Don’t remember if I ever mentioned Barnaby before–
But here he is- all finished and ready to go out on the town (or the pasture)
He’s a pretty dapper little guy, with a subtle tone-on-tone diamond pattern and a little bit of argyle-ish diagional detail.
Here he is doing a little meet and greet with some of the gang
I think Chone was disappointed that he wasn’t a treat 🙂
Yesterday we brought a new girl home 🙂
Her name is Esther, and she’s of CVM/Romney/Icelandic parentage- so kind of a big full-figured gal. Too much sheep for the back of the Subaru! (how I brought Dottie home last year), so we had to get out the big blue truck.
Here is Esther contemplating the ramp we rigged up to get her into the back…..
And safely loaded up.
Thankfully it wasn’t a very long trip, and we got her back out of the truck and settled at home without much fuss. She’s a sweet sheep and was a pretty good sport about the whole thing 🙂
She’s just getting her bearings in her new environment, and Dottie has been making sure she knows who is the boss out there, but I think that she’s going to be a great member of the flock, and a good buddy (she’s very people-friendly).
Welcome Esther!
Over a month without any measurable rain.
Grass is starting to dry out, but berries are still going strong!
Already harvested my small crop of black currants and made them into jam.
Raspberries just keep coming, and blueberries are just now starting to ripen.
Baby chickens are hardly babies anymore- about 12 weeks old now, and we’re starting to get a sense of how many roosters are among the brood.
They are still really cute, and I keep hoping that a couple especially pretty (handsome?) ones are hens.
It’s pretty certain that all new roos are going to have to go- either to new homes or to the freezer.
In sheep news, the downed poplar tree is still producing some new foliage, so the feasting continues (at least when I come out and pull down some branches for them).
Branches make the sheepers so happy.
And I’m pleased to report, I officially finished the Dottie Oregon Vest!
Zipper is in and, it’s a good fit. I’m so happy with it that I’m almost looking forward to Fall and the weather cooling off 🙂
Speaking of Oregon, I was just down in Portland last week for work, and found some lovely souvenirs at the local yarn shops.
The greens seemed to be calling to me this time.
I think that they are going to turn into a Zephyr Cove shawl,
perhaps with a twist of juicy tangerine thrown in to make it pop.
Pop!
I never thought I would consider buying clothing for a chicken.
But here we are.
I’d been noticing that one of the little Amerucana girls, who was already missing all her back feathers, had sustained a bad wound on her right side. I think it was the result of too much/ too aggressive rooster attention. I’d sprayed her with Blue Cote, but knew that unless she was able to keep away from the boys that it would never heal up.
So I thought I would give this hen saddle thing a whirl.
It’s a Hen Saver, ordered on Amazon, the most low-key color I could find. Got here in two days, I think.
She wasn’t too pleased with me getting her into it,
But now that it’s all in place, she seems good. It doesn’t appear to impede any of her normal chicken activities- and she’s actually been out of the shed more, so hopefully that’s an indication that she’s feeling better.
I have to say, it seems to be very well made, sturdy but light and breathable, and the elastic straps are doing a good job of keeping it in place. They seem to run a little small, so I’m glad I got the large.
So there you go. Now I have a chicken with an outfit.
Crazy.
And speaking of vests, I’ve started one for myself as well.
It’s an easy knit- The Oregon Vest, by Oat Couture
And a great layering piece, so I’m making one with my heavy worsted weight Dottie yarn-
Because Dottie goes with everything 🙂