Updates...The Girls

November 6, 2011

September 13, 2011

The flock is coming closer to laying eggs. We're figuring the earliest will be in about 4 weeks just in time for the holiday season. But, we still have some work to do. I helped Kevin put together some boxes for them to lay the eggs. They don't seem to like them other than to throw the straw out of them. Instead we're thinking of making the sides of the boxes a lot higher, so it's more difficult to throw the straw over the side.

Quilting progress

Hole in the Barn Door Blocks

Gayle and I joined a group of quilters which meets at the Sachem Public Library once a month. We've been working with red, white, and blue fabrics and have made 2 blocks so far. The "hole in the barn door" is one of them. Every time I make a block for the group, I make another in the civil war reproduction fabrics I found through Fat Quarters Shop.com. I'm hoping to make enough blocks in various patterns in coordinating fabrics in order to put together my first quilt. I'm planning on making it a lap quilt that I can cover myself with when I'm watching TV this winter. It will be called the "Civil War Sampler" quilt...that is once I figure out how to join all the blocks together.

Fall Has Nearly Arrived

It seems that with coming of September that the temperatures are finally dropping to about 60 degrees starting tomorrow. So, fall has finally appeared. For how long, who knows? According to the Farmer's Almanac, it's supposed to begin snowing in November and be fairly cold this year.

With all the rain we had this summer, many of our plants are about done producing and the fields are just about ready to be turned over and made ready with compost for the next summer.

Coming to the End of the Summer

Garden #1: Behind the House:
Beginning of a watermelon...it didn't get large enough for us to eat, but the chickens really liked it

Garden #2: The Field Garden:
We grew Emerald Green Tomatoes, a few varieties of red tomatoes, Lemon Cucumbers, and Green Beans here. It's coming to the end of the growing season. We really didn't give each plant enough room to stretch out. We'll have to space them better next year.

I'm showing off the pretty quilt I picked up in Macy's over 10 years ago. I'm hoping to one of these days make my own quilt.

Here are some borage plants. The blue flowers are really pretty and they taste a little like cucumbers. They're great to add to salads.

Chicken Updates

These pictures were taken on August 24th. You can see just how big the girls are getting. Unfortunately, we now have 13 chicks. One of the hawks that lives on the property had one as an appetizer just before Hurricane Irene came through this past weekend. Our new coop - a converted stable - withstood the storm and the chicks are really enjoying all the roosting space.