CousCous and Quimble: the joys of backyard chicken keeping

Here are Cous Cous (the little one) and Quimble (the big one). They are meeting for the first time and to my pleasant surprise they get along great! The full grown chickens are a little less welcoming, but I will be easing these two into the flock little by little. Every day is an adventure with chickens. Becoming a chicken keeper is one of the best decisions that I have ever made. If anyone reading this blog is interested in getting a backyard flock of their own, I say "do it!". They are fun, useful, and low maintenance pets, not to mention the eggs are phenomenal. I just joined a local Charlottesville organization called C.L.U.C.K (Charlottesville League of Urban Chicken Keepers). Isn't that just the best acronym ever? They have a blog and a facebook page so you can join this lively group of poultry enthusiasts.

Seed Starting and Swapping

Two weeks ago my friends Alp and Ingrid hosted a Seed Swap Party. It was so cleverly organized. Everyone brought their seeds and there were little baggies to put them into for trading. I now have the most eclectic mix of seeds and a compendium of knowledge about gardening from my green-thumbed friends. A seed swap is a great way to get heirloom varieties and learn what does well in your area.

Now my little seedling are starting to sprout; it is a very exciting time. I made all their little starter pots out of recycled newspaper using this nifty little wooden gadget called a Pot Maker. I used Fox Farm brand potting soil which contains earthworm castings and bat guano.

Happy Sunday!

Hello, I hope you had a wonderful weekend! I photographed this little blue bird today. My husband found it trapped in the wood stove in his shop. It stayed on his hand for a good fifteen minutes before it decided to fly off to the nearest branch.

Class #1 'Here in Virginia'

Hooray! We had the first class today. It has been a long time in the making and I am so excited that it has finally begun. Kate Bennis helped to organize and she will host several sessions at her lovely home.  

Children and moms began to trickle in at 4:00pm. Shy toddlers, clinging to their moms immediately opened up when a fluffy yellow chick was placed in their hands. I'm glad that I was able to show this wonderful creature to them.

We had a scavenger hunt outside, where Eric Carle cloth animals were hidden around the yard. Each child got a magnifying glass to search around and find 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear' hiding in a tree or 'Blue Horse, Blue Horse' hiding in the garden.

Next we brought all the little cloth animals inside and gathered around the felt board. Elements were added to the board as they came up in the story. The children got to help and participate in the telling. Here's how the story went:

Here in Virginia we have a lot of sunshine. Sometimes the shy is clear and blue. Sometimes it is a bit cloudy. Here in Virginia, our mountains look blue! We call them the Blue Ridge Mountains. Here in Virginia we have pine forests.We have hardwood forests too. Here is an oak tree that lives in the forest. In the winter it has no leaves, but in the spring it sprouts lots of green leaves! Many animals, reptiles, and birds live in the forest. We have cardinals, which are the Virginia state bird. We have bears! Oh, yes. In Virginia forests there are frogs too. They like to be in places that are nice and damp. Some animals in Virginia don't live in the forest, but they love to visit it. Here in Virginia, we have cats,  horses, ducks, fish, and people!

After the story-time we had craft-time. Children got to make their very own felt boards. They were supplied with felt pouches and an abundance of wool and cotton fabric scraps for cutting and arranging shapes onto the felt. Beautiful compositions were created. The best part was that this was virtually a mess free activity. The fabric scraps stick right to felt without glue or velcro, in fact, they stick right to peoples' clothing as well. In the end, everyone got a pocket full of fabric pieces to take home. They can always add to their felt object collection with new fabric pieces to make all different temporary pictures.