This weekend I cleaned the chicken coop. This is among my greatest joys here on the homestead because a) I love transforming a complete mess into something tidy and clean and b) I am a fiend for filling the compost with nitrogen to balance out the loads of leaves I gathered this fall. Living in the desert, the soil is either sand or clay, so building crumbly, rich soil gets me excited. I literally scrape poop from every nook and cranny, harvesting it like a treasure (which it is). To protect myself from the flying feathers and poop I wear a dust mask .
Meanwhile, Dev worked on the new bunk house he's building for interns, guests, and students. He was busy with the skill saw, cutting holes for windows, a stove pipe, and a door. He wore ear muffs to protect his ears.
When I went to ask him for a hand we found ourselves struggling to communicate.
In other news, the chickens finally started to lay eggs again this week. One egg a day from twenty laying hens just wasn't cutting it. We were ready to pull the plug on the feed budget and turn them into soup, but the sun prevailed and we're at a respectable 11 eggs per day.
Though this chicken seems to think she should be rewarded for her laying prowess with a break from today's snow and wind, she's gonna have to start laying golden eggs before we invite her indoors.
We spent the majority of the day up at our neighbors' house watching the snow move through the valley, eating an incredible lamb stew Em whipped up, cuddling on the couch, and sharing conversation.
A highlight of our visit was Pharrel Williams' 24-hour long interactive music video for Happy (this may be old news since it happened in Novemeber. Forgive me, news travels like molasses to our hills). We spent some time with this link, threw several dance parties in the living room, and delighted over the celebrity appearances and amazing dancing. I highly recommend it!
Here's a short preview.....
Meanwhile, Dev worked on the new bunk house he's building for interns, guests, and students. He was busy with the skill saw, cutting holes for windows, a stove pipe, and a door. He wore ear muffs to protect his ears.
When I went to ask him for a hand we found ourselves struggling to communicate.
In other news, the chickens finally started to lay eggs again this week. One egg a day from twenty laying hens just wasn't cutting it. We were ready to pull the plug on the feed budget and turn them into soup, but the sun prevailed and we're at a respectable 11 eggs per day.
Though this chicken seems to think she should be rewarded for her laying prowess with a break from today's snow and wind, she's gonna have to start laying golden eggs before we invite her indoors.
We spent the majority of the day up at our neighbors' house watching the snow move through the valley, eating an incredible lamb stew Em whipped up, cuddling on the couch, and sharing conversation.
A highlight of our visit was Pharrel Williams' 24-hour long interactive music video for Happy (this may be old news since it happened in Novemeber. Forgive me, news travels like molasses to our hills). We spent some time with this link, threw several dance parties in the living room, and delighted over the celebrity appearances and amazing dancing. I highly recommend it!
Here's a short preview.....
My chickens just started laying again, too. I'm so glad to have home-layed eggs again--anything store, or even farmer's market-bought just doesn't compare...:).
ReplyDeleteIt's such a treat to collect them daily! Now we are struggling to keep up with 15 eggs a day....
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