Berry Picking Vacation

I went on a berry picking vacation, to Bayfield, WI, with my mom this last week-end.

Cottage that we rented.

We went to the farmer's market to pick up ingredients for dinner.

While there we had to stop and take a few pictures in the community garden.

Bayfield harbor and Lake Superior.

View of lake again.

We picked gooseberries and currants at the Good Earth Farm.

The currants were hard work! They are so tiny.

Picking gooseberries.

Then we picked blueberries at Rocky Acres Farm.

Yum! It is the start of the blueberry season, so we got to pick the giant king berries.

Lots of blueberries to pick!

They were HUGE!

View of Lake Superior.

After picking blueberries we went to the Bayfield Art Fair.
I found a prize for next month's giveaway!

While we were at the Art Fair we found a mushroom.

We took it home to cook it for dinner with our farmer's market finds.

Yummy! Our dinner - Eggs from my girls, summer squash, tomato, onion, garlic scapes, mushroom (we found), smoked Lake Superior white fish and vegan bread from the farmer's market.

Too soon it was time to go home, but we had a couple more stops to make before we left.

Us with our blueberries.

We stopped at few local shops.

We had to pick up our almond wine bread from The Candy Shop before we left town.

And a few coconut clusters.

We ordered the wine bread the night before, because they sell as soon as they are baked.

They go from oven to someone's home!

Then we stopped at the Bayfield Apple Company to pick raspberries.

We also bought a jar of currant jelly.

They are hard to pick and it is worth every penny!

Garlic - It's Outta Here!

I harvested all the garlic from the garden today.

This is the first year I've ever tried growing garlic.

It was interesting.

I planted 3 beds full of it last October.

Somewhere in between then and now I remembered that I hate garlic.

Yeah........

So, guess what all my friends are getting for gifts this next year!

It looked nice growing in the garden and it was fun to plant it when everything else was dead.

Maybe I can learn to like garlic.

Well, I like the taste of garlic.

I just hate smelling like it the next day.

I think I might try pickling some of it.

Garlic in the garden - The big ones are elephant garlic.


My fancy garlic drier - that I made out of junk.

Lavender, Again?!?!

Lavender is broody again.........

I was away for 4 days and three nights (thought/worried about my babies the whole time!) and when I came home I found Lavender in the nest box cuddling three golf balls with all the broody strength in her tiny body.

Silly girl!

After hatching out her silkie chicks, you would think she would take a break, relax, live a little.

I guess somechicks are just made to be mommies.

She layed exactly 17 eggs in the last 4 weeks.

And now she is going to hatch them, come hell or high water! ..............even though they are in my refrigerator.

Poor girl.

It is a lot nicer for Pixie now. She doesn't get chased and beaten up anymore.

And it is much, much quieter in the Ladies' lair!

Honey Rests Here

This is Honey's grave. I made a cement rhubarb leaf for a grave stone, but I want to make a more chicken themed one. I don't know exactly what to do though. Has anyone made a grave stone for their chicken? Any ideas?

I buried her in my chicken garden. It's a hidden little garden that has lots of chicken themed decorations.

Isn't She Pretty?

Pixie!

She is so cute!

After I took these pics I gave her a little hair cut. It's amazing the difference that makes for her.

She can see! She looks around at everything in amazement.

"There is something beyond my fuzz!"

She really needs her fuzz trimmed every week, because Lavender -her own mother!- chases her around. Pixie needs her peripheral vision to stay out of Lavender's way.

Poor orphaned baby.

My Garden - Then and Now

I thought I would show you my garden.

This is what it looked like March 30th.

~

And March 31st.

And July 12th.

More Giveaway Stuff!

More things I added to the chicken giveaway basket!

A jar of strawberry/blueberry/peach jam I canned last week. Made with fresh berries from my garden.

A pretty glass bottle painted with a barred rock rooster.

(I really want to keep this!)

A funny wooden chicken decoration.

A sticker book!
Ok I know this is about a duck and the giveaway is a chicken basket, but Jemima Puddle-duck only ran away because the hens kept stealing her eggs and raising her ducklings!

Ok that's it for right now!

Keep entering!

Chicken Basket Giveaway

I decided a long time ago to have a giveaway in July.

I have been collecting chicken things for months in anticipation.

There are chicken candles, chicken coasters, chicken soap and lots and lots of surprises!

Leave a comment and you will get one entry.

Blog about the giveaway and you get 3 entries!

Giveaway ends Aug. 1st

I will contact the winner, to get their address, and send them a huge chicken themed basket of stuff!

Here is the cute basket your prize will come in!

Here are a few things I'm putting in the basket. Every other day I will post a pic of something else I'm adding to the basket. Updates will be posted HERE - where you can read my blog *wink wink*

And the winner is............................. here

Thanks for entering everyone! Come back and enter for the August giveaway!

I Miss Her

I really, really miss Honey.

I don't even want to be around the other ladies, because they remind me of Honey and.....I don't know, but now I'm scared they'll die too?

I don't know what I would do if it happened again.

~

Really, I didn't think losing one of my girls would effect me like this.

I knew it would happen some day, but it happened so fast.

And Honey was always my healthy girl.

Butter's had bumble foot and Zela is a chronic wheezy breather.

Honey was never, ever sick or even looked sick.

~

I miss her.

Honey Died

Honey died in my arms tonight.

I came home from visiting my Grandma and I took Honey out of her cage.

She had a seizure.

I had to hold her down and then she died.

I will miss her, more then I can even explain.

She was my snuggler and she loved to be held.

She especially loved to wrap her neck around mine and snuggle into my hair.

I buried her in the garden, wrapped in my favorite green scrubs, and tomorrow I'll plant some hen and chicks on her grave.

The last pics I took of Honey on Tuesday.

Honey Is Sick

I don't know what to do!

Honey is sick.

I noticed that she was lethargic on Tuesday. She wanted to sleep and she wasn't interested in scratching in the run.

She put herself to bed in the coop 2 hours before everyone else.

I gave her a bath, thinking maybe she was egg bound.

She hasn't layed an egg in a really, really long time.

Her vent isnt's red and her belly is soft.

Well, whatever she has it has progressed and now she can't walk, and can barely stand up, by herself.

I have been posting her symptoms on BYC , but no one has had anything helpful to say.

She has drunk a pint of water mixed with electrolytes today, but she isn't interested in food at all.

I made her scrambled eggs yesterday and she wouldn't eat them.

I made her mash with yogurt and she ate a tiny bite.

I don't know what to do!

Here is a vid of Honey

She wasn't interested in the watermelon until I turned the camera on. And she didn't end up eating it.

Her poo started out white on Tues., but now they are green and stinky.

Sad/Happy Day

Ginger went to his new home today.

I'm kind of sad, but I think he will be really, really happy with his new family.

They seem like great people, that really care about their animals.

And they have the hobby farm that I've always wanted!

They have chickens and goats, a garden, very nice.

Lucky Ginger.

~

Tomorrow morning I'm meeting someone else that wants Pepper and Dixie.

It's always a little nerve racking to meet someone that you don't know, but you are giving them a little animal you have worried over and cared for.

Fingers crossed they will have a great new life too!

~

I had 17 people respond to my craigslist post! In 8 hours!

Wow!

I know I picked the right people for Ginger, but I just hope I picked the right people for Pepper and Dixie.

I will miss them, but I couldn't keep them, because they started crowing ALL the TIME.

Poor babies.