Chez Poulet - Phase Three - The Arrival

Les Poulets Roulez! Today we are officially farmers. Three beautiful chickens have come to live in La Petite Maison des Poussins Urbaines. Please meet them:

Celine, the Ameraucana

Sylvie, the Barred Rock

Colette, the Buff Orpington,

the littlest one who will eventually be the biggest.

This afternoon we drove to Poetry TX (just north of Terrell) to Bageniece Farms where we met all sorts of great critters. Among them some very LOUD donkeys, a lovable Great Pyrenees who didn't want us to stop petting her, geese, turkeys, ducks, and of course chickens galore.

By far the most amazing were these:

And this one gets the award for most original nesting box:

The car ride home was uneventful with very little peeping and clucking from the back seat. Once home, Celine, Sylvie and Colette happily explored their new home.

Then they had dinner and tried out the roost.

Bonne nuit les poussins!

Wooly Morning

Wool is good. Wool is soft. Wool is cozy. Wool is in a big bag on my porch!
Friday morning we arrived to witness the shearing o' sheep at Jacob's Reward Farm  I was prepared for this to be an all day affair, but Danny the shearer is so fast that they were all shorn when we arrived! They look a little confused, but free and happy.

Determined to see some action, we hopped back in the car and headed to the next stop on the shearing tour,  Heritage Farmstead in Plano - a true piece of local history with the original farmhouse and barns still standing where they were built over a century ago. On April 3rd they are having their Spring Festival with more sheep shearing along with wool spinning and knitting demonstrations.

Watch this! 
Sheep Shearing from Jennifer Kate Stuart on Vimeo.
(If you are reading this on Facebook, you may have to click "view original post" to see the video). Amazing that a sheep can be liberated of it's fleece in about two and a half minutes (and all in one piece)!

After shearing, we helped a bit with skirting the fleeces. This is the initial cleaning up - removing any clumps of mud and poo along with fiber that is too short for spinning. We brought home a bag of the too short fiber (minus the mud and poo). It will be wonderful for felting projects and stuffing. I have a pet bed in mind to make for some lucky cats and dogs.

Signs of Spring in the Garden

Two weeks ago there was six and a half inches of snow on the garden.

Today there are Daffodils blooming! The Crocuses have all ready done their thing and I missed them, I always forget how early they are. I found the beginning of the first Hyacinth just peaking its head out of its leaves. They are my favorite by far.  

Dormant Perennials are coming up in all the beds.

Over the weekend, I finally got the salad garden started (rather late). Next weekend I'd better get everything else put out. A trip to the feed store or garden center is on the agenda this week! I think I'll plant multiple  varieties of the things that we really enjoy eating the most. This way they'll mature at different times and give us a longer season.

The small farmer's markets should all be starting up again soon. I saw a notice for the McKinney Farmer's Market which resumes this Saturday!  Mmm, can't wait for seasonal homegrown and local food, I've missed it over the winter!

Chez Poulet - Phase Two

Much progress made on La Petite Maison des Poussins Urbaines! I am determined that these chickens are going to have very low budget accommodations. Thanks to the recent snow storm, we have a lovely roost.  

And thanks to a Richardson resident providing a curb side shopping opportunity, we have the beginning of Chicken Condos (a.k.a. nesting boxes). I all ready had the wooden crate and would love a few more if anyone sees some somewhere.   

I have read repeatedly that despite it's name, chicken wire is not the best thing to use for chicken enclosures. Predators can reach through it and small birds and rodents can get inside through it. Hardware cloth (which isn't really cloth but smaller wire mesh) is the thing to have. Someone needs to revisit the names for these things.

For good luck we have a horse shoe donated by the nice horses at Lime Ridge Farm.

And lest the chickens forget the date we have a calendar (on sale for $1 yesterday at Borders)

Farm Photos

I spent an enjoyable sunny morning recently taking photos for the Jacob's Reward Farm Photo Contest. I was only allowed to enter three photos in the contest which was difficult.

With so many charming sights and adorable fluffy critters, how can any photos be left out? So, here are several more:

 

Operation Dog Necklaces

Lucy and Francesca are house dogs who don't venture beyond the backyard very often. The clanking of their tags long ago grew tiresome and wearing collars all the time didn't look so comfortable. However, should they ever get out, they need some sort of identification so I had them microchipped and I made beaded necklaces for them with their names and my phone number.

After trying many different types of wire and clasps that all eventually broke; I have settled on ultra heavy duty steel cable and permanently crimped fasteners. These necklaces aren't going anywhere! 

My household pliers didn't quite do the job so we loaded doggies in the car and set off for our neighborhood Lowe's where Chris and Philip went far above their call of duty to attach the necklaces!   

Ravelympics

Ravelympics start tonight! I am entering the Aerial Unwind event - bravely frogging a huge sweater to do over! Projects must be cast on during the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Olympic Games this evening and be completed before the flame is extinguished in the Closing Ceremonies on February 28th.

 http://www.ravelry.com/projects/jkstuart/snowbird 

For good measure, I am also entering Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's Knitting Olympics.  http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/