Author: denisemor

It’s been a while since we’ve checked in with the chigs here on the blog, so I thought that I’d take a minute to catch up with the crazy girls now that the sun is shining and egg production is on the rise.

We currently have 20 girls & 2 roosters. Here is the roster:

5 “new girls” -last year’s surprise chicks. 3 amerucana-ish, but a bit more red/orange

1 speckled sussex, and one really interesting crossbreed who is hard to get a picture of because the other girls are always running her off!

3 Amerucanas and 3 Specked Sussex from 2016. Amerucana girls are small and a little shy,

and the specked sussex are big, broody and very opinionated 🙂

2 partridge rocks and 1 barred rock from 2015. The partridge girls are kind of the honchos in the coop,

and the little black and white barred rock girl is one of my favorites. She’s kind of spunky and funny.

Sometime I think back in 2014 I adopted some older girls looking for a new situation from Bellingham. Of those 4, two girls of indeterminate age remain- Grumpy Orange Chicken,

and Big Black and White.

3 Buff Orpingtons– 2 from a friend in 2013, and one I took in from a friend at work who couldn’t keep her in town because she was crowing! The buff girls are really easy-going. Early on they showed a tendency to be broody, but that seems to have passed now that they are semi-retired.

1 guinea we raised in 2015 (used to be two)

And our two roosters Bertrand (Amerucana) and Tre (Specked Sussex) both from 2016

They are a pretty cool gang, providing lots of entertainment out in the pasture for the sheep, and amazing pink-brown and green eggs for us.

Amazing the difference a little sunshine can make.

It was a really productive weekend- I feel good about getting spring sheep maintenance (CDT, hooves, deworming) done

and the big apple tree pruned. And that feels really good.

I know it still looks kind of crazy, but trust me- it’s pruned! (I should have taken a “before” photo)

But I’m pretty pooped. So it’s time to take a break.
Just sit and breathe.
And knit. 🙂

SuperGreen looks pretty amazing in the sunshine. All that yellow-green in the blend just seems to glow from within.

Yesterday there was (more) snow.

And today it is slush.

While I’m glad that it is a smidgen warmer and that meltage is happening, the resulting slippery sloshiness is no fun.

And so I am hiding from the weather and making good progress on my SuperGreen sweater

I’m pretty excited to have completed raglan increases and separated the sleeves from the body.
Now the rows go a little bit quicker, and it’s easier to see how it’s shaping up.

Note on modification to the Dry Creek pattern:
I’m working the cables as charted, but ignoring the yarnovers and associated decreases so there won’t be lacy holes in the panels. I don’t really like mixing cables and lace.

It was a little awkward at first, but now that I’ve done a few repeats it all makes sense- it helps that it is all very symmetrical and even.

And here are a couple other bits of sunshine I worked up while in hiding from the weather-

Color can be a powerful tonic.