The Incredible Edible Egg

Ta-da! Our very first egg! It's such a milestone to finally have eggs from what used to be tiny chicks only 4 months ago. The eggs will get bigger as the hens get older. For now though, this is very exciting. Hopefully there will be more tiny eggs tomorrow!

And here are a few of the other poultry on the farm. The turkeys are growing- they run if I get to close so you only get a tail view. The guinea on the other hand now associate with me food- they run at me with their strange call. I'll try to get a video of that up at some point.

Amos was our dog from another planet. He passed away yesterday of old age. He was a good dog, patient with the kids and puppies, part time herd guardian, and barked his fool head off at the meter reader. Being from an alien world he had no concept of physics and frequently tried to occupy the same space as other objects. If he ever got out the front, he would take off on long adventures that usually had him barking outside our window at 4am. We imagined he was trying to summon the mother ship to ferry him back to his home world. Maybe he's there now.

Rest well, sweet boy. We'll miss you.

Poultry Party

Chuck and Madison got some video of the fowl this evening.

Today the turkeys and guinea got to come out of their coops for the first time, and I'm very happy to report that they are all accounted for and back in their homes. I did have to do some herding but it's good exercise and quite amusing. The chickens tried to sneak in and eat the others food- but they all eat the same thing so they weren't really getting away with anything =meager. The turkeys spent most of their time out of their coop next door in the chicken coop=more meager. The guinea played in the trees and on top of the coops where they panicked when they couldn't see the ones that had already gone in the coop=they still qualify for "Most Meagerest".

Yesterday, I went to the farmers market with my folks to sell blueberries and blackberries. We did OK, I don't think I'll take the Angoras next week- it just doesn't seem like the right venue. In rabbit news, I have pulled 4 larger bunnies from Sweetie Pie's hutch, she needs to retain more calories for herself now and some of those bunnies are chunks! We have additional hutches ready now for when Sapphires get older, too.

From Fuzz to Funky Yarn

The fiber stuff is starting to come together. I have plucked the fiber off bunnies, processed raw sheep fiber and bought different kids of ready to use rovings. I have been practicing my spinning and today I dyed some of my hand spun yarn! Next step is to actually make something out of said yarn- I'm still trying to decide what, but I'll post a picture when it's done.

This is hand carded angora/wool blend ready for spinning. The angora is from Sweetie Pie.

These are my first attempts at dying -pink and turquoise. I learned that a little goes a LONG way! The colors will be good together- but since it's some of my first attempts it is rather...unique in both shading and texture.