
At least one of my online friends has chickens in the yard. Some communities are far more progressive in this matter.
The other day I was web surfing and came up with a site that encourages backyard chicken husbandry and actually provides some cool products for that purpose.
The site is called Omlet UK. Check out the cool stuff including the chicken tractor.
OMLET UK BACKYARD CHICKEN COOPS
Photo Source - Omlet UK Website
Hey Chocolatechic - it comes in pink!
They're pretty pricey at 583 British pounds but what a cool idea. The concept of a chicken tractor is that you can move it around the yard, providing fresh areas for the chickens to peck and find insects. The run is fox-proof and I'm guessing also coyote proof.
I know some of you keep chickens and I'm wondering how much work is really involved in the process.
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I found another cool site while surfing around the web. It's called The Lettered Cottage and it's home to Layla and Kevin Palmer who are remodeling and redecorating gurus. Like many of us they were thrust into projects by necessity born of budgetary constraints. Layla graduated with a degree in design and she's putting it to good use.
Gotta love them because they have a cute Chihuahua named Maximus, who looks like out own Cisco (and Rue's new puppy also).
Layla provides online design services. What a cool idea. You can hire her to do a virtual makeover, showing you how to make the most of your space. If you follow the link below it will take you to the page that allows you to see the makeover. Just roll your mouse over the picture and you'll see the before and after pics.
LETTERED COTTAGE ROOM MAKEOVERS
It's called Presto-Chango. How cool is that?
RIght now it appears she had a waiting list for services but her photos are inspiration to start some changes around here.
LETTERED COTTAGE DESIGN CONSULTATION PAGE
As for me, I'll simply confer with The Daughter, who has a Master's Degree in design. I spent endless hours pouring over paint color samples for the basement project. She walked in and flipped open the color deck and chose a color in under 2 minutes and it was perfect!
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This next week is going to be busy. I'm driving The Son to the airport on Wednesday and he'll fly off to Fort Lauderdale for a week before he returns to nursing school. Next Saturday night we'll be one of the host dinner houses for our neighborhood's annual Progressive Dinner. I love cooking for dinner parties but everyday "what's for dinner", not so much.
The following Monday I host Bunco. After that I get a breather!
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I'm turning the meeting over to you. What's on your mind?
11 comments:
I too, would love to have some chickens in my back yard.
A pink coop would be perfect.
Had some rather disheartening news this morning, Superman lost his job.
I too, would love to have some chickens in my back yard.
A pink coop would be perfect.
Had some rather disheartening news this morning, Superman lost his job.
I miss my chickens. I've been an apartment dweller for 17 years now, and I still dream about the backyard and chickens! Very entertaining and satisfying venture ... with fresh eggs as a bonus.
when I was a little girl, Howard, an eccentric fella lived in our neighbourhood and practised organic farming and shared his home with 3 enormous Saint Bernards. Everyone thought he was quite odd, but he was just an environmentalist a few decades ahead of his time ... a lot of his "weird" techniques are "in" now. Anyway, he had a travelling home for his rabbits that looked very much like that nifty coop. He used it as an "organic lawn mower". The rabbits thrived, and his yard looked fabulous and green!
I am supposed to be finishing up a painting project today. Then I get to spend the rest of the week finding my house after 2 weeks of having the kids home. Also I am wishing that it were at least above 0 this morning.
Chickens are fairly simple to take care of. As long as you don't have 150 or so. (I really have no idea how we ever ended up with that many!) You might want to do some checking into your ordinances. A lot of places will allow a few backyard chickens. I have never used a chicken tractor so I can't speak on them. They are labor intensive since you have to move them around. They also are not as secure as a coop when it comes to predators. Also you could check out www.backyardchickens.com Tons of info and a great forum.
I was going to say not much is on my mind, but then I read Chocolatechic's comment and now I have a lot on my mind as I'm sure that she does.
In these tough times, I think you could petition your local government for permission for a few backyard chickens. And I'm thinking that if my neighbors can burn their garbage without a permit and get away with it, I could have a chicken or two, well, if I were so minded. I've pretty much decided that I am not chicken farmer material.
That fruit bouquet looks fantastic.
Fruit is probably a good idea after all the Christmas goodies over the last while. It's what I probably should have had for breakfast instead of the 2 butter tarts.
I love the sock monkey, and I love a sock monkey who has adventures!
You might be able to get away with a few chickens. I've been hearing of backyard chickens in the cities and suburbs. I think as long as you only have about 3-5 hens you'd be fine. Just a few chickens are not that much work at all and fresh eggs are wonderful.
Chocolatechic, I will be praying that Superman finds another very quickly!
Chickens are easy! we have 14 hens and 1 rooster. If you don't have a rooster all you hear is sweet clucking. our chicks have a coop that looks like a little barn. attached is a completely enclosed yard about 8 x 6. i let them have the run of the place every afternoon. they go back in to their yard to roost as the sun sets. we shut them up in their 'barn' at night as we has critters who love to eat chickens. they add at lot of humor to my life, follow me everywhere and think they are cats. too cute! must get, heck with the 'rules'. i have a little egg table with a cash box when i get over loaded. pay what you like. and take a few free flower bunches also! Happy new year.
bv
ps Soo sorry to hear CC news, hang in there!
sweet chucking 'till they lay an egg...a proud group, they are.
bv
I don't think there are any restrictions on keeping backyard hens in the UK. Except maybe in some new developments.When we lived in London I had a small hen house at the end of a 100ft garden with about 6 hens and nobody complained.I also worked on a city farm where we had all sorts of poultry, calves, sheep, goats and horses. Now I'm in the country and could if I wanted keep anything apart from pigs which need a movement licence.
Thanks for blogging about Henry! I can't tell you much about yard chickens, but if you ever want chicken houses and 130,000 chickens, let me know! haha
We've had a suburban chicken for years - she was hatched as a home school project. One or two hens will be easy to care for, highly entertaining, and they will provide you with most of the eggs you'll want. Just do it. If none of your neighbors complain, you're home free. (You might want to send them a couple of free eggs once in a while). If you get hassled by The Man, tell him they're pets. Worst case scenario, you give them away or eat them - depending on your mood at the time.
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