Sending on the coop.

One of the hard things about getting the house ready is how much we'd done to make it ours. Some of that is the chicken coops. Unfortunately when the chickens are gone I'm going to have to just disassemble the big coop in the back. Fortunately, the Lady of the House's father wants to get into chickens so I was able to offload the smaller red coop we used for so long back to him. He actually found that coop for us for free, and hauled it up in the first place. He came up on Saturday, and the two of us moved the coop onto the trailer he brought, took down the chicken run, and packed it up into his trailer. Once that was done we loaded up a lot of the Critters toys, and the electric fencing for the chickens and sent it off to his house. Once that's set up we're going to bring the chickens to his place to watch over until we have a place we can have chickens again.

On the subject of the GoFundMe, we are doing well, and with the donation matching we're getting close to the $5,500 point where we need to be to get the heat and hot water installation begun. Any help you can give before the 1st while the donation matching is still going on would be greatly appreciated. All of the help and sharing we've gotten has been amazing to us. Thank you all.

On the farm side of things, we still desperately need rain.

A productive, and fun July 4th weekend.

July 4th was a very busy weekend for us around the homestead, and full of good people and good company to go with the significant amount of work there was to do. For the 4th, we had a brush clearing party, then a camp fire. When it started raining just before folks showed up I didn't expect to get much done, or have a fire. As you can see the fire happened, and below the cut you'll get to see just how much we got done in the thankfully warm rain.

First fruit, and ferocious weather.

Again I'm going to start with something I'm excited about just because it's good to see more than it shows anything we've done in particular. The first raspberry I've seen start to ripen on our property. I'm going to be keeping an eye on it to try to get it when it's fully ripe before the birds get it, so I can give it to the Lady of the House. It also means that we're about to be a bit busy paying attention to make sure we get as much of the ripening fruit around the yard as we can. Strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries are what we have around. If we let them sit not only are they going to get eaten, they're going to attract bears which we don't want for obvious reasons.

A break for beauty, and a whole lot of chicken changes.

In between the storms that have been rumbling through the area dumping water in copious amounts, and bringing cold temperatures, we've had some gorgeous weather come through. We try to make sure we take the time to enjoy the beauty around us every day, even in the dark days. On days like this though, it's easy to appreciate even the most mundane parts of our home. In this case, even our regular trouble, the driveway, has provided real beauty to enjoy. Even with the pauses for beauty though, we have plenty going on.

Asparagus, coop construction, and other concerns.

I am really excited about this, our asparagus has not only sprouted, it's doing well! It's sort of a silly sounding thing to be excited about I guess given everything else going on, but I'm excited about it none the less. Mostly I think because I didn't expect any of them to necessarily survive after some of the heavy rains that came in right after planting. So far only 9 of the 36 we planted have come up, but that's still better than the none that I'd been seeing up 'till now. I'm not sure if any more will come up, and if so, great, if not, we still have some which is better than no asparagus! That said, in a lot of ways that's the smallest thing going on.

Long nights, deep fog, and rain in the chicken coop.

The longest night of winter has just recently passed, and we're looking forward to seeing just a bit less of this sort of scene as beautiful as it can be. We definitely prefer getting home when we can get by without the lights being on for a while, and that just isn't the case at the moment. It would be the case even without working far too much which is the norm right now unfortunately. We've had some very strange weather out here lately as well for this time of year. First there was the snow and more snow, and that was fairly normal. The Thursday post of the conquest of snow was fun because it is nice to feel like we have the snow under control for the first time. Note to mother nature, that isn't a challenge!

So many kits on the ground, but not as many as we'd like.

As seems to be the refrain at the moment, a lot is going on right now. Less than last week due to the downpour over the weekend that kept me from working on the multiple outdoor projects.

Mid way through a busy week with lots of good things happening!

Our ever curious older litter greets the day, and the white baby has an eye to adventure it seems. That one always has been the most curious and most out going. But, they're no where near the only young rabbits to talk about and show you today!

Spring is coming!

I can tell because the driveway is almost clear of ice on the actual driving surface, and the average level of snow is a little below knee deep rather than a little above knee deep. It is warm and pleasant outside by comparison, and the mist is epic. Obviously with the indicators of spring's impending arrival we are excited about a whole bunch of things, and our minds are whirling with how to most efficiently handle everything we need to do while still both working full time plus.

Coop planning part 3, cost cutting

In day to day life it is somewhat difficult to think how soon the coop will need to be built and go into action, but there are reminders. Up where we live there is still plenty of snow actually on the ground, and seeing the dirt below it is unusual. When we come down to the valley though I am reminded that while winter isn't over for sure, spring is around the corner. Snow is gone less than 10 miles from our house, and soon it will be mud season.

Coop planning Part 3, our dream coop in detail.

So there it is, the complete coop sketch up for what we would ideally like to do for the coop. Of course in the process I found some things we could probably do better with, but here's the planning process continued. I will also include the estimate for how much this monstrosity will cost, and discuss some options when it comes to the construction. Above is the South face including the storage shed, and the low level windows which I'd probably want to move up a couple feet for better lighting.

Hurt Rabbit? Also chicken coop planning pt 2

We start today's post with a bit of concern, one of our babies is either hurt or has some cerebral problem. His back legs seem to almost be lagging and not moving correctly most of the time. Sometimes he can hop just fine and make a rapid movement, sometimes he can't even sit properly and his back end twists to the side. He is eating and drinking fine, isn't concerned with being picked up and held beyond the normal. He actually just sat there and kept eating his hay as I had him upside down to check his feet. He doesn't seem to be in pain either. Our best guess is an injured back, but we are going to be keeping our eye on him. We don't have a video of him moving or photos since we were a bit busy this morning sadly. Right now our plan is to take care of him, and watch to make sure it isn't something catchy and that he isn't in pain.

Below the cut I'll discuss the next phase of chicken coop design, brainstorming an ideal structure that's at least somewhat reasonable.

Chicken coop design process Pt. 1

As we sit through winter and prepare for the arrival of spring, and the changes that will bring. The Lady of the House has her focus settled on the garden, and I am trying to have a design for the chicken coop nailed down as much as possible before mud season begins. Below is my first draft considerations for the requirements for the coop, with information that is informing this and my next steps of the design process.

General Update

Well, looks like I forgot today was Thursday. I have no new photos for you today, and nothing at all even vaguely planned too write. So instead I'll do a quick run down of where we are and our plans for the near future.

The First Round of Research

Research
It's not something that you do once and then move away from, it's a process that as long as you have access to more information will continue to happen. In the case of us that means if we have access to a library, the internet, or other knowledgeable people. Given that there happen to be an abundance of knowledgeable people, functioning internet for now, and plenty of libraries, I suspect there will be a large number of posts on research.

The First Idea
Let's keep chickens. That would help with ticks and provide eggs.

That was the idea that came to the mind of the lady of the house. We looked at it, and decided this seemed like a good idea. After all, chickens have multiple uses and are supposedly fairly easy to care for. Eggs are good for you, and ticks are a pain in the ass. Beyond that we know people who keep chickens, both in suburbia and in the more rural areas that we've moved out to. Ok, it's definitely functional and probably a good idea, let's look into it.