We’re talking TINY here. This little guy/girl (we’re not sure which yet, let’s go with “he” for now) has won our hearts with his mostly sweet, occasionally pugnacious nature. And, well, him being teeny tiny helps too. Plus…his feathered feet, love. So, what’s his use? Well, if he’s a boy, he’ll enter the “Blue Yurt Farm’s Next Rooster” competition, and if a girl, she’ll be a very, very small egg layer (and possible brooder). I haven’t captured him roosting yet, but if I do, I guarantee it’ll melt your heart.
Archive for May, 2012
Chard. Meet Eggs ‘n Beans.
I’ll start this off by saying…that Mike and Chard are not friends. They are dire, for-a-lifetime, sworn adversaries. Mike refuses to like chard in any sort of mashup, even if it’s covered in cheese or hidden in a pile of spinach (I kid you not, I slipped one LEAF of chard into a wilted spinach side, and Mike said, “does this have CHARD in it!?!?!?!). But the issue is, our CSA has started and chard has come back into our life. Dunh…dunh…duuuuuuunnnnh…
An Update: Our Baby Chicks Are One Week Old!
Well, it’s been a week, and everyone is looking great. They’ve doubled in size, and are starting to “feather” out a bit, with some glossy baby feathers replacing their puff on the wings and tails. And a few adventurous chicks have started testing out their wings…prefaced by “peep, peeeeep, PEEEEEP!!!“ and a whole lot of fluttering as they take a running start…off of the backs of the other chicks. Which makes them…not suuuch popular chicks with their fellow brood-mates at the moment. So, next up, is figuring out who is who, and what is what. Ready to try your hand at chick identification??
Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
Are you familiar with Michael Pollan, of In Defense of Food and The Omnivore’s Delimma fame? One of his most famous quotes is “Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” — and I feel like if you’re looking for the new fad diet, that should be it. Maybe with the addition of “Move a little.” Mike and I have been doing the vegetables-for-every-meal thing since May 1st, and aside from a crazy meat craving early on (which was partly the goal of going all-veggies-for-a-month), we’ve been loving it. Why?
Should You Name Your Food?
This is a common debate among those who are or have raised animals for food — should you name them? I think it’s the personality of the animal that makes it more or less difficult when the end comes, not necessarily the name. But when they are so young as to not have fully developed personalities, naming them can definitely make them more endearing than if they were just “chicken”. Which is why I was very disturbed to hear Mike whispering to one of the chickens yesterday, one of the chunkier yellow chicks, meaning a DEFINITE meat bird.
Baby Animals…EVERYWHERE!!
OK, perhaps not everywhere, everywhere…although I will say, ANIMALS in general are pretty much everywhere. Somehow the addition of an extra dog (yep, Scruff is still here and currently buried in blankets), and 27 chicks in the bathroom can make you feel like you live in a zoo. So much that we had to watch “We Bought a Zoo” for general sanity purposes. Heaven help us when we get MORE animals. Farmers everywhere, our hearts go out to you. But no matter, the high points are better than we’ve ever experienced, and we finally have goat milk (yum!). Ohhh, enough text you say? More video?
Our Baby Goat Has Arrived!
Late, laaate last night, Katie finally had her baby! It’s pretty funny, since it was both my and Mike’s first baby goat experience — and from the research I had done, I thought once she showed signs, she’d just pop them out. Ha, ha, ha. Try, 16 hours later (16 LOUD hours). Once I found THIS extremely helpful site, I realized all the talking was normal, but I’ll tell ya, the constant goat yells got a little old around hour 10. She’s got quite a set of lungs, that Katie. But around 1AM last night, out came this beautiful baby girl.
My Newest Addiction. Dew.
So that whole morning walk thing has led to an unexpected affliction. A total obsession with dew photos. I know you’re probably sick of them, but every time I’m out there…I think, just ONE more. And then one turns into two, three, four…… The only way to stop myself is to admit that I have a problem to all of you, so that you can hold me accountable. This is, after all, not a blog about dewy photos, right? Right. OK, so I’ll just share these LAAAST photos, and then we’ll move on. Promise!!
