Easter
Easter has come and gone. I had a nice weekend in Cooperstown with my mom, my sister, and her friend Jolie. The three of them arrived on Friday from New York City and we all went our separate ways today. We attended the Easter service at Christ Episcopal Church in Cooperstown. Although I do not regularly attend church, I still thought it was a lovely service. It has one of those European cathedral type sanctuaries. During the sermon, I stared in amazement over the ornate architecture. It is simply gorgeous.
Now that the weekend is over, I can let out a huge sigh of relief. Both my mom and my dad know about my sleeve now, and, well… I’m not dead, they haven’t disowned me… Life goes on!
Although I sincerely wish my mom would just sell that house already (no one currently lives in it, we just use it for family gatherings) it is quite nice to be able to escape to the middle of nowhere. The house has such a charm and whim to it, thanks to my mom’s designs and remodels. It looks like something out of a “Good Housekeeping” magazine. You just want to curl up in the bay window with a good book and tea! I technically live “in the country” now, but that house is literally in the middle of nowhere. There is a certain peace of mind that is much easier to attain there.
Zen Pastures Blog Launched
I’ve finally launched the blog for my micro farm, “Zen Pastures.” It is located over at blog.zenpastures.com.
Updates regarding my chickens and etc will most likely be over there from now on!
My, How They’ve Grown!
It is incredible to me how fast chickens grow. In my last post, the chickens were these tiny little creatures. Now it seems as if they are big birds that I can no longer fit within the grasp of my two hands!
Their coop is complete, which I am very happy about. The chickens now have a warm and safe place to sleep at night! It is actually a resin garden shed from Lowe’s that I am converting into a coop. I have a makeshift roost which works for the time being, and I will eventually install some nesting boxes!
I will most likely order some day-old chicks in late winter, that way I can start them off in a brooder indoors and then mid-spring move them outside when they are old enough. When all is said and done, I hope to have about 10 laying chickens. This way I have enough eggs to sell and still end up with some for myself.
Hens or Roosters?
I understood when I bought my chicks that they were too young to be sexed. This means of course that there is a 50% chance that any of them could be male or female. The woman I bought them from was pretty certain that I was receiving four females… I posted photos of the chicks on BackyardChickens.com and the results are not good! Several of the members are pretty sure I have a couple roosters. I am not entirely opposed to the idea of keeping roosters, but I’m sure the neighbors would file complaints over the crowing. And besides, I want edible eggs, not more chicks!
Chickens on the Micro-Farm
Raising hens for eggs has long been a fantasy of mine. My fantasy is now a reality! I picked up four chickens from a lovely family in Greene, NY. I purchased 2 Black Australorp and 2 Buff Orpington for $4 each. They are about 2 weeks old. For now they are inside with a 250w heat lamp, but once they have a full set of feathers they will be (almost) free range outside. Once I have the coop under construction, I will post photos of my coop and run. For now, some photos of the chicks:
