There’s no place like home…

April 12, 2011April 13, 20114 Comments

After running off to Cheekwood week before last I took a look around and realized I had some wonderful things happening “… right in my own back yard…” Perhaps Dorothy was right?

What I found…

Iris in three stages of bloom

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Pink Dogwood in Bloom

I first visited our property in April and all the dogwoods were in bloom! We have twelve, but only this one is pink the rest being white. It was their beauty and the seclusion of our little street that sold me.

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I know it’s dark. It was taken at dawn.

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Over the weekend I was working at the potting bench and kept smelling a wonderful perfume… I sniffed everything in sight and couldn’t figure out what it could be. Then I took a different path to the front yard and passed by this!

There is no finer fragrance than that of Lilac in bloom.

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The summer’s strawberries are only blossoms now, but I can already taste them, picked fresh of a morning and kissed by the Fairies with dew.

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And finally…

Three Chicklets in a Fringe Tree

So OK, technically this is not in bloom yet, but it wouldn’t be a visit to the Farmlet with out the ubiquitous chicken picture now would it? But you have to imagine my surprise when I returned from picture-taking to find these three roosting in the little Fringe Tree in the back yard. We have three of them, two in back, and one out at the end of the drive. I love them! They have a subtle sweet scent, but it is their fuzzy “Grandpaw’s Whiskers” (another name they are known by) that makes me love them so! Want see one in full bloom?

Then follow this link to Clemson University’s Extension <— (Click here) for a view and a bit of information on these lovely native specimens!

Thank you for visiting, and see you again soon!

At Last

April 2, 2011April 2, 20112 Comments

At last, the sun has come along
The coldest days are over
And life is like a song
Oh, yeah, at last
The skies above are blue
My yard is wrapped up in clovers
The sunlight feels good too…

Oh, and then the spell was cast
And here we are in heaven
For the sun will shine
At last

(With apologies to Etta James 😉 )

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The view from my window

Sadly, I think if I want a lawn this year I will have to get out there and replant it. The winter was just too harsh and not much but weeds and daffodils have survived it. Ahem, and much as I love my chickens, I will need to put up the electric poultry fence to keep them from eating all the seeds!!!

And poor Little Red Hen…

Little Red is finding the sunshine particularly comforting this morning.

She has lost about 75 percent of her feathers so far this spring and got an eye infection to boot! I took her to the vet in Tennessee yesterday and now she gets eye salve three times a day to clear it up. Gasp! But every time I pick her up more feathers fall out! Thankfully, they are growing in quickly and the weather is going to be warmer for the next few days.

Is it warming up where you are?

Claus

February 9, 2011February 9, 20113 Comments

We have two kitties here on the Farmlet. Claus and Little Bit. I love them both, but it is Claus who has become my kitty.

He is the only cat I’ve ever had that will instantly begin to purr when I say his name. Although he can be aloof at times, he is after all a cat, the very next minute he will be in my lap demanding attention and he rarely takes “No” for an answer. He follows me when I do chores, weeding, raking, gathering eggs, etc. I must tell you of course, that the chickens take an exception to his visits in their run and can become downright peckish when he checks to see what I am getting out of the nest boxes!

Claus was adopted from the animal shelter and at the time we didn’t realize he had a dislocated knee. It wasn’t till he got a few months older that we began to notice his limp. We took him to the vet and were told that we would need to wait till he was older for surgery, but that as long as he wasn’t in noticeable pain and could get around OK, then we needn’t have him operated on. (I had misgivings about that advice) And so it is, that when he walks he looks gimpy, and yet he’s the best mouser I have ever seen. I can get him to come running home by calling out “CLAUS KITTY… com’on CLAUS!” Well, for a gimpy cat, he can race home amazingly fast for dinner and some kitty-lovin’s!

Of course when I want him he’s nowhere to be found!

However, the other night I got lucky. I started calling for him and Little Bit found him for me!

“Gee, thanks Little Bit!“

“Too… CROWDED… ergh! Go AWAY…”

“and stay out!“

“Uh… Mom, maybe you should change her name to Little Brat!”

I love both of my kitties, but Claus is my special kitty boy.

The morning after

January 27, 2011January 27, 20116 Comments

After all the excitement of the hawk incident, most of my girls were pretty anxious to get back to business as usual. So I was sorry to disappoint them yesterday by closing the gate in their face, but close it I did and left. I had other work to do! The Silkys on the other side of the yard were even more incensed as I did not let them out until I had made some sort of emergency makeshift run for them.

To accomplish this I put up a metal dog playpen and attached it to the chain link fence. Then I took my staple gun and stapled garden bird netting directly to the sides of their hutch. Next, I took a box of spring binder clips and attached the netting all the way around to top of the chain link and the dog playpen. It looks a ramshackle affair, but seems to be working! I can live with it for a couple of days till Bob and I can do something more permanent and less ghastly looking…

When finished I quickly ducked under, opened up their hutch, gave them their ladder and watched for them to come out. They didn’t. I waited, and waited! Oh-KAY-THEN. I went inside to watch from the window. It took the two adults about a half an hour to come out, but the three babies took till almost noon! Poor things.

Later in the evening I went out to lock up the hutches and collect any remaining eggs from the day. The egg count was understandably very low. This happens when the girls get stressed. However, the most curious thing I found wasn’t in the nesting boxes.

It was this…

and I found it in the leaf litter out in the run!

These are Tippy’s eggs. the one on the right is normal, and the one on the left is about the size of a medium jaw breaker!

I know it to be hers, because she is the only girl I have that lays white eggs. (blue tint is an anomaly of the photo) The little one is called a *Wind Egg, or as some crusty folk call it, a “Fart Egg.” When opened the inside will contain only the albumin or “white” of the egg. Quite irregular, but then I guess if you are throttled the day before by a hawk and he pulls out all your tail feathers, but you thankfully manage to get away, then you can be expected to be a little off the next day.