Showing posts with label Chickens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chickens. Show all posts

Friday, June 23, 2017

Whirlwind Recap

Spring is always such a busy but beautiful time of the year around here.  I took tons of photos, but didn't have time to ever post them.  So, here is a whirlwind recap of the menagerie of memories we made this Spring...



Seeing the first bulbs silently burst out of the ground in the Spring made my heart burst for joy 
(and run for my camera) :)

Each new leaf budding from branches that appeared dead days before 
was like a declaration of hope and survival.

These raspberry leaves prove that darkness and ice cannot prevent the promise of new life.

I planted tulips last Fall to remind me of my holy Grandma from Holland :)
I was so happy when they actually came up after a long, cold winter.

Tulips can't help but make me happy.
I think I need to plant more of them :)

Spring also brought trips to the carousel for rides and ice cream for our Spring birthday boy.

Oh how happy my boys were to finally play at parks again!

Our silly monkey hanging from monkey bars :)

Got chicks?
We do.  16 to be exact.
We kept them indoors for a couple of weeks, 
which was fun to hear the "peeps" throughout the day... 

But soon they were moved outside,
growing faster than our grass.

It was fun to watch their new feathers and true colors emerge.
We bought all Americanas which lay the pretty blue-green eggs,
so we were surprised to see so many different color variations of their feathers.

Chicks are just fun.  Period.





Other big Spring news:  Nathanael learned how to ride a bike!

Boy he is cute on a bike.

Boy was he proud of himself,
and we were so proud of him too!


Spring also brought turkeys back into our yard.
This male turkey was sure trying to impress this hen 
(or protect her from the crazy camera lady).
He puffed up extra big, hoping she wouldn't notice his missing tail feather.
(how embarrassing) :)


The variety of colors is sure impressive.
Did you know that Benjamin Franklin proposed that the wild turkey be our national bird instead of the bald eagle?  Now that I can see them up close, I understand why.


Michael graduated into high school this Spring and even had to give a speech.
He did awesome, and we are so proud of him.


Memorial Day is always bittersweet for our family.
We remember our 3 sweet babies in heaven,
as well as Paul's dad and other family members who have gone before us.

The boys picked wildflowers to honor their siblings in heaven.

We are grateful for our 3 baby intercessors who are praying for our family,
and someday it will be such a joy to see their faces and hold them in our arms.

Divine Mercy Sunday happens every Spring.
One of my favorite feast days for a variety of reasons.
A reminder that no sin is greater than God's mercy.

Our first fishing trip once the weather got nice.
Michael caught a nice arctic greyling.

Our second fishing trip of the Spring,
Michael caught a bunch of brook trout.
This boy was born to fish.

We catch these at a stream near our house.  So much fun, not so much meat.
Good thing I'm a catch and release gal anyway :)

A sweet moment of Daddy bonding with his little boy in the sun.

Oh how I love those precious little fingers!

These are the memories that Spring is made of.
Now, on to Summer memories!!!





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Wednesday, April 6, 2016

peep-peep-peep


"Peep-peep-peep" is the sweet sound we've been hearing nearly all day long ever since we purchased our first set of baby chicks right around Easter time.  They are so adorable--the perfect symbol of the new life of Spring and the new life we have in Christ!  

We were introduced to the idea of raising chickens last summer when we rented a house out-of-town whose owner asked us to take care of his chickens.  We liked the fresh eggs so much that we decided to start our own little hen house when we moved to our new home.  We brought 5 Buff Orpington hens with us from the rental property, and then purchased 10 Red Star chicks to expand our chicken family.  Thankfully, the location of our new house is ideal for raising chickens.  We are out-of-town with a secluded 7 acres of land---perfect for chickens to roam (and boys to explore)!  

Paul and the boys did a beautiful job turning a little shed on the property into a cozy coop for our hens.  It was a lot of work digging holes for the posts, putting up the fence, building nest boxes and roosting bars, etc...  Paul's attention to detail was superb!  He created a little hen door that opens and closes by pulling on a string from the outside of the coop, and he also made a hinged door on the nesting boxes on the outside of the coop so that we really don't ever have to go inside the coop at all!  It's great to avoid getting poop on our shoes!  

We are having so much fun learning how to be amateur farmers!  We really have no idea what we are doing, but Google and some good friends are teaching us as we go.  It feels so good to be on the path towards being more self-sufficient, and we think it will be great for the kids to take on some more outdoor responsibilities to make them enjoy nature more than their silly electronics games (we sure hope that will be the case anyway) :)

I hope you enjoy the pictures of the whole process--from coop to chicks--in reverse order :)

Even the deer came to inspect the new coop!
I'm guessing that they were disappointed with how well it was constructed, 
which prevented them from stealing any of the chicken feed :)








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