kitty cat hugs

Our kitties are sweet...when they are sleeping (right dad!?)

Max (the big grey)and yoko (the little white) send their love

out with grandma and grandpa jackson

I found the computer chord, and finally got some pics off my camera...YAY!
Here are some of Grandma and Grandpa Jackson with the boys, a couple days before they left for Spain. Fun times!

Chicken tractor part 3: Chicken Tractor (COMPLETE!)

Here she is, the work is complete...well we do need to paint it, maybe. I really want to paint a silhouette of a chicken or rooster on the sides of the hen house!

I installed roosts yesterday and covered the floor with pine shavings to make them nice and comfy, and also dry out the poop (think kitty litter!).

Do you think my chickens feel watched?! Check out the next three pictures!!!!! We are chicken obsessed right now!

I would include one of me staring at them too...but I am the one taking the pictures, so that wouldn't work.

I am so happy to have this run and hen house complete, the thing as a whole is what can be referred to as a Chicken tractor, it is used to aid the soil, and the chickens do a great job keeping the weeds down (eaten) and fertilizing (yeah, you guessed it!).

My chickens are super sweet, I am actually scared of them though. I feel about them like some do about bats or spiders or such. I know I will need to get over the fear and just touch them...but for now they are just fun to watch. I think I will bond much tighter with the little chickies that I get to pick up tomorrow at Lazy 54 Farms!! I can't wait. I will show you when we do that.

we got two partridge rocks!

Today I've been working hard on our hen house, we took a vacation up to see Ross, Angel and Ezra too...so we have been taking our time.Grandma C came over last night to put her time in, and the project is pretty much done. j is in charge of chicken art. He takes it very seriously too! (mostly chalk EVERYWHERE!)



the construction is pretty much complete, and we have gotten our first two little gals. I really can't tell them apart yet, but they both are in the ugly pre-teen stage right now (8 weeks old each)...not that they are really ugly, they are beautiful....just not as pretty as they will be. They are Partridge Rocks, they have very neat designs on their feathers called penciling. I can't wait to see them in their full glory.

This is a picture the girl who sold them to me took. Pretty cute!

I will take some pictures of the completed project soon, when it is completed (hahah!)

i love dirt

Title: i love dirt
Author: Jennifer Ward
Pages: 153
Publisher: Trumpeter (Shambhala Publications)
Yearly Count: 20

Dirt, leaves, worms, bugs, stars, raindrops and watching trees grow...all that fills i love dirt to capacity with 52 activities for parents and kids to do together. If I read thorough a book and can't help but dog-ear the pages I know it is a great one. i love dirt by Jennifer Ward is a book about kids, and exposing them to the nature and outdoors while siultaneously leaning of the wonderful nature of earth science. From bugs, to leaves, from trees to snowmen this is a book to enjoy through all the seasons. i love dirt is divided up into activities that would work best in the seasons of Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter so that children and adults can observe and enjoy every new stage as it comes and admire what is different and beautiful about them.

i love dirt is Jennifer Ward's antidote to the current situation of "nature deficit" that children are experiencing. The generations previous to this one relied on nature. Our schools were even let out and in during the communities harvest time, and daylight savings time was initially agreed upon because of the impact another hour of light could do in the farmer's life. It was not all working outside, but also the playing in nature and with nature that was important. Participating in such activities as picnics, mid-afternoon fishing trips, laying under the sky's blanket to see just one shooting star, and the amazing world of mud pie making! To go outside and play, to put on rain gear and jump in puddles, or camp outside in the backyard on a warm summer night, or to explore the woods and make a fort these need not be things of the past. Outdoor activities are a learning and teaching experience that if neglected will fill our nation with a bunch of kids who can learn through books, but not from the beauty that surrounds them. Weather in the city, or country there are opportunities in i love dirt to get down and dirty and feel the particles of nature on your skin.

I personally loved this book so much, seriously does it get any better than a book that discusses all the fun things you can do to learn about nature and the processes that engulf us humans? Each section of the book, each activity has a short (kid friendly) explanation of the activity and its importance and a Help Me Understand question and answer as well. Here are some Q and A examples:

Q: What is Dirt?
A: Dirt is a mixture of all kinds of things: broken rock and stones, minerals and organic matter such as broken down bits of plants. (p.44)

Q: What makes new plants sprout in the spring?
A: They get more sunlight than they were getting in the winter. In the spring, the days get longer, brighter and warmer. These things help new plants to grow. (p.4)

There are so many more tid-bit facts of things every child asks, or at least mine do! I have decided to use this book for our outdoor explorations. I am very impressed with Jennifer Ward and i love dirt, too! This would not just be a great book to use for parents, but also for grandparents, and teachers as well. I am going to use this book for our science course when we begin homeschooling next year. To be honest though, it is all but burning though my hands, and since it is spring right now, I really see no need to wait...we're going to dive into this one with rubber boots, or barefoot! For when nature calls, we listen!

i love dirt is ON SALE tomorrow, may 13th! here is link to i love dirt on amazon.com


Jennifer Ward has written many children's books, check out her website here: Jennifer Ward, Award winning author of wildly fun books

Making Stuff For Kids

Title: Making Stuff For Kids
Author: Victoria Woodcock
Crafts by: Contributors (compiled by black dog publishing)
Publisher: black dog publishing
Pages: 160

The beauty of this craft book lies not just in its recipe for "Sparkle and shine playdough", or its "Pebble Pals", or the " Cute as a button necklace", but it is much deeper. The brilliance of it is where it calls out to parents and children alike: pick me up!!! Be creative!! Get messy! Don't stress! Making Stuff For Kids will bring parents and kids or kids and other kids together in order to create-and with their own hands make something to enjoy.

Making Stuff For Kids, is a complete child's craft book, divided into helpful (age appropriate) sections: teeny talents, cunning crafters, super sills, and tough cookies. This way you will know if your child, or even if you are in way over your creative head. The beginning includes a section of how to's: how to knit, how to do appliqué, papier mache, pompoms and sewing- just in case you, as a parent need to learn or refresh your skillz right along side your child.

The book is composed of craft ideas by contributors, I believe causing Making Stuff For Kids to break away from the traditional nerdy-kid-craft-mold(and parents wondering: what do I do with THIS mold) to a more interesting and involved crafting, where kids are really creating stuff that they are interested in! The creativity level is pretty alarming so beware!!!

So far we have only had a chance to do several of the crafts- as my children are a little young, and things can get crazy while crafting (they are ages 2 and 4 and there are already some really fun projects for them in this book!!) We have done (and loved) the Pebble Pals (p.51), the Peg People (p. 52), The Scratch it and see (p. 53) and the potatoes for T! (p. 64). Next on our list (it has actually been the craft my 4 yr. old has been begging for since he looked through the book) Creepy Crawly Wormery (p. 47)!! Our young family will definitely grow into this book, so if you have older kids- there is a lot of things they could do, even some crafts designed for them to do without you! This is one of those books, that we will keep coming back to on those days of- "mom, I'm bored", or "there's nothing to do, mom!". I know it will be one we constantly have handy as our boys get older, I dread the stains it will suffer, but as any well loved book I am already aware of this unstoppable, impending doom- love stains.

I love it, and obviously recommend it %100!!

CRAFT ON!!!

i love flowers

I am well taken care of, that is all I can say. B bought me flowers for mother's day...yes, he is incredibly sweet, I know.

chicken tractor part 2: planning and building

Here we are at the second phase of this process, it has gone more than smoothly since I am not following the plans that I originally bought supplies for. I decided to do my own thing, that is no surprise to you who know me well....I don't follow directions to closely. I tend to use some one's idea and change it to suit my needs. Why not?!
Here are the initial chicken tractor plans: (J even joined in on the planning!)
Here we are after the wood has been cut and the beginnings of the tractor are put together!! Oh, yay, I am so excited.
Now we get to work on the "19 gauge galvanized wire"! J likes to "help", sometimes it is a blessing, others it is not so much...but it is always sweet...very sweet.
For the roosting (nighttime closed in area) I am happy to have been able to REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE, four of the letter blocs from our yard. My parents got them from their church and they are neat, but now our chickens can learn their ABC's! I am debating weather we are going to paint the outsides of them, or just leave the letters. In the picture below J is writing a story for the chickens. He also constantly "feeds" his imaginary chickens pine needles, too cute.
This is what I did with the letters, I took out two sides of each box and put a roost in each. I am going to have a hinged door on the front and back. On the back to access the eggs without having to go in with the chickens, and on the front to keep them protected at night. I still need to go to the lumber yard to get the wood for that, and I also need roofing materials.

We are well on our way...I'll keep you posted. Now I need to find chickens!! Let me know what you think of our progress, oh, and this is the first time I have built anything, so don't be too critical of my skillz.

party a la Oliver! (2)

My friend Nicole who took pictures for me at oliver's birthday just sent me the CD!! I am so excited, I wasn't expecting to get them this soon, and I know you are excited too...as I can now share them with you!!!! YAY! (especially the grandparents will happy to see these up) Thanks Nicole!!! you are great!

The initial construction of the chicken tractor (prep work):

The initial construction of the chicken tractor part one:
So, I have been reading up on chickens for, well since jackson was born and I decided things were getting too easy, so I needed something to throw into the mix...so when he was around 6 months. Anyway, I left that alone for a long while because Brad did not show much interest (meaning he told me "no"). I brought back the library books that I had checked out, and tried to forget about it. In Lebanon you are not allowed to have chickens in city limits anyway, now tell me: what is up with that!?

We now moved to C-town and here the law is that you can have as many chickens as you want, they must be penned, and NO roosters. (all of that proves no problem to me). Our journey begins soon, well the prep has begun. I have looked everywhere for a simple chicken tractor, but have decided on looking at a couple and doing my own thing. I am however excited about this site, it is Urban Sustainable Living with Patty, and I like what I have seen so far. Another good, "all you want to know" site is the city chicken. I love all the info and pictures on that site. So, below are some pictures of chicken tractors. The point of the chicken tractor is to have it be mobile (as in light and with wheels). Since I am an image gal, here you go.

If you have chickens and have ANY advice or info...I'd love it! I am trying to decide right now what chickens I want, I will probably head over to the feed store and see what they have, but you know. I am really interested in the following:

Rhode Island Reds:
These are the most common brown egg layers, probably because they and the New Hampshire Reds are the most prolific givers!! Yummm...brown eggs!





Ameraucana:
They give eggs from turquoise blue, to green...I think I will have to have these!

Barred Rock Plymouth:
I just really think this one is pretty, but they don't produce as much as the other (above mentioned ) breeds. Do I go for show or production...uh...




Day old chicks are here!
and here!

ain't they cute when they are little!