Chickens, gardens, and creatures…. oh my October 30, 2008

I thought I would write an entry about the “farmer” side of me. I was lucky to grow up on 10 acres, learning the basics of raising your own food. We have not gotten to the point of raising most of our own food, but we have always had a good padding of our own organic home grown food to add to the items we buy from the grocery store.

One thing that we are far from short on is chickens. We have quite the group of little banty chickens, probably growing close to 100 at this point. As I wrote in a previous post, they are completely free range. They wander all over our 10 acres, and keep things cleaned up. No matter where you walk around our yard you always get to see a chicken or two, cleaning up a garden bed, or just on a walk about. We are still having problems with their egg laying, I really don’t know why they aren’t laying in their nest boxes, some times they hide some of their eggs in secret spots, but we have never had this much trouble before. So usually we have quite a supply of eggs through the year, they are so rich and healthy, because the hens have the such a healthy diet. They get to eat greens, bugs and so much more. We don’t eat any of our chickens, but it would be premium organic free range chicken if we did.

 

Chickens make wonderful pets, because if you have the space for them to be free range they are quite low maintenance. Even if you need to keep them in some type of pen, they don’t take a whole lot of work, just a little more cleaning than the free range set up. If you have a chance to handle your chicks from a couple days old, they can become little companions also. They can be very social animals. Even our chickens who were not handled a whole lot as chicks are very friendly, many of them come up to you if you are close to where they are roaming around. And when its feeding time, you are swarmed. Their personalities crack me up.

 

We have a small herd of cows at the moment. The cutest one being a miniature bull. He is full grown and he is roughly 3 feet tall at the shoulder, I am not 100% sure on that number, so next time I am out there I will have to get a picture of him, and see how tall he really is. Talk about personality. He can be a bit of a brat some times, as bulls will be, but if you have an apple, he will be your best friend forever. The cows absolutely adore apples. I really eat very little meat, but my parents get one of their cows slaughtered every couple of years and put it up in their freezers. Its high quality beef that we know was raised in an open field (no meat lots here) and we know that there are no antibiotics and other nasty things pumped into them. If you don’t have the room to raise your own cows, and you eat beef on a regular basis, I would strongly suggest buying some from a local farmer that raises their cows free range and none of the antibiotics.

 

It really saddens me on how most of our food is raised. And I am not limiting that statement to just the animal kingdom of our diet. I think our fruits and vegetables are grown in horrible conditions also. I know it is slightly challenging to do at this point for a lot of people still, but the more that we can buy local, from farmers that are treating their crops with respect (whether that is animals or plants) the healthier we and our planet will be. I am far from accomplishing this goal also, but I try to grow some of my own food, and buy from other locals.

Farmers Markets are a wonderful resource to get local food, and in some cases (like our farmers market www.bellinghamfarmers.org) get some wonderful local crafts and supplies. Its also a wonderful place to make some new friends. We have been going to our market almost every weekend this fall, and it has become more of a social hour than shopping trip. I end up talking to a hand full of people that I have known for a while, and some that I have just met this year. I know most farmers markets are closing up for most areas around this time of the year, but if you are lucky enough to live in an area that has a year round farmers market take advantage of it.

Gardening is another thing that I am passionate about. This summer I was on an adventure, so I didn’t have the chance to do my own garden. But for the last two years before that I had my own vegetable garden when we were living in Winthrop, WA. Its an extremely satisfying experience to watch a plant grow from a seed that you planted in ground that you prepared. And then to go out on a warm summers evening and pick the ingredients for your dinner, its so much fun. Those fresh veggies always taste so good! Gardening is one of those things that almost any one can do, even if you are living in an apartment. You can have a little balcony container garden, or even a couple of plants in pots in your kitchen and living room. For those that are lucky to have a yard of any size, putting in a small or large garden is a fun process. If you have children it’s a great way for them to learn where their food is coming from, and kids always love to play in the dirt. And think of how much healthier it is for everyone! You can even throw in a few flowers here and there, adding beautiful color, and drawing in all those little pollinators.

Well this is really an endless subject and I could go on and on, but that’s a little bit about my farmer side, and how I see the world. If any of this is a passion of yours, and you haven’t done it yet, go for it! There is always a way to follow our dreams, and remember, do what you love!

Todays Outing October 27, 2008

Today was enjoyed fully in the beautiful fall weather. It was sunny all day, with a few pretty wispy clouds hanging in the sky. We started off the day just hanging around home. Since my parents are out of town, I am the animal caretaker. So I did a few chores in the creature realm. I have a rooster with an infected eye that I am trying to clear up, poor little guy.

Around noon we headed out for an adventure. We went to Boulevard Park, an enjoyable park on the water front. There is usually some birds down there for Bernie to take pictures of, and right now the fall colors make a nice backdrop. We spent the whole afternoon there. There are a couple of pier type board walks that run along the shoreline. It is always an interesting perspective walking along them.

 

 

Then we sat for a little while in the heart of the park, and watched people and wildlife. There was a small group of people tossing around a Frisbee, and a guy practicing his balance on a line strung between two trees. He was pretty talented, great balance. Later we saw a couple of girls on their own balance line. I love to people watch, and I admit eavesdrop on their conversations once and a while. It gives me perspective on the world, the things that people are interested in and concerned with. Sometimes it makes me laugh, we humans are interesting creatures.

 

To stretch our legs we walked down the path, that seems to be the old railroad bed. Its a pretty nice trail. There are all sorts of trees hanging over it, creating a nice little tunnel along certain stretches. The light was beautiful filtering through the multi colored leafs. We both got some nice shots along this area. Bernie has been trying out people shots along with his wildlife photography. He got a nice one today of a young lady running down the path, it looks like she is running into a painting, the colors are beautiful.

 

 

It was quite a nice day over all. It felt good to get out of the house, and enjoy the beautiful outdoors. The fall weather is bringing in a slight chill to the air, but at the same time its crisp and refreshing. Tonight is another movie night, we didn’t get around to Sweeney Todd last night, so its on tonight’s list.  I’m excited, I know its going to be a morbid movie, but I love Tim Burton, and Johnny Depp. I’m off into movie land! Have a great week everyone!

Another week rolls by…. October 26, 2008

It never ceases to amaze me how fast the weeks go by. I could swear it has only been a couple of days since last weekend. Then I start to question what I have accomplished. This week was not one of high activity, but I did get some things done.

Unfortunately I did not get started on the whole picture project, I do have some time to get it done, but I am going to try not to fall into my typical pattern of procrastination. Its always easy once I get started, its just that whole getting started thing.

Bernie got a beautiful shot of a pileated woodpecker today; he has it on his blog already. It has the most beautiful fall colors in the background. They are such majestic birds. I think it will be a good seller at the upcoming shows. I am starting to get excited about the shows. I am starting to think about what cards we need to print up, and we have a new card rack that will be a nice addition to our booth set up. In certain ways I wish I was doing another show or two, but these two shows will keep me plenty busy. The first one is just for one weekend, but the next one is a four weekend event, Fri. Sat. and Sun. each weekend. Its my version of a winter job.

Today I dropped my parents off at the airport, they flew into Las Vegas. They are going for a shipping container convention. I know, sounds pretty exciting right? Mom just started a new job at a place that sells and rents those big shipping containers that cargo is shipped across the oceans with. There are some interesting things going on with them. Some people are building houses out of them. Since my dad is a carpenter he is going with to see if it would be a feasible income earning endeavor to do housing and such with these containers. It will be interesting to hear what they learn at this convention. They get back on Wednesday, so they get a nice little vacation.

We spent the weekend getting the bark/scrap pile from the sawmill burned up, there is a little bit smoldering still, but its pretty much all gone. It’s a nice feeling to get things cleaned up. And that means the next step is using some of that fresh lumber to do the siding on a pole building that my dad built not too long ago. That will be good to get that finished off also, and it will be fun to use some of that lumber. So maybe we will get to start on that project later this week.

Tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful, so the plan is to go on a walk. It will be nice to get out and enjoy the outdoors, and perhaps get some good pictures also. I really haven’t been out walking much, and I can sure feel it in my body. It will be really nice to get out there and walk/hike a little bit. Clear out the system a little bit.

Alright, its movie night. I am off to watch something, not sure what the selection is yet. But I do know that we just got Sweeney Todd from Netflix today….. that should be a good selection to watch this close to Halloween.

Crafting Season October 24, 2008

I have entered into my crafting season. I am slowly getting ready for the craft shows coming up. I have quite a ways to go, but the process has started. A friend of Bernie’s sister has just ordered a print from us, matted and framed (pictured below), which is good motivation for me to go drag out my matting/framing stuff. Its currently all buried in the attic. It will be good to pull everything out to see what I already have, and what I need.

 

Then I have been working on my stained glass a little bit. I made 2 snowflakes so far. I need to get many more going, but it’s a start. One of them isn’t my favorite design, but the other one is cute. And one thing I have learned about selling items, everyone likes something different, so sometimes its good to have things that aren’t on the top of your list, because they will be spectacular to someone else.

I have been playing around with the needle felting, and got a little project almost finished, I just need some ribbon to get it done. Its felted acorns, with a felted oak leaf. I am going to attach it to ribbon so that it could be used on a package, or anything else you could dream up. In my quest to be inspired in needle felting I have been looking at other peoples sites, and there are some very creative people out there!

 

Alright, I am getting emotionally ready for the crafting season. It’s always a lot of work for me at first, but once I get into the flow of it, it’s pretty fun. And its always fun trying new things. The other aspect of crafting season is, I make most of my Christmas presents. So I need to start figuring out what to make for each person on my list. Its much easier if I start now on that stuff, than waiting until half way through December. Well if any of you are crafters, or getting ready for holiday shows, I wish you all the best of luck in that journey!

Late night update October 23, 2008

Today was an enjoyable one. Bernie headed out this morning to go to Semiahmoo Spit, and he ended up getting some nice shots today. Keep an eye on his blog for some of those to pop up. There are some fun ones of a grebe eating a fish that does not look like it would fit.

I went to work, and had an enjoyable time out in the sunshine. I did some cutting back in one of the mint beds, and then watered one of the beds while weeding. My mom was in the neighborhood, so she stopped by to see where I have been working. She got an enthusiastic greeting from Christies dogs, and then I gave her the tour.

My new thing in the last couple of days has been playing around with needle felting. I did a couple of little pumpkins the other day, and then started another little project this evening. I will post pictures when I get a little farther. I find it very interesting, and highly entertaining. Christies daughter Jessica does these extremely adorable felted fairies, and witches (for Halloween). Very creative and talented!

I finally got my mint chocolate chip ice cream made. I have been meaning to do it for a couple of weeks now. I used mint from Christies garden, and local cream and milk. It was very yummy. The mint flavor was wonderful. And homemade icecream has so much more flavor, and creamyness.

So, nothing huge happened today, but it was an enjoyable day of simple pleasures. And now I am off to bed to enjoy dream land.

Keeping Busy October 22, 2008

The weather yesterday and today has been beautiful! There is not a cloud in sight outside right now. I am getting ready to go to work right now. The nice thing is, I get to work outside and enjoy the sun. Bernie is going to go take pictures hopefully, it’s a great day to get some wildlife shots.

On Monday Bernie and I went for a very short walk, through the fragrance garden at Tennant Lake. We had intended to go on the board walk there, but it was shut down for hunting season. Bern did get a decent picture of me in the garden.

 

Yesterday before I headed into work, I got the chickens nest boxes cleaned out. The chickens are my favorite creatures here on the farm. We have around 100 banty chickens, and they are too cute! They make me laugh all the time. So much personality in a small package. They are all pretty friendly, especially when it is feeding time. We recently had a batch of chicks hatch in the incubator. You can never have enough. The problem right now though, is the girls seem to be hiding their eggs somewhere. I was hoping with a clean nest box they might move back home with the egg laying operation. When they are laying where they are supposed to be, we get a good amount of eggs, which is so nice. Our chickens are the true definition of free range, they have absolutely no fences to keep them in. There is a short fence around their house to keep dogs and such out, but it doesn’t slow down the chickens, and they roam all over our 10acres, and often onto the neighbors land also.

 

Yesterday the two Piliated Woodpeckers came to our suet feeders, boy they are big birds! Bernie got a couple fun shots of them, I am putting one on here, but if you want to see more, he has them on his blog.

 

 

Alright, I am off for now. More later…..

The Weekend October 20, 2008

This weekend was both a relaxing and productive one. We recently just got finished with milling a pile of logs into lumber. We hired a neighbor to come in with his portable sawmill and break down a pretty big pile of logs. We have been in the process of stacking the lumber, and cutting up the scraps for firewood. There is enough firewood to last a few years now (the house is completely heated with a woodstove, no other means of heat through the winter).  So we are getting close to being done with that whole project, it will be nice to have all that put away. I will have to post some pictures of the lumber piles before they get covered with tarps for the winter.

We also harvested the rest of the apples, well actually we have one more tree I believe, but we are pretty close. We have plenty of apples to last us through the winter, and then all the scabby and icky apples are to feed the rabbits through the winter. They LOVE the apples, and we do too. Homegrown apples are so great, no nasty chemicals sprayed on them, and they taste so sweet and fresh.

I am amazed at how fast fall has come upon us here in the northwest. We had a beautiful, warm, late summer, and then fall just decided to drop in. It is a beautiful season, just a little hard to put away those summer clothes and pull out all the layers. I am looking forward to Halloween, it is Bernie’s birthday, and I have been dreaming up little treats to make.

Yesterday I was browsing online for fall dessert recipes, and found some fun ones! Last night I ended up making pumpkin whoopie pies. They are soooo good! It is a Martha Stewart recipe, and my family loved them! A very fun Halloween treat. Baking is one of my many passions, I have a horrible sweet tooth, so I make all kinds of sweet gooey things.

 

We went to the Bellingham Farmers Market on Saturday. It was a more eventful trip than we thought it would be. First I got to custom order my new purse from a very sweet lady there, Heather Fitzstrawn. It is my belated birthday present from Bernie (on my birthday we were in the middle of nowhere, on Adak island in the Aleutian island chain, not much out there for birthday presents). My parents came also, and mom had brought her standard poodle Angel with us, she walked her around for a little bit and then put her back in her canopy covered truck, and came back to the market. Mom and dad were talking to a friend and dad pointed to a lady walking a white standard poodle and said “she looks just like Angel”, and they went on talking. When we all made it back to the truck we discovered an empty truck bed, Angel had pried open the window and jumped out. We went running back to the market and looked all over for the lady with Angel….. funny huh? Well it turns out they had already taken her with them. So we had to drive all the way home to get the message from them (about a 25min drive). Well when we checked the message there were two, one from the nice lady that picked her up, and then one from a close family friend that said he was hanging out with our dog….. Well it turns out the lady works at the restaurant that he used to manage, he had stopped and talked to her for a minute, and she asked if he happened to know where this address was. And as a matter of fact, he did. So he took Angel and we met him to pick her up. It was a very very strange coincidence. It can still be a small world.

She looks so innocent here……

 

Well, now we are off, the rain stopped and the sun has come out. We are going to go find some place to walk around and maybe find some animals to take pictures of. If we get some good pictures I will share them.

This is Me…… October 20, 2008

Well, how does one start a first entry in blog about daily life? I could write a long involved history of who I am, and where I have come from. Or I can simply tell you that I live life the way I want. I am an explorer, a dreamer, an artist, and so much more. My life is blessed in so many ways, and different than so many others.

I am 26 years old, and I have quite a list of wonderful adventures already under my belt. I have done quite a bit of long distance hiking, traveling to beautiful places, living in wild spaces. I have been with my boyfriend Bernie for 6 years now, and we travel all over together. He is one of the main inspirations in my life for living alternatively. My parents were a huge influence in my life also, they always encouraged me to follow my dreams, and do what called me.

Currently we are living on my parents property for the winter. This is the place that I grew up, and I affectionately call it the zoo. We have quite the collection of animals out here, one of my favorites being the banty chickens. As time goes on I am sure I will talk about all the different creatures that share our space.

Bernie does wildlife photography, and we sell cards and prints sometimes at the holiday craft shows, and other shows. Its something that we can do in between our adventures. He does a wonderful job with the photography, and then I custom mat the pieces. We always get great feedback on the photography. I will share some of his photography on here, and some of mine. I will also have the link to his blog that he has just started with his photography.

We are all signed up for a couple of holiday shows in Bellingham, I will write more about those as we get ready for them. I enjoy doing them for all the different people I get to meet. I love people that are following their dreams and selling their crafts.

I am actually working part time for a friend that I met at one such craft show. Christie owns Birchwood Botanicals, and makes herbal body care and other products. She makes WONDERFUL products, and is a great person. I am working part time helping to put her gardens to bed for the winter. I love being out in the dirt with the plants.

Well that’s a very general overview of where I am right now, with each entry more details will emerge, and the story will become more complete. I look forward to sharing with anyone that is interested in my perspective on this game called life.