It’s Friday night and a lot has been going on here over the past few days and weeks.  Thought we’d use this time to update you on a few of the ongoing projects.

Brooding Table in the chicken Coop: We have 15 more baby chickens due to arrive in the first full week of March. Sue has busily been installing a brooding table in the smaller part of the chicken coop.  It’ll end up being a two tiered area, where the babies will be on the top part with a warming plate for them to go under and keep warm- it’s a bit more fire safe than having the  heat lights in there.  There’s just so much dang dust from the straw on the other side, the big chickens are always kicking up in there.  So – the top is for the very little chicks, then in 4-6 weeks, they’ll go on the bottom portion, which will also be fenced in, with a door for access.  It’s good for us to have this two tiered brooding section because, four weeks after we get the first set of 15, we’ll be getting a second set of 15 of another breed.  More about those at a later date.  Sue will probably have this completed by tomorrow night, or Monday at the latest. Stay tuned for the finished product.

The Tractor Came Back! Did you know it was gone? I can’t remember if I mentioned it, and I may not have because I was afraid to disappoint our friend John who so wanted to drive it while he was visiting. It had it’s 50 hour check up. Came back last Tuesday all cleaned up and shiny, and it was pronounced hale and hearty and ready for work! Which is a very good thing because Sue needed it to work on the next project, below. Also, it’s still a great time to be digging the next bio-swale in the upper pasture.

Finishing Electrical on the Coop: The coop has been finished and in use for a number of months now, we’ve combined the biggies and the littles on one side and everyone’s getting along, just in time to bring some chicks and start all over again! All this time, the coop has been hooked up to the electricity via a pig tail and an extension cord. So, Sue asked our trusty contractor friend, Brent, if he could finish that small detail that the other guys didn’t want to tackle. He was more than happy with doing this for us, and if he didn’t have to dig the trench, the price wouldn’t be too bad at all!  Good thing that the tractor made it back.  Sue was able to dig some of the trench with the back hoe, but as it got closer to the house, she dug it by hand… almost 2/3 by hand actually. That was a workout over a couple of days. She started Tuesday, was done on Wednesday, he came to check it out on Thursday, and Friday the electrical was in!  No longer tethered to the house by an umbilical cord… so to speak. Check that one off of the “to do” list!

Gabion Walls: I think I’ve explained before that the Gabion Walls will always be an ongoing project. These several walls are the first going in because we needed a wind break on that side of the house. Sue is hoping that this will provide enough of a break that, when the wind comes roaring off the mountains – as it does every time there is a change in the weather – it won’t just smack the house around. In the photo on the left, from the photographer’s view point, the mountains would be to the right, and you can just see the sidewalk for the house on the left, going onto the back porch.  These five walls are in varying stages of completion. The one in foreground just needs a few more rocks to fill it up, then Sue will make a wooden planter that will go on the top of the three you see here. The other two already have the planters, and you can see how that turns out by taking a look at these previous photos. We’ll use these to plant some eatable flowers and the annual herbs. This will also help with controlling and breaking up the wind. The next time you see these, they will probably be all completed and planted for the spring and summer.

Until then, as always~
Thanks for reading!

Today’s Weather: It has seemed very cold today. There wasn’t the strong, strong winds that we had yesterday, but the breeze was quite steady and is coming down from the mountains which still have a nice blanket of snow. The high was 61° today and the low should be around 30° tonight. The citrus trees are still covered to protect them from the possible frost. Tomorrow is supposed to be warm at 65°, and sunny, sunny, sunny.

Egg Report: For the last few days we’ve been getting four eggs everyday.  I believe we have 6 or so chickens laying intermittently. We haven’t identified all the layers yet… we’re working on it. Maybe we should get a chicken-cam! Ooooo. Bernadette~ would you watch the feed for us? We might be able to pay you in eggs!