Blog

A couple of weeks ago we changed up the chicken management scheme.

And everything seemed cool for about a week.

The girls settled in fine, and I set up a special little dust bathing area for them.

Then the hawk showed up.

We lost two girls before we realized what was going on and who the culprit was. 🙁

We moved the chicken house out of the pen and set the girls back to free-ranging.

They seemed to get over the shock of the hawk attacks and went back to their old routine of sitting on the front porch and pooping on everything 🙂

Which meant that the free-ranging thing was not going to last.

So this weekend we moved the girls into the pasture.

The fencing is to keep the sheep away from the chicken house (they know there is chicken food in there).

They’ve got their nesting boxes in there (with a little bit of makeshift tarp to keep the crazy sideways rain out)

And they can access the pasture through their special little chicken-sized doorway (between the rebar arches).

So far, the sheep have been pretty cool about sharing the pasture with our feathered friends.

But they I’m not sure they know quite what to make of the new decorating scheme.

We’ve just returned from a few days down in Cannon Beach, Oregon.
It’s a great spot to just go and hang out and do not much for a while.
Which is exactly what we did.

Here is the view from out room (+work in progress)

Don’t think I’ve posted about this current project yet- it’s a Brooklyn Tweed Brownstone for me!

I’ve been meaning to make one of these for a while, but other projects kept pushing it down the priority list.

This will be the first project spun entirely on my new lateral treadle wheel, and is a blend of Edgar and Griff, with a little touch of white from a forgotten source that just happened to be about the right weight.

The red tips are the same Edgar/Griff yarn dyed with a blend of red-pink Kool-Aids that I had hanging around.

I am really excited about this sweater. I’m expecting it to be a lightweight yet sturdy staple in the wardrobe. A workin-around-the-homestead sweater that I’ll live in most weekends.

And I didn’t really plan it to, but it kind of has a traditional sock-monkey color scheme going on.

Cool.

‘Tis now my Monkey Sweater.

I mostly just knit, read, played scrabble and drank coffee in Cannon Beach, but in case you are planning a trip to the Oregon Coast, I should mention that there is a nice little yarn shop there:

(sorry for the funny face there- the sun was in my eyes) 🙂

And an awesome but tiny restaurant, The Irish Table, that you should not miss! They are located in the same building as Sleepy Monk coffee roasters, and don’t have a website.
Amazing food, super service, cozy setting.

I always kind of enjoyed having the chickens running around the yard being crazy.

And they seemed so happy having the run of the place.

Chickens don’t mean to be destructive, but they can’t help scratching and dustbathing and making messes everywhere.

Things were getting a little bit out of control.

So we’re introducing the New Deal.

Welcome to the Chick-itat!

It’s pretty comfy. Plenty of room to scratch, peck, run, flap, etc etc.
About 40×60, and lots of nice shade and cover from the giant portuguese laurel.

But now the silly girls don’t have the option of roosting in the woodshed (and pooping all over the firewood).

Yeah, we’re pretty happy about it. 🙂

In sheep news,, we’re all looking forward to shearing in about a month or so-
here are some fleece previews.

Chone

Edgar

“It’s all about the wool, baby.” 😉

Sweater Pieces!

Hadn’t blogged about this previously, but I’ve just finished the pieces for a special request sweater-

It’s a long cardigan vest, kind of like this but without sleeves.

Its the first time in a long time that I’m working with commercial yarn (and superwash, to boot!) and it does behave a bit differently from my handspun. Now that I have it washed and blocking, I think that it has grown too much lengthwise. I might have to make some adjustments.

Stand by for minor sweater surgery.