Introductions, Goodnights and Projects

Now that we are expanding this blog to include more, I am not sure where to start. I think we will just start and add in some backstory as we move forward.


This is Sunshine, or Sunny. She is technically Sarah's dog but she loves us all. We adopted her and Dixie from the animal shelter shortly after moving here to Redbud. They have been total blessings to our family. Sunny is a Border Collie/Terrier mix and she loves to herd things, anything and everything. We keep her chained up because she likes to herd cars. This actually works out well though because she can stay cool in the barn or lay out in the grass, she has plenty of leash to roam and romp and she loves jumping through the window in the barn. The best thing is that since she is a herder and NEEDS to have something to herd and guard, she is next to the chicken run. She protects the girls and even though they are inside wire and can't get away, she thinks she is keeping them together. At any given time you will see her sitting or laying at the corner of the run, like in the picture, watching them and feeling like she is doing her job.

This is Dixie. We are not sure exactly what she is and I don't think she does either. Sometimes she thinks she is a cat, sometimes a goat, you just never know with this one. We originally chose her to be Daniel's dog. We thought maybe we could train her to be an alert dog for Daniel's diabetes. She has a good sniffer but she is dumb as a rock. Actually Sunshine has alerted Daniel on several occasions that he was low, but Dixie, not so much. We love her just the same. She is a funny, funny dog. We could let her roam loose but it makes Sunny jealous, so it is just easier to keep her chained up too. If you are having a tough day, Dixie is the one to cheer you up even when she doesn't intend to do so.

Fall is here and the trees are starting to turn. I love this time of year, nature is going to sleep but not without a colorful goodnight message.



The Sunflowers are still trying to hold on, they are not ready to sleep yet, which is fine with me.


Well, the garden is about gone, the canning is done, so I guess other than some fall plantings and transplants it is time to move indoors for some projects. I have a quilt top to get quilted. Daniel is wanting his blanket to be made. I need to finish the hole I cut for Sarah's closet and varnish the wall I uncovered. I have already started some crochet projects in the evenings.

Here is one of my latest crochet projects. I just finished it a few days ago. This thing is loooong, the leg part alone is about 33". I used Black and Cream yarns, it is cute.

The next one I did was this polka-dotted stocking. I thought it would be cool to alternate the color order on each of the circles but now I think it would have been better to do them all the same.

I can't wait to start planning Spring. I want to turn the back porch into a temporary green house so we can get a head start on the garden. The plantings and doo-dads for my family roots project went rather well this year, I can't wait to add to them. I have started my bottle tree but it looks a bit ragged yet so as I get it to where it needs to be I will add pictures of that. I want to research fruit and nut trees that work in this area. We have a black walnut tree out back near the creek that has furnished us with quite a few nuts this year. I know everything will come together in time but I am so anxious to get everything up and running. =)

Poultry Pictures

Poultry Show and more

The girls are 7 months old now! Wow, time flew by. The 19 we still have after that bout of illness are all doing wonderful. They are up to about a dozen eggs a day now and all seem very happy. We have named another one. There is one girl that is solid black and she yells at us all the time, she never shuts up. Well, Daniel and his Asperger's tend to do the same thing. He talks very loud and constantly. I made the comment to the bird that she is loud and never hushes, so Daniel said we should call her Danielle because she is like him. lol Soooo, that is her new name. The one we call six-piece is now also known as Turkey girl because she makes sounds like a turkey when she is upset. Matilda still pecks me every chance she gets but is getting edged out by Fuzzy. Fuzzy took on a whole new persona after the recent 4H Poultry Show. It is like she is a world traveler now and that gave her some sort of elite status, if even in her own mind.

Oh, the poultry show was fun. Even though the girls were being judged for production, we thought it would be a good idea to make them presentable to be in public so we bathed them. Let me just say that this is an experience. My oldest daughter said that when they are wet, chickens look like little dinosaurs, they kind of did. I built a keeper pen to put the clean ones in and we set it up in my husbands work shop so it would be warm. We gathered the five that would be going to the show, we washed, rinsed and dried them. We put wool's fat on their combs, wattles, legs and feet. (It really helps soften them so it is easier to clean.) They did not like it at all but for the most part were little troopers about the whole thing. They had to stay in the keeper pen over night and during the day they would call to the ones in the coop. It was sad in a way, they did not like being seperated from their sisters.

The next morning we loaded them into a pet cage and off to the show we went. Daniel was so excited because Zelda was in the group. Personally I would not have chosen her, while she is very pretty she does not possess the strongest production qualities. But she is his favorite and this was his thing. Of course if Zelda was going then Sarah made sure Fuzzy was in the group. Again, not one I would have chosen because she is a little less mature than the others, but for us this show was more about the kids. They allowed me to choose the other three birds based on the requirements.

We arrived at the Ag building and signed in. It was wonderful because we were greeted by our county extension agent, Ms. Carol. It was so nice to meet her after having phone conversations with her. Everyone was so nice. We moved the girls into the assigned pen and attempted to get them to calm down. Their feathers were definitely ruffled by all the chaos of the trip and a new environment. It was fun for the kids to see the other birds that had started their lives in TN with our girls. The definite visual difference from one cage to the next was interesting. While all of these birds were the same age and breed, some were far more mature than others and the sizes varied a great deal. It was a chance to show the kids the difference diet, environment and care really make.

During the judging one of our girls produced an egg, this led to an all out free-for-all in the pen. She was trying to protect it and the others were trying to take it from her so the kids hurried over to sneak it out of the cage. Daniel was so excited that they had given him an egg at the show that he almost did not even care about the judging. Kids on the Autism spectrum often find joy in the little things. The girls did however pull in a blue ribbon, which absolutely made Daniel's day. The icing on the cake was that he also received $15. We decided that since Sarah helped so much with the girls that $5 would be hers, $5 would be his and the other $5 would go into the chicken fund.

We had the opportunity to strike up a conversation with another mother. She was so nice and her little boy had definitely put his heart into his birds. When the announcement came of the champion pen, it was her son's birds that won. We were so happy for them, definitely the right choice regardless of requirements. He had big healthy birds and I am sure they were good producers, but the great part was that he really put his all into this project. I was not sure how Daniel would do with the news that Zelda had not landed him the grand prize trophy, but never fear, my boy was too excited about his blue ribbon and egg to even care.

The girls were very happy to get back home with their sisters. The first thing Fuzzy did was take a dirt bath which ended up being more of a mud bath. She seemed pleased with herself.

Apparently there were 8 pens of birds last year and there ended up being 19 this year. That is so wonderful that more kids took part. We have really enjoyed this process of the chick chain as a family and look forward to many more years of having chickens be a part of our family. I will post a slide show of pictures from the Poultry show and the process leading up to it.

NOTE: I am going to continue this blog even though the chick chain is done. I think we will expand it to include not only the chickens but all of our adventures here on our little hobby farm.