The Pullets are laying!

It's official. Two of the pullets are HENS now.
We lost our first chicken to a predator the other night. Very sad. Still haven't found a body... but the feather evidence says she's gone.
I found a phantom egg (also known as ghost eggs. it just means it didn't have a shell.) in one of the houses, so I knew that eggs were coming soon!
The boys and I found TWO in the hen house last night!! They are SO TINY!!
Here's a photo of Macs hands with one regular sized egg and one of the new ones.

It's very common for new chickens to lay small eggs when they first start laying, but when our first layers started, we never had small eggs, OR phantom eggs. (I wish I had taken a picture of that) This PHOTO is the closest to what it looked like that I could find on line.
Here are the two teeny eggs in Macs hands.

They rattle in the egg carton!! It's super cute. I think the two of them would equal one egg!! lol

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There's Green in Your Wash.

Thank you again, to Andrew, for taking me up on the idea to be a guest host on my blog!

About 5 years ago I bought a t-shirt at the GAP that simply said, ‘PINK is the new BLACK.’ I had no idea what it meant really but I thought having a pink t-shirt was kind of cool and I knew it would garner attention. It was only about a year later that I realized the fashion importance and foundation of the color black. For a summer pink did, in fact, become the new black. Pink was everywhere I turned and by mid-August I was sick to death of the pastel pantone.

It truly is no wonder then that I have become equally frustrated by the greenwashing of America; its industry, commercialism, fashion, architecture, potato chip bags, ad nauseum......

I implore of you. If you are reading this post still. Green is NOT the new black. Black is the new black. Green is the new green. Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue (courtesy of Wikipedia). Green is no longer an acceptable adjective for a lifestyle. It is but a vague representation of eco-conscious choices that has been picked up on by B-list politicos, large corporations with their eye on the spending trend, companies who want to mask their true ambition and derivatives with an emerald hue, and people who watch far too much design channel on TV and are concerned that their household trash disposal habits have finally caught up with them leaving the world in some sort of aerosol-induced, toxic, Armageddon.

Mind you, I am not trying to admonish those who have made significant strides in being better stewards of the Earth and have found some ways to save money and resources by recycling, cutting down on trash, driving less, eliminating paper products, etc. I am simply trying to make us all aware that while we were busy feeling good about our new, more earth-friendly, tree hugging ways, corporate America was pulling the (organically grown, no doubt) wool over our eyes and presenting us with a shiny, happy, feel good, lifestyle that they could package and sell as an “alternative lifestyle.”

But who needs an alternative lifestyle when we make the active choice to reposition our current one? How long must we be handmaidens to the greenwashing of the world? We’re smarter than that and I think it is about time that we speak up and say enough is enough. We no longer want to live the green life. We no longer want to know the top 10 eco-friendly Christmas gifts. We no longer want to be sold on environmentally friendly resorts and spas. We want to rest our heads on our collective pillows each night knowing that the things we have done - the decisions we have made - have caused anything once deemed not eco-friendly, a thing of the past. It is a brave, new world we have chosen to live in and that world is as colorful as a bag of Skittles, as comforting as Egyptian silk sheets, and as rewarding as a free, first-class upgrade on a transcontinental flight.

What do you think? Are you ready for the green to fade and the alternative to become the normal? What are you doing to see that it does? What is your challenge to others to help make this transition?

Andrew has reciprocated my invite to be a guest on his blog, and you should be able to see me stammer over there sometime today! Another Kind of Drew

Another Kind of Green

photo credit My Life Photography
Sometime in the last year, I was happily blogging my way through blogland, and had just found The Organic Sister on line. I love her, and quickly became a regular reader and commenter on her blog. Enter this guy who suddenly started following me on twitter. In my version of how we "met" on line, I think somehow Tara was part of it. Up until this point, I hadn't had ANY guys following me. Turns out, this particular guy is one of my favorite on line friends now. He and his wife live on a farm in Georgia. Since that time, he's become a staple of my on line day, and we've discovered that we both share a lot of common interests. On June 7th, he started an experiment and posted about it on his blog. He decided to test and see if Sun Chips new compostable bag really DID what it claims it will do. Most recently, Another Kind of Drew has been getting attention because of the results of his testing to date. In our conversations on line, I realized that Andrew Odom and I have a lot of the same ideas and thoughts about where "the man" is taking this movement called GREEN. I'm happy to share that he'll be a guest on my blog on the 29th of this month. He and I will be sharing more about our thoughts on the green machine, and how it just might be time for another kind of green. Be sure to hop over and get to know Andrew! He'll be following up his post here with more ideas and thoughts on his own blog.
ETA: I'll be a guest in Andrew's cyber house on the 29th as well!!

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Summer Lovin'

The DEER

FINALLY left my day lillies alone long enough for them to bloom so I could see which ones made it to the new house! I think I'm missing a couple... but I have 7 different kinds!! Here are the 6 that AREN'T the usual orange.

My favorite is the purple one with the lime center. Aw heck. I like them all. :P
It's been HOT here.
FINALLY!!
In the mid 90's a lot. We've been to the river a lot.
YAY!! One of the things I was really looking forward to here in our new place. Last time we went down, there were some friends of the family there with their dogs...
It was DEFINITELY a dog day of summer...

All the chickens are free ranging together... the big girls (and the Rooster) are in a pen during the mornings while Travis is sleeping. That way, Chronic stays on the far side of the yard from our bedroom, and when he crows, T can't hear it.


From Left to Right, Top to Bottom:
Two of the Easter Chicks...
I love the way this picture shows Chronic... He's always got an eye out for his laydieeeees...
At the water hole.
My Rhode Island Red mix... she's such a beautiful shade of copper penny. She's one of two I have actually NAMED out of the 10 new girls... I call her Henny Penny.
Summer is moving right a long here. I've recently made bread in my new bread machine, and tried my hand at homemade Ice Cream with a new Ice Cream maker!! Yum!!
What new things are you trying this summer?
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I am not a Color.

I've had this blog of over four years now.
WOW.
FOUR YEARS!!
That's pretty stinkin' cool.
I've had over 100,000 visits.
I've posted nearly 1000 posts.
When I started this blog, I was keeping it to keep my family connected to us while we were living a good drive away.
Then I found on line artists.
Specifically, I found on line SCRAPBOOKING.
Then I started working for TallyScrapper.com, and worked pretty exclusively there for a VERY long time!
I got interested immediately in the connection between art and scrapping.
Over time, my interests have evolved and that shows here on my blog.
One thing I know.
I have not really lifted a finger to scrapbook in over a YEAR.
Not that I won't.
Not that I won't share it here.
I'm just noticing that I might have moved on a bit from that.
I'm still very much involved with art, and with dolls.
One of my new interests is where I'd like to start blogging a little more.
The proverbial snowball that started down the hill was my chickens.
I'm very much interested in, and committed to Responsible Stewardship. I'm not calling it "going green."
Personally, I think that the meaning in the word GREEN has been dilluted into a catch phrase that doesn't mean anything anymore.
Global Warming. Emissions. Carbon Footprints.
All of these things seem to be really handy catchy terms to scare people into action that suits the messenger. Whatever new cause there is to be had. Whatever new THING that's killing us.
But I am a Christian.
Before it was "cool" to be GREEN.
Before animal rights came around.
Before Al Gore decided it was time for us to take care of the Earth.
I believed (and still believe) that I am responsible to care for what God has created.
Not because anyone important told me to.
Not because the Earth will fall apart if I don't.
Because that's what I should be doing.
I should be taking care of my body and spirit.
I should be taking care of my marriage.
I should be taking care of my children.
I should be taking care of my animals.
I should be taking care of the things I own.
I should be taking care of the gifts I've been given.
I should be taking CARE.
I think I want to blog about that. What this whole CARE thing means to me.
I can tell you what it's not for me.
It's not about being cool.
It's not about a color.
It's not about going overboard.
It's not about being a lemming.
It's not about panic.
Over the next few months, I'm going to try to share
OUR
version of what it means to be Responsible Stewards.

I think that often, in the middle of something filled with so much information and so much emotion, it's easy for the pendulum to swing too far in one direction or the other.
I've looked hard to find places on the internet that fall somewhere in the middle, and there aren't a lot of them out there.
So I'll be sharing more in depth about what WE do.
I'll be sharing what we don't do.
Because I'm trying to find the middle.
I'm trying to live with transparency.
In my search for this in our world, I've made some decisions and discoveries that I want to share. I think there are a lot of people like me out there. I think there are a lot of people who are tired of the whole "green" movement because it's become such a numb word. It doesn't MEAN anything anymore. The people that use it, often abuse it. I think there are a lot of people who want to make some changes, and get overwhelmed when they realize that they don't do it "all". I think that there's a middle ground that needs more coverage. I'm calling our personal movement Chewy Living. It's not as crunchy as a lot of folks, but it's definitely different. It's deliberate.
I'll still be sprinkling my creative life in here. I'll probably have NEW interests NEXT year... but I want to share where we are right now, and some of my thoughts about it. I hope it's something you want to hear about too!!

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Busy in July

So far July is proving to be as busy as the rest of this year!! lol
Our fourth of July was AWESOME.
Small, but awesome.
Macs informed us that the 4th is his favorite holiday.
"because it involves EXPLOSIONS!"
yeah.
Maybe letting him light his own fireworks wasn't such a brilliant idea... lol

Caught a couple cute pics of his fire lovin'...

Josh arranging for the biggest bang...

I'm working on getting the house back in order from my vacation... Travis and the boys didn't have a lot of time to keep things up while I was gone. They spent their free time helping my Father in Law bring in the hay.
I have a couple blue glass Ball jars that I like to keep fresh flowers in.

I love they way they look in the window.

I realized that I wasn't utilizing some of my favorite old tins, and decided that I'd replace my buckets for the worms, chickens and compost with them.
I went from this:

to THIS:

Fingers crossed I keep up my momentum!! lol
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2010 Reading List.

Photo credit: Lin Pernille

I used to read all the time. Then I got busy with other stuff. Until this year. This year, I've been reading a lot. I thought I'd start a list of what I've read so far!

1. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Beekeeping
2. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Being Vegetarian
   (I'm not becoming vegetarian, but because of my new choices in meat sources and in order to purchase "happy meat" -meat from animals that had happy lives before giving their meat for food- we are eating LESS meat, and I wanted some good sources for alternatives nutritionally)
   
3. The Humanure Handbook
4. Shanghai Girls
5. Snow Flower And The Secret Fan
6. Peony in Love
7. The Tiger Rising
8. The Queen's Handmaiden
9. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
10. What Mrs McGillicuddy Saw!
11. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief
12. The Sea of Monsters
13. The Omnivore's Dilemma

Think I can make it to 52 by the end of the year? I'd like to try. That would mean a book a week. (plus I have some catching up to do)
Do you have any books to recommend? I'd love to hear about them! Leave me a comment!

Suggestions from friends (like YOU!):

1. Eat, Pray, Love
2. The Reading Group
3. Stephanie Plum series
4. Flower Net
5. The Interior
6. Dragon Bones
   
7. Impatient with Desire
8. Olive Kitteridge
9. Read My Pins
10. The Tipping Point
11. The Man Who Loved Books Too Much
12. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
13. The Alchemist
14. Three Weeks With My Brother
15. House Rules
16. Food Rules
17. The Guernsey Literary
18. Potato Peel Pie Society
19. Sarah's Key
20. Peace Like a River
21. Wild garlic, gooseberries and me
    
22. The cook and the gardener
23. The Thrifty Gardener: How to Create a Stylish Garden for Next to Nothing
    
24. The Edible Garden: How to Have Your Garden and Eat It

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Flurry

Wow. I left for Indiana and I haven't said a WORD here!! lol
Life's been a flurry since I went, and it doesn't look like it's stopping any time soon.

• Had a BLAST in Indiana.
• Got some GREAT barn sale and thrift store finds.
  
• Lost a shoe running from the DOWNPOUR of rain we got caught in during a severe thunder storm.
• Saw Fire Flies for the first time in my life.
  
• Caught that on video. (I MAY post it someday. lol)
• Sat in Christi's bathroom with her kids during a Tornado warning.
• Met an AMAZING store owner in Indiana who owns a shop like the one I dream of opening.
• Shot TWO photo shoots in Indiana.
  
• Missed my boys.
• Was happy to be HOME.
• Looking forward to NEXT YEAR when Christi comes to MY neck of the woods.
• Found a local bee keeper that doesn't use SPRAYS on his hives!!
• Went Strawberry picking.
  
• Took the boys to join the library summer reading program.
• Sent in a submission for Stampington's APPRENTICE publication!!
  
• Have plans for another ADQ pub coming!!
  

And now. Some photos.
The horse drawn parking spots at the market.

LOTS of red barns in Indiana.

Macs found a dandelion to make a wish with when I got home...

He never told me what he wished for.

Off to use some fresh picked strawberries to make fruit leather!!
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