I have no idea what to call this update… you can only use the title ‘Update’ so many times. So, I’m calling it “Deconstructed”, in reference to Sue’s trailer project. Even though we’ve been busy with various and sundry things, there’s not much to report – project wise, since Monday -other than her progress on the trailer. From the photo on the left (or above – depending on your viewing apparatus), you can see that Sue has almost completed deconstructed the camping trailer! She’s been working so hard on it over the last several days. At first we thought that the floor was in really great shape, but it turns out that much of it was rotted underneath the linoleum – especially in the corners where there was a great deal more water damage than you could initially see. So, looks like we’ll end up taking more of it to the trash than anticipated, but there will still be many more pieces remaining to re-use. Pretty amazing! Continue reading
Deconstructed
29 Wednesday Nov 2017
Posted in Uncategorized
Yep. AWOL all week. I guess sometimes you just need a break for a bit, and now I’ll try to cover a week in a few minutes. Luckily, since we had company, there weren’t a lot of projects happenin’ for the week. Before my parents and niece arrived on Sunday, we were able to finish off the gabion wall planters. Here’s an overview of what they look like newly planted. We put in some flowers along with seeds… just so that they look like they have something in there for a bit. I did purchase some herbs and winter vegetables for these as well. This is another big
experiment, you know, like everything else. I have this untested theory that the gabion walls with the planters. I’m thinking that, since the rocks soak up the heat from the sun in the afternoon – it’ll keep the flowers from getting too cold at night during the winter. I think it’ll be great for winter type veggies and flowers, I don’t know about the heat of the summer tho’ – we’ll just have to see what happens then. Our goal is to plant it with herbs that we can use ourselves and feed to the chickens. So we currently have cabbages, broccoli, lavender, dill, parsley (curly and Italian), thyme, chamomile, sage, rosemary, oregano and some others that I can’t remember. I also planted – for us – garlic, chives, and sweet onions. Yum! The great thing about planting right now, is that we have some super warm weather still ahead and we haven’t gotten into freezing weather yet. I’m hoping they’ll get established enough that they’ll be able to over winter without needing too much covering over. 
Sorry for another quick-post… but I have an work event in Tucson that I must attend. So, I just wanted to quickly share a bit about molting. Chickens tend to molt during the fall and early winter… some wait way long and are uncomfortably cold in the later part of the winter. We had one, Imen, who molted in the middle of the summer, which was unusual. Right now we have three that are in mid molt. It’s pretty funny when they start – they just have bunches of feathers flying off everywhere… the nakeder they get the more you can see their new feathers coming in… then they start to look like Hedgewig (that’s my pet hedgehog). During this time, they generally stop laying because, as you can imagine, it takes a lot out of them. You really can’t do too much to help them through except to make sure that they have a good source of protein -hopefully not eggs- and that they are being kept warm by the other feathered friends. We have two now that are staying in the nesting boxes at night; I guess they feel more comfortable there. To me, the process of growing in the new feathers always looks somewhat painful. I certainly hope not. Molting happens across many bird species; some of our doves are molting (at least that’s what we hope is happening) and we’re just hoping that their feathers grow in quickly.
…some updated information. Middle of the week usually brings us to the update on what we’ve been talking about over the last few days. I do this for a couple of reasons: 1) because it’s the middle of the week so many of the on-going projects are just that, on-going and 2) We go to choir rehearsal on Wednesday evenings, so I have to do something quickly. So here we go. 
Sometimes Monday’s live up to their name. Today was like that for me, but Sue seemed to get a great deal done! While I was still waiting for a member to show up for a meeting that she forgot this morning, Sue sent me a photo of what she had accomplished by 10 a.m. She was repurposing the Duck Deck into a chicken shade/food shelter, since the ducks refused to use their awesome deck which was surrounding the large water tub Sue got them, just for their own entertainment. Anyway~(thankless little ducks – ok, I’m done.) today she put a little roof over the center which had been cut out to go over the rejected tub. We’ll use it out in the field once we start letting the chickens free range over the property. There will need to be enough shelters strategically placed so that they can hide if a hawk or other flying predator comes a-hunting. This will work great! I think Sue’s going to use some left over composition roof shingles for the flat part, just so the wood doesn’t keep weathering away. It’ll be a great use of the deck. We’ll need to put a few heavy rocks on it though, to keep it from sailing away during the windstorms. Easy enough. 
Well, started off normally enough. We did the morning chores and then put in some doors on the top brooder, so that we can more easily get in and out. Sue made them right quick out of scrap wood and put some chicken wire over them. They work great! It is so much easier to get in and out of there to do food and water and stuff. Then we took about 1/2 of the littles and put them in the brooder below. There were 30 in the top brooder and they are getting just too big! They are much more comfortable now and have room to grow and scratch around without getting in each others’ way. Next, we took care of the feed and straw in the back of Sue’s truck. Those chickens are going through some food lately! Alfalfa and straw go over to the Goat Boys for later. Filled up the dog water and watered the flower garden and the herb garden right quick. Then we enjoyed a breakfast of eggs and toast. 
I know you’re wondering! Wondering if we caught the egg eater. Am I right? Well, we think we may have. I went in to collect eggs one afternoon and caught one of the girls pecking on an egg and her face was covered with egg yolk. Your culprit is pictured here. The Red! Now, she may not be the originator, or even the only one; she’s just the one we caught in the act. Since then it has escalated somewhat. Sue picked up eggs around mid-day today and then when we did chores this afternoon, and I picked up more, there weren’t any. We’re still leaving the fake egg in one of the nesting boxes, so that if the egg eaters try to peck it, they’ll be in for a surprise! Who knows if that’ll help or not, but it’s one of the remedies that people suggest. 
I know that we are encouraged to be thankful every day, in every way, but isn’t November the month that all hearts turn to Thankfulness? Also, there is so much going on in the world today, that we are often horribly reminded to be Thankful for what we’ve been given. No matter how hard you’ve worked, or what you’ve been born into – all that we have is not simply the product of our own lives. Along the way, so many people have helped us; parents, grandparents, teachers, friends, exceptional Pastors – Leaders – trailblazers, and – for us – God has been leading the way. We are thankful for the opportunity to do what we are doing, on the land that Sue found, with the animals entrusted to our care. How can we be anything but thankful? 
How big indeed. They are so small! It’s amazing that you are seeing a mature chicken. You all know that Maeve is our smallest chicken; she’s some type of mottled cochin – or a crossbreed there of, we’re not exactly sure as she just came from a straight run of chicks I purchased at Tractor Supply one Spring. Sue ordered the teenagers we have now from a hatchery on-line, specifically looking for some chicks that were about like Maeve. Those chicks are now 8 weeks old and many of them are as big as her! It was difficult to get a photo of them together as they are still getting used to one another, but here’s the best I could do. Maeve is in the background and the teenagers are in the foreground, so the size comparison is difficult to see. Take it from me, they are quite close in size. They are Bantams, so are naturally small chickens. Let me try to give you some other visual comparisons. 
Wing and a Prayer 