Butterfly,Butterfly and Chickens

I got these great butterfly shots yesterday.


We've been seeing a lot of them here lately.These are actually two matching ones,I couldn't get them both in the same shot.I tried to direct them but they wouldn't listen!

The plant they are on was labeled Texas Lilac when I bought it but I am pretty sure it is a Chaste Tree.

Which by the way is a medicinal plant,good for ladies' problems.I am very interested in folk medicine.I have been trying to learn to identify our native plants and their uses.I planted several medicinal herbs also and plan to do so every year.Today I picked Mullein leaves to dry for tea.It makes a natural expectorant,might come in handy this winter.An infused oil made from it's flowers is good for ear aches.If you are interest in reading more about this useful plant here is a link.

Our little black and gold bannie chickens are forever going broody,even in winter!This one hatched out these little babies a few days ago.

They are of unknown parentage.The little gray one is half bannie,it is tiny and has feathered feet.

She sat on 4 eggs,but only 2 hatched,2 were duds.I don't know how,as much chicken lovin' that goes on back there!But we almost always get a dud or two.




I love these little bannie hens,so does The Boy.They are tame and friendly and great mommas.If you don't have a couple you should try them out.


This is my favorite chicken,Peckahontas.

She is the only chicken we have that turned out like her.I think she is lovely,I keep hoping to get another one like her.She has feathered feet so she has some bannie in her,those are our only feathered footed birds.She is nice and big like on Orpington,but her color is a little like an Easter Egger,but they are a skinny chicken, not plump.
I just know I would love to have a few more like her!
I canned some more green beans and chicken yesterday!That may be what we have to eat all winter,green beans and chicken!Not really.
The Boy has to be at church this morning,he doese the audio booth and has to set up for Sunday.After I pick him up we are going to visit some dear friends.They always load me up on fish!So we will at least have fish to go with our green beans and chicken!

Chickens,Yum!

Chickens,Chickens,Chickens!I am sick of chickens!OK,not our sweet little laying flock.The driving me crazy,rebellious,teenage offspring of the girls!

We had an abundance of baby chickens this year,at one time we had about 40 hatch out in a 3 week period of time!We have got some broody girls!Especially those Bannies!What they lack in size they make up for in sittin' power!

Our chickens have a huge yard,water,tons of grass and bugs.Are these ungrateful chicken teens content?Nooooo....they spend all their energy getting out of the yard and scratching up my flowerbeds and garden.So how do we deal with this rebellious teen chicken attitude you may ask.I will tell you how we deal with it...CHOP CHOP with their heads!
Yes folks, it is that time of year.How do I select who is to get whacked for the day,whoever is out of the chicken yard!Not that it matters,they are all going to get it eventually,but it gives me a little satisfaction to take over to the choppin' block the ones who just scratched up a half flat of pansies or seedlings in the garden.

The Boy and me will try and do 2 or 3 a day,in the morning when it is cool, until they are all done.The Boy is obsessed with knives,he uses the excuse that we "process" our own chickens and rabbits as a reason to buy every knife he sees!If Hubby was home we would do quite a few more a day.We have a good system.I kill 'em and the Boy's will gut them and skin them or I will pluck them depending on how I am going to put them up.These are going to be canned,so they will get skinned.I will make broth from their bones and can that also.The dogs will then get the bones after that and we feed the guts to the catfish in the pond.All we waste is feathers!
I guess that goes pretty good with the "use it up" motto!I make light of processing our chickens but we take seriously what it means to raise our own food.They have a very good life right up to the end.Fresh air,sunshine,grass,bugs,freedom,well...freedom to stay in their yard anyway!
I really like to can chicken and broth.This is country convenience food!It is so easy to pop open a jar of chicken and throw together a casserole or pot of soup.I know where it came from,how it was raised,and what is in it.Plus being in a jar I don't have to worry about the chemicals leeching from the plastic linings of cans into our food.
Yes,it is extra work.Is it worth it?Yes!
Not only for health reasons,but it keeps us connected in some way to the earth,to life and what it means to be human.Living,growing and dying they're all part of the balance.The more we become a convenience society the more we loose sight of the balance we need to maintain,we loose respect for the soil and water and pollute it.We loose respect for the lives of the animals that give their own lives to feed us with inhumane chicken houses and feed lots and growth hormones.It is sad, so many people have gotten so far away from life,and really life it what these basic things are,they no longer care how their food became food as long as it is microwaveable and cheap.That is when it gets dangerous.People that are clueless,mindlessly consuming,using up without appreciation of what it really cost.
When we tell folks that we raise our own food they are shocked and amazed.I can't figure out why.Everyday you hear stories about how our food is toxic and the chemicals are making us sick.I can't figure out why we aren't the norm!Why people,for the most part, are still blindly consuming what amounts to poison and worse yet feeding it to their children!Rebel people,rebel!
See,I have gotten up on my soap box again!I just want to grab people by the shoulders and shake them,"Wake up!"
So, yes,we kill and eat our chickens.Do I have a problem with it or feel bad?No.Was it hard the first time?Yes,a little and it should have been.
I will enjoy my chicken soup this winter with a sense of satisfaction and a knowing that we did things right and a satisfaction in the fact that no chickens are scratchin' up my flower beds as I eat it!

Getting Ready to Garden

This is Hubby leveling out my garden spot some.It is slightly on a hill and has a low spot that is hard to deal with in the wet spring weather.



Look at his face.I can tell you exactly what he is thinking."Woman,you are making me stop work to take a picture,good thing I love you so much."

Today and tomorrow are good days to plant if you go by The Almanac.I try to follow the advice.I figure all the old time gardeners do,and look at the gardens they produce.


Besides,I need all the help I can get.My garden here has not been my best.OK fine,it's the worst garden I have ever raised!We have a different climate here than I am used to and black gumbo type soil.Last year I managed to get some tomatoes from the summer garden.There is something good here though.Two growing seasons!Last year my fall garden did great!Winter veggies did great too,well,until the chickens got in there and devoured everything.Took me awhile to figure out what was happening.They were sneaky!I know,not a character trait you think of when you think of chickens!Oh,but don't be fooled by their cute little fluffy butts!After I would go back in the house, after tending critters,to fix me and The Boy some food,they would sneak into the garden commando style.Laugh if you want,but it is true I saw them out the kitchen window.They would get against the fence line, under the cover of trees and run down to the garden.Then they would all run out of hiding and attack my helpless cabbages,brussel sprouts and broccoli,then dissapear back into the trees! It was pure carnage,those innocent veggies didn't stand a chance.Bad chickens,Bad!

That won't happen this year,I have a fence between their yard and the garden.All summer I told myself I was giving up on gardening.All the hard work then to watch it fail because of the drought and heat.But,it is a disease,an addiction.Once you taste that first tomato you might as well have smoked crack! Your nails will never be clean or pretty again.Fingernails?Pshaw,look at this tomato I grew!Farmers tan? Is there any other kind?
It's really that way about all farm life.Once you become a farm woman you way of thinking changes.Instead of perfume,makeup and clothes it's weather,manure and chipper shredders.What's in heat,and I don't mean the weather!So and so is looking particularily plump and fine,boy he's gonna be tastie!Laugh if you want,but you other farm girls out there know where I coming from!
Some of your old friends won't understand.When they stop by and ask you to go to the mall and you say you can't because you have to slaughter a dozen chickens and would she like to stay and help.You even offer to give her a couple.Their eyes will glaze over and they will slowly back away!
Some of you out there think I am joking.I challenge you.Get you a 5 gallon bucket,punch some holes in it.Fill it with organic potting soil and stick you a tomato plant in it.See if you can beat the addiction!

New Babies

We have finally started getting a little rain.It is amazing how fast things start to green up around here!

I won't lie this has been a long hard summer on the farm.The heat and drought put me in a state of despair.It is wonderful how something as simple as rain and new sprigs of green can refresh a parched soul!Here is the sunset the other night after the rain.



We have a new momma!This is Whirley Comb Jr.

She is the very first baby chicken that hatched out here on the farm.Her momma was a black and gold bannie named,you guessed it,Whirley Comb and her daddy was Elvis.


This is her second batch of babies this summer.She got her momma's broodie nature,but not her gentleness.Whirley Jr. is mean as a dickens,what ever a dickens is.She will peck a hole in you if you try to mess with her or her babies!Whirley Sr. is very gentle,one of The Boy's pets.He was disappointed her daughter was not the same.Many a times I've seen him scratch his head in disbelief as he's tried to tame down Whirley Jr.

Still,she is a good Momma and that is what counts.

Here is a photo of another weird chicken.

Her daddy has to be the polish,'Ole Baldy,she has some of his weird hair do!We have no clue who her momma is.She is going to be an interesting character for sure!

Chickens

This is Elvis right in the middle of a cockle-doodle-do.He is the top rooster in the chicken yard.Yes,we name our chickens!Well most of them,the ones not intended as future suppers! I hate to eat things with names.I hate it,but I still eat them.



When we moved here the first farm animals we got were chickens.We mail ordered them.We got a cold,damp spell when they were delivered and we lost a few,but most of them did well.

I guess chickens are the first thing most folks get when they start"farming".There is something satisfying about going out to the nest boxes and finding fresh eggs.It is like an easy treasure hunt. In the evenings it is relaxing to sit in the shade and watching the chickens scratch and peck.We Have Buff Orpingtons,Easter Eggers or Araucanas,Cuckoo Marans,and Bannies or Bantams.

I choose the Orpingtons as a good all around bird,good layers and big enough to eat too.The Easter Eggers(green and blue eggs) and Cuckoos(chocolate eggs) for their interesting eggs and Bannies because they are so gosh darn cute with a knack for being good moms.We have a couple of Polish because The Boy likes them.Those have been more trouble than they are worth,but fun to look at.



This hen below is named Tina Turner.This rooster above is Baldy.He has a big bald spot plucked in his head poof.All the others love to peck these polishes heads.If it gets really bad we put their head feathers in a pony tail to protect their heads until their feathers grow back.No,I am not joking,we actually put our chickens feathers in ponytails.



I have to say I was shocked the first time I cracked open a farm egg.It almost didn't look real! The bright orange center compared to the sickly yellow of store bought eggs.Now it make me shudder to have to eat a store bought egg!Our chickens are pastured all day then penned up at night.We have about a half acre fenced in for them.This is also where I have started my orchard.Eventually it will give them more shade and protection from hawks and they will have a feast of fallen fruit and,in exchange, give me bug control and fertilizer.

We had a few episodes with hawks ,but nothing really bad.Our real enemies are the coons and 'possums.We put the chickens up at night,but they like to roost out side in the run attached to their coop in the summer.The run is completely covered in chicken wire but if they get close to the wire at night the varmints,AKA coons or 'possums,will grab them and bite their heads off through the wire.I know,your thinking what kind of animal sits there and lets a 'possum bite off it's head,right? Time for The Boy quote of the day.....The Boys says chickens go comatose at night.That describes it pretty well. So we have run rabbit wire along the bottom of all our chicken pens so they can't reach their mean little 'possum paws through to our chicken's heads anymore.I really need a good dog to put back there.We have 4,all of them untrustworthy and useless!Two of them are little,hmm....OK maybe not little,overweight is more like it, house dogs.

The other two are Hubby's mentally disturbed Red Heelers.Talking about those two's mental deficiencies will take up a whole post!

This is one of them eating a piece of cement.Yes, I said eating,not just chewing on or playing with,eating.If you knew these dogs that would not shock you.
Back to chickens.Hubby fixed up an old leaning shed that was on the property for the coop,because we try to live green and frugal by reusing everything we can. I need to finish painting it,but I probably won't until this fall 'cause it is just too hot and I am not a hot weather person,neither is The Boy.Give us snow and freezing temps and we are happy as clams.Yeah,I know we live in the wrong place,but this is where Hubby's job is.These days you don't want to mess with that!
We have had a bounty of baby chicks this year.Earlier in the summer we had over 35 hatch within 2 weeks of each other!There are some funny looking ones out there!Elvis is the dominate rooster ,but we have a polish and bannie rooster too.Apparently those two have a way with the ladies if ya know what I mean!


The best we can figure this is 'Ole Baldy's son by a Cuckoo hen.Look at the weird feathers growing out of the top of his head.There are quiet a few like this in the yard.I wonder how they will look full grown?You know, you might be a hillbilly farmer if one of your favorite games is "Guess the parentage of freaky chickens!"Me and The Boy play all the time!