Easter

life

Life is strange, and weird, and sometimes like this print, I don't understand it.

I like dwell magazine. The architecture in the mag is modern, and often the homes use funky materials,alternative energy, and sheep power. They need more chickens, and it would be the PERFECT magazine.

For the birds

Pictured here are the two Bantum chickens. They lay small white eggs that are actually pretty big when you consider the size of the chicken. I took this photo with my phone, and I can see it is not that great.

My son has been updating his blog more often than I have. I think he is doing an outstanding job, and his writing is getting better and better.

Where have I been? I have been going crazy, among other things. Working about 78 hours a week, homeschooling, taking kids to classes, baking bread, taking care of chickens,hiking to Shipman Beach,composting,recycling,sitting at this desk typing on this computer till my carpal tunnel acts up, and being on film for Operation Christmas Child.(We are going to be on the show Living In Paradise!)

My house is a mess. Something has to give right?

More chickens!

Now we have Silkies! Basil and Rose. Kealani is with Rose, and Isaiah is holding Basil.
My hope is that one of them really is a hen, and she will sit on eggs for us. Silkies are known for being eggcellent mothers.

What I got for Christmas

Three lovely Americana chickens, and two I am not sure of,they came with the free hen house!!On Christmas eve I got a rooster. I will post pictures of him soon.
Goompy and Speckle, (may they rest in peace), were attacked and killed by a loose dog in the neighborhood. I miss them. I especially miss their eggs. I hope my new chickens lay eggs soon.

Bananas and chocolate

Tis another before and after photo blog. Before is a box of apple bananas that are on the verge of being too ripe, and no good for anything except chicken food and compost.
I saved the day by peeling and trimming them all, dipping them in fresh lemon juice,and dehydrating them. Then I did what seemed the most reasonable thing to do, I dipped them in chocolate. Semi-sweet chocolate. I like them, but I think next time I will dip them in dark chocolate.

Chickens and old pallets

Goompy

We will be making hen houses using old wooden pallets and hopefully getting 12 or more chickens, hopefully more. We have about 9 pallets collected now, and we know where to get plenty more. Wooden pallets are an excellent recycled building material.

They would be chopped up at the dump and made into mulch, but I don't think this kind of wood mulch is very healthy for gardens. I would rather have beautiful chicken coops.I will post pictures of them soon.I hope.

Noni

Aloha!
I feel like I have so much to write about that I am not able to write. I picked these Noni fruits on the way back from the farmers market in Seaview on Saturday.

Noni is a natural pain reliever and is a blood cleanser and an antiseptic. I attended a class taught by a Hawaiian medicine woman, and she demonstrated how to apply fresh noni to large wounds. She has treated injured surfers with excellent results. Noni helps to reduce bruising and infection.

She takes a ripe (not rotten) noni and breaks it in half. Then she wraps it in a paper towel. Let the juice soak the towel, and apply to the wound leave the noni on for as long as you can. Apply a new one if needed. She even showed how you can use a Ti leaf to hold the noni in place.Do not apply the fruit directly to the skin as some people are sensitive to the seeds.

I personally have used noni to treat a head ache. I like to make one quart of fresh lemonade with honey and add the juice of one noni. My head ache will go away with just one glass of noni lemonade. A teaspoon of noni juice will wipe out a cold.
I also have had success giving noni to my chickens when their poop is runny. Noni has been known to rid animals of intestinal worms, so I give it to the chickens for that reason too, but I have not done any tests on them to see if it really works.

Those silly humans

We thought Speckle and Goompy had been molting again, but boy were we wrong! Isaiah found two large piles of eggs behind the shed yesterday. Nicely hidden from us in soft quiet nests. Unfortunately many were rotten, and two even exploded when Isaiah tried to move them. Poor Isaiah. I heard them pop from inside the house. Fortunately 14 of the eggs were still good. Thanks girls.
Time to make some pound cake.

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July!

Organic, Grade A Large,Free Range Eggs

I told my kids that when Goompy and Speckle finish molting, we will make a cake that requires lots of eggs. Well, I looked up chocolate cake on Epicurious and found: Chocolate Stout Cake. This cake got 4 forks. We really liked this chocolaty,moist, not too sweet cake. The frosting is so easy too.

I like Epicurious because it is so easy to find a really good recipe. They have EVERYTHING.
I also like the way they rate it so you can quickly find which one is the best, then you can read reviews to help you make your final decision.

Chicken rides a bike!!!

Speckle just got done molting, so now, to celebrate she is going for a ride on Isaiah's mountain bike. I asked her where she was going and she said, "Going? What do you mean you crazy woman?"

Chickens are known to be quite sassy when they get done molting. Oh, and they start laying lovely brown eggs again after a molt. Goompy lays light brown eggs with a few speckles and Speckle lays pale brown eggs with no speckles. Chicken irony. Also, their eggs are grade A Large, and they are proud of that fact, very proud.

No poop!

Someone who had recently had a nice dirt bath,(not my kids) hopped up the steps of our previously clean back porch, and shook their feathers, thereby dumping loads of dirt all over the porch.(OK, there is a broken fish tank, (that leaked all over Isaiah's room)with accessories,slippers,Crocks,a cat food and water dish, but otherwise it was clean.)(I like parentheses.)
Well, whoever it was, they left a footprint....and it looks rather chickenlike.
No poop though, so it is questionable. My chickens like to save their poops just for my porch.
They have a whole acre in which to free range their poofy little rear ends, and they save their poops just for me. Thanks girls.

Why chickens must not roost on my porch.(WARNING THIS BLOG CONTAINS LARGE PHOTO OF POOP)

Chickens, although cute, and I want to give them a hug, must never roost on my porch.They look kind of guilty I think.They roost here because they love us and want to be closer to us. Cute.

























But, this is why they must roost in their nice hen house made especially for chickens.
Thank you.

Goompy

This is our lovely chicken Goompy in our driveway after much rain. It rains here, that is why it is so green. I love my chickens, they are "Island Rock", and like their little chicken ways. Goompy's friend Speckle is always near, but not in the picture, Speckle purrs. Yes, that is right, I have a chicken who purrs. She purrs when she is very happy. Last night they were roosting on my porch and I heard her purring. They are NOT supposed to roost on my porch....but that is another story.