Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Getting the garden ready and an evening walk at the Theler Wetlands...


 Now is the time for me to start putting up my fence around my garden to keep the deer and rabbits out.  I bought some 8 foot fence posts at the local farm store and those will be my main supports.  The rest of the fence is going to be made from wood I find in my parents' woods and then I will put a layer of 2 or 3 foot high chicken wire around the base to keep the rabbits out.

That is HARD work pounding posts into the ground.  I got half of the posts in by lunch yesterday but boy am I sore today.  Next week on Monday or Tuesday I will put the rest in and then start collecting the rest of the wood.  Daniel was my tape measure guy and he would come running when I called for him and he would hold the end of the tape measure to the ground next to the post while I measure to the top.  I made sure they were about 2 feet into the ground.  Daniel was very happy to be my tape measure man.  The pile of PVC pipe and sticks you see on the lower right hand corner of the picture was Daniel's little fencing project.  :)


 The girls kept me company while I was working.  I gave them some bunches of weeds from my garden and they loved it.  I am going to start collecting a lot of yummy scraps for them. My mother-in-law also gives her chickens small pieces of bread that have been soaked in olive oil.  I gave the girls some of that too.  I think the next time I am over there I will dig for some worms to give them.  I am still learning as I go when it comes to having chickens! On February 13th I will be picking up two Barred Plymouth Rock chicks at Artondale Farms in Gig Harbor.  Then my little brood will be complete, at least for this year.  :)

This is a picture of what my mother-in-law Bonita offers her chickens twice a day.  Everything is from her garden I believe.  Her chickens have got it soooooo good.  :)


It's not the best picture but I hung this little painting on a tile in the loft of the chicken coop.  I thought the girls would like something pretty to look at.  :)

I was going to try and finish all the fence posts in one day but my husband thought it would be fun to go on a late afternoon walk somewhere since he had the evening off.  I suggested the Theler Wetlands in Belfair.  They have some really nice nature trails there.  So as soon as Daisy got home from school we took off.  


It was COLD but we had a lovely time walking around.  Needless to say with all the post pounding in the morning and then walking in the evening I slept good last night.  :)


I love how the clouds are reflected in the water here.  It's all salt water that eventually ends up in the Hood Canal.  

 This is probably my favorite picture from the evening.  I am so thankful for where I live.  God is AMAZING!  

Have a lovely rest of the week everyone! 



Saturday, January 11, 2014

First post of the new year...


Happy New Year!! A little late, I know.  I took a little drive this past week and found this view of the Olympic Mountains from the Hood Canal.  I sure love where I live!


The chicken coop I ordered arrived on Christmas Eve.  My mom helped me to build it the next week.  It's little but will hold 4 large chickens comfortably.  Eventually I want to add on to the back of it so I can add more chickens.  We are going to add a nice big chicken run to one end so they have a lot more space to move around.  My mom has an idea up her sleeve for building the run and since she is a super hero when it comes to designing and building things I'm going to let her have at it.  I want to help though so maybe some of those super hero skills rub off on me.  :)

Here are the girls all warm and cozy in their little loft.  I bought a heating lamp so they are nice and warm.  They seriously seemed really excited when I put them in there! Must have been the fact that they were no longer cooped up in that box that was only getting smaller and smaller.  In the next couple of weeks I will be picking up two more chicks from my mother-in-law and they will be living in my laundry room until they are ready to move out with the two girls.  It will be a full house.  I will then have two Blue Wheaton Ameraucanas, an Isbar and a Black Maran.  I will have light blue-green eggs, dark chocolate brown eggs and green-brown speckled eggs.  Can't wait to see all those pretty eggs in my fridge!  :)  

Now that the coop is done and my mom is planning the chicken run my next priority is getting the fence up around my garden to keep the rabbits and deer out.  I plan on using some store bought posts for the main supports and then using gathered wood I can find out in my parent's woods.  I will put chicken wire around the base to keep the smaller critters out.    I will post more on my fence later on.  

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and New Year!