I tried to find an answer to the Christmas tree question from the last entry. Why we leave the Christmas tree up until New Years day, seems to be a tradition for a lot of of families but still not exactly sure why. It seems to all be steeped in superstition but these days has morphed more into the tree comes down when people are tired of it or have the time to take it down. It is kind of like the fact that we do not wash clothes on New Years Day. Now myself, I don't buy into too much superstition, but my step-mom has been telling me since I have known her not to do wash on Jan. 1st because someone in the family will die. At this point I just do my wash the day before out of respect for her and it makes her feel better. It is pretty funny how many superstitious tales get tangled into our lives from previous generations and just become the normal way we do things.
Normal seems like a foreign word in our house. I was in the hen house yesterday and one of the girls was in the nest trying to lay an egg. Normally they fluff up real big when it is about to happen and lower their heads. I looked at her and she was a perfect rectangle. Her head was up by the top of the nest and she was sqare! Then the egg came forth and she immediately stepped out of the nest and went to the food. She never stopped to look at it, sit on it, or try to cover it with a few pieces of litter. Those birds are odd ducks. I wonder if there is a bird olympics? Fluffy definitely needs to be entered. If I walk in the hen house with something in my hand, she is jumping to see what it is. I bet she clears a good foot off of the floor, little mexican jumping bean.
We have been looking through the different breeds of chickens and guineas to make our order list for the spring. The kids are excited about the idea of having baby chicks again. The whole brooding process is such a great time and is really helpful in bonding witht the critters so they are easier to take care of later. So far we have decided we want the Lavender and/or Pied Guineas. We want Ameracaunas for several reasons, they make great tinted egg layers and plus they are pretty easy going and friendly. It will be fun to have blue and green eggs. We will order the replacements for our girls, we definitely enjoy the breed and they are dual purpose birds so we will probably get like the red sex link or maybe gold sex link. Taylor wants the Buff Japanese Bantams. They are pretty, and they are small so to have a few as pets would not really be a big deal but then she is going to leave me with them when she goes off to college so we will see. The last question really is if we want to raise some broilers. They would only need to be around for about 7 or 8 weeks so maybe we could raise them in a run while the others are in the brooder, that might work.
So the spring to do list just keeps growing. We will need a second hen house and run, I also want to build a few small chick tractors to move around the property so the girls can enjoy fresh sites while keeping them safe from predators. The breeds we have are not flighty and could not get away from a predator so as much as I would love to turn them loose during the day, it just would not be safe for them. Instead we bring the greens and treats to them. This way they can be moved around and come back to the roost in the evenings. The guineas don't really need anything, they will be free to go where they choose, they are flighty and can save themselves. They can roost in the trees or the loft or on the house. But this will all be happening around the same time as getting those raised beds built and getting the gardens put in.
The little ones have pretty much nailed down the details of their sunflower houses. Yes, two, one for each of them that will be connected by a hall. The houses will be 20' x 20' each. Built of sunflowers and indian corn, while the hall will be grown from broom corn. Yep, we are going to try broom corn this year so I can show the kids how to make a broom, I am not sure if this will be a permanent addition to the garden but we have to do it at least once. We are planning several surprise plantings of unusualness this year for fun. Some of the things I remember my Aunt Hazel always having in her garden and some others that will serve multiple purposes.
2009 promises to be a busy year. My mother in law is moving here, my parents are planning to move here in the late summer, we are expanding our chicken operation, the garden plans are growing by the day, canning will be huge this year and best of all, Blue says this could be the year of the goat. So much to anticipate and be thankful for.
Here are a few recent pics:
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