Eating out of my hand!

I was in the back yard pulling weeds out of the grass. After a few minutes, I realized that
Sparkle, our big black chick was nibbling on the pile of clover that I had just pulled. Pretty soon, Sparkle was not content with the weeds I had just tossed, she wanted the weeds that were in my hand. So I pulled a weed and held it out to her. She pecked at a leaf or two and a piece of dirt, but that was not good enough. I realized as my hand grazed her feathery head that she wanted the weeds AS they were coming out to the ground! She literally had her head and beak right where my fingers were. She began EATING the leaves and roots AS I pulled it up! I was really shocked and amused at the same time. These birds are so silly.
( In the photo you see me with my fingers around the base of the clover and Sparkle has her beak against my fingers ready to pounce on the roots and dirt.)

Cranberries and Greedy chicks

Our little flock of chicks just go gah gah over dried cranberries. This is their favorite treat. In fact, when we go out side to divvy up treats, we often have a sneaky chick or two who steal one. Here is my own beauty with Dandaleen (yellow), Twinkle (small black chick), and Ginger (speckled hen). Ginger gets right up in your face for treats. Literally. I was passing them out yesterday. I crouched down and had some in the palm of my hand, which was outstretched. The chicks made quick work of the berries, but Ginger was not done. She came up to me and looked at my nose from about two inches away! It startled me a little. But the next day, she did the same thing to my beauty girl.

Here you can see all five or our Chicks enjoying some wheat snacks. Ginger is inside the Easter Egg house. The three eating out of the bowl are Rose (our little red hen), Twinkle and Sparkle (the two black chicks) and Dandaleen (yellow)who is a little more shy. She holds back sometimes, being content with the wheat berries that have fallen to the ground from the other greedy chicks. Unless she sees cranberries. Then she is one of the quickest to attach the offering.

Sparkle, the sunbathing chick

Sparkle the sunbathing beauty. She is the black chick pictured here. She will just plop down on her side, anywhere in the yard and fan out her wing that is up. She then raises the feathers on the back of her neck so they are standing straight out. All of the birds do this, but Sparkle does it most. I always have to do a double take when I see it to make sure the chicks have not fallen down dead!

Mini Green House Comparison

I thought it would be cool to do a comparison of plants inside the cloche (mini greenhouse) verses plants outside.These are my black-eyed Susans. They have struggled to come up. They were planted in a row just like all of the other things I tired to grow. In the bottom of this picture you can see the row of poppies being bushy and happy. So I thought I would put a cloche over just a small section of the row of Black-Eyed Susans.

As you can see, One lonely sprout has emerges in the row where there was no cloche verses a bunch inside the tiny greenhouse.

Chamamile

I have been attempting to grow chamomile. I had the dickens of a time getting them to grow. My brother told me to use a cloche - ( I know it is spelled wrong and I am probably pronouncing it wrong too, but they are mini greenhouses) and sure enough. Under the mini greenhouse the sprouts are getting quite big, where as before, they would only break the surface and wither away. It isn't even that hot here right now. It's somewhere in the mid 70's.
This is a peek straight inside the cloche.

Garden View

This was my garden on Feb 15, 2009. Some tiny green sprouts were present.
This is my garden March 16, 2009. I'm getting quite a few plants growing. My tomato plant has some fruit growing. And my peas have some blossoms. I had to fence in the garden and put some chicken wire around it so my chicks could not help themselves. Which I caught them doing! I also put some sparkly things and a pinwheel to keep out the other birds...I hope.

"Not so good" garden plant

I couldn't get over the beauty of this "not so good" plant in my garden. It is a mushroom, but it is just beautiful. Every little line is delicate.

Fake Friut...and tiny real ones

As I mentioned in a previous post, we wired fake pumpkins to our new little peach tree in hopes that the birds will leave it alone. I couldn't find season appropriate fake fruit, but the color was GOOD!





Well, we are getting some little peaches! You can see it here next to the fake fruit.

Paint It!

Here we have a plain old suit case....Old being the key word.







This is a shot of "in progress". I took all of the old lining out of this small case and relined it with printed, sturdy fabric.












TaDah!!!


Beautiful, matching luggage that any little girl would be proud to take on her world travels.

Comming Attraction - Easter Egg House

When friends come over, they always want to see our attraction.... the Easter egg house, complete with chicks. This is cousin Mallorie holding Rose. Ginger (pecking the ground) and Twinkle are on our little red brick path.

Three little Chicks...holding three little chicks

Mallorie, Jessica and SidneyJade were having a good time holding three of the little Chicks. Mallorie has Rose, Jessica has Ginger, and SidneyJade has Twinkle.

Fake Fruit

I heard from my brother, that he heard from an expert that if you hang FAKE fruit from your fruit trees while they are blossoming, the birds will be faked out. Apparently they try the "fruit" and realize that it isn't a source of something yummy. Then when the real fruit ripens, the birds think, "been there, done that" and they leave it alone.
So I am trying it. I went to the dollar store in search of something fruit-ish. I found mini pumpkins, which are not grown in spring. But, I thought they had the right color. I have a peach tree. So I used twisty ties and attached them to a few branches. I don't know if it will work yet, the fruit is just starting to come on. I'll let you know!

Ribbon Storage

How many times have we been through this! Where is that ribbon? I have tried bags of ribbons, putting the ribbon on dowels and hanging them up, putting them in drawers, stuffing them into pencil boxes, putting them in large plastic bins. But every time I tried to use one, I couldn't get to it without unloading ALL (OK that may be an exaggeration) of the other ribbons. It was so frustrating.
Then I got smart! I looked up ribbon storage on line. I found a really nice storage system, but did not have the $115 to get it. So, I had to find a way to get the same result, easy access. I had a cord organizer from Ikea. You know the one that looks like a shoe rack. I turned it on an angle and mounted it on the wall. I then added some clips that are used to hang curtains. That is where I put all of the ribbon that does not have a spool. It works like a charm. Any time I need a certain ribbon, I just take it off the rack. I can then put it right back when I am done. And, it is visible so the search is off!

Who ever heard of Hayseeds...

I was out with my chicks cleaning out their chicken coop. I have a bail of hay at the end of the coop that I use to make a layer at the bottom of the hen house. That makes for easy clean up too because all you do is sweep out the hay and presto... the poop goes with it! I realized what a huge mess the chicks were making out of the hay. They had spread it all over the rocks I have around the coop. As I was raking it into a pile, I took a good look at the bail of hay. There were green spouts sticking up out of the top of the bail! Who ever heard of hayseeds. Well! They are real and they sprout!

peach blossoms

I was enjoying the blossoms on our little tiny peach tree. I just had to take a few pictures. Enjoy the blossoms with me!

Feeding Frenzy

Have you ever seen a feeding frenzy? I just got back from a Cruz to Catalina Island, in California. We went on one of those glass bottom boat tours. We got super close to some fish and the KELP was huge.
Basically what we did was we pushed a button from the inside of the boat that sent out fish food. That caused the fish to rush up next to the boat and push up next to the windows...of course. I am not sure I am much of a cruzer, but I would not mind going to Catalina Island again. We did not get enough time there. The kids had so much fun.