Tag Archives: chickens

Merry Christmas!

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The common question I’ve been getting at holiday parties is, “How are things at the farm?” and my common answer is, “Great! We’re hibernating.”

We haven’t spent much time outside this month. Other than animal care, composting and the mulching of a few garden beds, our time has been spent indoors with fires burning in fireplaces, homemade bread and crackers in ovens, books, movies and other human hibernation-worthy activities. None of which have included blog udpates apparently :)

When asking farmers we met this summer why they don’t sell produce year-round (something that is doable here on the west coast), their common answers involved needing and wanting time off. Farming, even on small market gardens like ours, is a lot, A LOT, of work. I didn’t really understand their answer to my question until mid-November rolled around, our plants shrivelled up and died, and the rains and cold temperatures came. Pretty quickly I understood the pleasure in being able to stay indoors, put feet up on coffee tables and read, bake, and watch things without feeling like I should be outside weeding, planting, harvesting, etc. 

So, all that to say, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying this month off (for the most part) gardening duties. It’s been relaxing, restful, and peaceful. And I’ve really enjoyed taking time to experiment with new recipes in the kitchen, make homemade Christmas gifts and catch up on some novel-reading. 

On that note, myself and the rest of the crew here on the farm would like to wish everyone a very merry, joyful, peaceful, love-filled Christmas!

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.” ~ Edith Sitwell

baby chicks

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Here’s a sneak peak of 2 of our 7 new baby chicks. They’re getting bigger and braver pretty quickly so I should be able to get some better shots of them all soon. They’re SO cute! We just love them. They’re pretty cool looking and we’re excited to see what they look like when they mature. They’re pictured here with one of their two broody moms, our little brown Chinese silkie hen.

Sidenote: I’ve been away on holidays for the past couple weeks which is why this blog has slowed to a standstill. I’m back for the rest of the summer now so more updates coming soon!

she’s a he?

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She’s a he?

She’s a he!

I question whether this is really blog-worthy, but discoveries like this happen daily at the farm and I totally revel in them. It’s part of the ongoing educational experience of this project and these kinds of happenings continue to elicit a childlike response out of me. It still feels VERY cool to me that I’m here, participating in something like this – living in a trailer with pipes that freeze a lot, fetching fresh water for rabbits and chickens on frozen mornings, etc… Still lovin’ it!

But I digress… this week I discovered that Silkie Wang (one of our original chickens) is actually a rooster. Yeah…we had no idea. We got her – I mean him – from the Langley farm auction last September along with a little silkie, Silkie Wing. We just kind of presumed that they were a mother/ daughter pair and that was that.

However, earlier this week I was tossing some composting scraps into the chicken run – something that Silkie Wang LOVES (she always beats the other chickens to the good stuff) when all of a sudden, she – I mean he – started crowing. Yep, just like that – kind of a rough, warbly cock-a-doodle-do. I swear my jaw dropped. We had NO idea. We’ve never heard him crow before, but it explains a lot now – why he’s so big and why we were never getting any eggs from him.

So yeah, our she is a he. It’s kind of amusing.

This is my life now and it makes me very happy :)