Spring's coming, pictures of my favorite chickens

Here's some pictures of my Cochin's.I love them they are so spectacular and special to me. Hope you enjoy.









Well looks like spring is coming.
When I look around at my critter's the behavior's are starting to change, allot of motherly instincts are kicking in.
Turkeys are laying and setting, chickens are going broody,cows are weaning calves getting ready for their new babes arriving in May,the gander has decided to get a mean streak trying to guard his goose, the horse is kicking his heals and running through the pasture full tilt.
Bring it on,warm weather, new babes cant wait.

Chicks,Chicks & more Chicks

I 'll just put it out there, I love my chickens.
Yes I'm a chickenholic.
I admit it.
They are so beautiful all those fluffy beautiful feathers,laced,penciled,barred, coo coo,blue,spangled the list goes on.
Oh how do you choose?
This is what I was faced with recently after a friend kindly offered me a chance to order birds with him through Performance poultry in Ontario.
So many choices I wanted them all.
I sat down to the list and pondered what breeds made sense for our farm and location.
I tried to order according to our cold Nova Scotia winter keeping delicate combs in mind.
When I was done I had 18 breeds on my list.
I had to thin it down so I had a consult with hubby,
F"what breeds do you like?"
H"none, I don't like chickens, don't you have enough?"
F"Now that's not true you love our chickens"
H"Our chicken yes, ok lets look"

We went through my list.

Lakenvelder- H-You dont want that one its comb is to big it will freeze.F- oh but so
beautiful. Crossed off.

Sultan- H =- that chicken is ridiculous looking,F- No it's beautiful. Crossed off.

Sumatra- H- the tail is to long it will be dirty all the time,F- It's so unique but
your probably right.Crossed Off.

Salmon Faverolles- we both liked this bird but didn't have room in the order for them.Next year!

Barnevelder- We both liked this chicken to but wanted to have the darkest egg of the breeds offered and my friend ordered these so I can buy some from him in the future.

Silver Grey Dorking- I wanted these for years but a friend is planning on some so maybe in the future!

Bearded D'Uccle Self Blue- So cute, love my bantam chickens but I'm trying to stay away from bantam breeds.One is enough.

Andalusian Blue- Stunning but the comb thing again.

Crevecoeur- hubby was not a fan at all.

Houdan- hubby did not like, I still do but were some what similar to a breed I liked more.

These are the breeds I did order, 8 different kinds.

Silver Spangled Hamburg- I have some and love them, I wanted to add to my genetics.

Dark Brahma- same as above.

Langshan- Huge big beautiful bird,cold hardy, docile and good free rangers.

Welsummer- good forager and lays terracotta eggs.

Cochin- I ordered 2 kinds buff and barred, I have the black,probably my favorite breed.These are standard size.

Polish, buff laced- bearded and muffed, excellent layer, friendly with a hippy hair doo.

Spangled Russian Orloff- calm, hardy and truly stunning.

Chickens are wonderful and fun to have around not to mention the bright orange yolked eggs from colored shells of white,blue, terracotta and all shade between.

Ok so I may have gotton a little, well allot carried away with my seed order.Here's a picture of the rest of the seeds,amazing what fits in a small box.
I finally got a chance to go through left over seeds from the last two years.
Oh my! I have allot of seeds! Around 170 packs with new and old.
This weekend we will work to build on to our greenhouse and get ready for seeding.
Onion,leek,tomato and pepper are a few I need to get going strait away.
I try to plan my garden with varieties to put up,store, freeze and some that are just plain interesting.
I try my best to source out Certified Organic seed but if I cant find it I will use other's that follow the same type of guidelines.
Transplant will be sold direct from the farm this year.
Last season we sold to our local farm store and decided not to do this again,farm gate makes more sense as I can make sure they are cared for properly until they go to their new garden.

Wedding Anniversary

Today February 17 2010 we celebrate our wedding anniversary.
We were married in Mexico 7 years ago with the most wonderful 15 day's spent at the El Dorado Royale, Mayan Riviera.We are so blessed and cherish every moment together.

Valentine's Day !

"Love is patient and kind, not jealous or boastful, not arrogant or rude. Love is not selfish, irritable, or resentful. Love does not rejoice at wrong but in the right. Love bears, believes, hopes, and endures all things."

~I Corinthians 13:4-7


Today was so much fun.
Our wedding anniversary is in a few days so hubby and I decided to treat ourselves....we bought a Ski Doo!
We have been playing on it since last night.
It has been the best gift, we get to be together discovering new terrain.
One of our trips was to the "back 1/2" of our land.
It was awesome to see how many critter tracks were back there, every 15 feet more tracks!
Makes us think we have been doing our job protecting them from hunters, no matter how many times we have restrung gate's and posted no trespassing/ no hunting signs that were repeatably removed!

Seed Fanatic

Today I found out I got a nice little gift when I fell, a sprained shoulder!
The Doc said my ligament was swollen and torn and it caused shoulder and collarbone separation.
Just what a farmer needs!
Chores have been difficult, hubby helped all last week but I'm doing them myself now, slower, but getting them done.

The rest of my seeds came in the mail today.
I put them all out on my harvest table except the one box of last years I still have to sort.
Lost of work this year! Over 90 different kinds so far.
We are hoping we will have someone interested in becoming a apprentice this year. This would be a good opportunity for them to learn about rare breeds, gardening and everything that's in between.Always a learning experience on the farm!
If you are interested please email me.

We have found that several gardens makes it easier for us to maintain.
I don't like looking down a 200 foot row full of weeds knowing how long it takes to get to the other end!
We do approximately 50'x 75' each.
We grew 4 that size last year,this season we will have a few more, including our larger plots for our pumpkin and squash, garlic, potatoes and cut flowers that are in garden's by themselves along with their companion plants.
For example our potatoes are placed on the soil just pushed in to the soil enough to cover the cut sides, we then cover them with 8" of straw.
As the plants grow we re-mulch.
They do not require constant hilling and collecting new spuds is simple as reaching in to the straw and picking a few.
They come out mostly clean and you don't have to dig the plant up,killing it, for a few new spuds.
The companion plant's we use for our spuds are horseradish, marigolds and nasturtiums.
These companion's do not prevent all pest's, Colorado potato beetle is a major pest that still requires picking the gross little things off the plants! Nasty!
None the less they do help, anything is worth a try for natural grown vegetables you can munch on straight from the garden.

Farmers Market

Today was a big trip to Halifax to shop the farmer's market.
We don't get to the city market much but we try to visit our local market every Saturday.
It was a nice change.
I bought the following,
a Cornish Pasty from, Maritime Pasty Co,
Always delicious!
A jar of foxberry jam,from Mannette's.
Fox Berrie's are a very special fruit to me with memories of my grandmother making commodores, Fox berry filled pastry,baked in squares or triangles.I loved these so much.Fox Berrie's are quite rare around here so if you find them you certainly don't disclose their location!
Carrot cake from Gluten Free Goodie's, it was so moist with a nice silky cream cheese icing.
Fresh veggies from a family farm in Canning, sorry can't recall the name.
Mussels from Indian Point Marine Farms Ltd.,
Before the market we took in a book sale, picked up a few good reads.
After the market we ate lunch at a small family Greek restaurant downtown.
Good day spent with hubby and friends.

A good day to be indoors!

Today was freezing! I know sounding like a broken record, so cold, but at -17 today it was freezing, a good day to be inside.
I woke up this morning not being able to lift my left arm...that fall yesterday did some serious damage.
Bruised and sore I decided to go easy today.
Made burgers for supper with our tasty ground Highland beef and homemade buns, they are so good that I thought I would share the recipe.








Hamburger buns

375 For 12-15 minutes.

3/4-1 c luke warm water
2 TBSP butter, melted
1 lg egg
3 1/2 c unbleached AP flour
1/4 c sugar
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 TBSP yeast

Mix warm water with a couple of tsp of the sugar until disolved.
Add the yeast and gently mix.
Set aside in a warm spot until foamy and risen.
Meanwhile mix the rest of the dry ingredients together.
Stir yeast mixture and add in the butter and egg, stir, add flour mix and beat until smooth (I put the dough hooks on the mixer and beat on med for a few minutes but make sure to add flour slow or you will have a mess!)
Form in a ball and place in well greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hr or until double in size.
Gently deflate. Form into 8 buns.
Place on greased cookie sheet, let rise for 1hr in a warm place or until double.
Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired before baking.
Place in a 375 oven for 12-15 minutes.
Enjoy!

Thinking of Spring....

There has been so much snow it's crazy. I opened the car door and plowed the snow out of the way with it, when will it stop?
Headed down to the barn this morning to do chores,I slipped on the snow covered ice falling backwards hitting my head, elbow and knee, the ducks wondered over to see if I was ok not to sure why I was laying on my back.
Good thing for coveralls, I was covered in snow but was still nice and dry. Sore as a bugger though!
Checked on my turkey hen today, she hissed at me and fluffed up her feathers threatening me not to touch anything.
When I returned with a fresh bucket of grain she had gotten up off the nest for a drink.I ran over to peek at the nest checking for poult's, she was right behind me every step, no poults but almost twice as many eggs.
Hope they hatch.
We will keep checking so we can hook up a heat lamp when needed.

I have started to plan my garden today, I know it's early, but this is the time to do it, the only time I get.
I believe in companion planting so it's a bit of work making sure everything will co- mingle well, for instance I always plant my sage, dill,summer savory and coriander next to my broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts and cabbage, this will insure little to no bugs,the moths that like to lay egg's do not like the strong smell of these herbs and go elsewhere.

I have added a few picture from around the farm, in much nicer weather...the bees live on the farm from late summer until spring where they leave to pollinate blueberry fields around Nova Scotia.
We are a "host" farm for them receiving the pollination of our own berries,fruits,veggies,flowers and herbs in return.
Excellent trade off, note last fall's apple crop from our Newton Pippin tree,grown as early as 1768, a excellent dessert apple, when in perfection, is not to be surpassed.
Well....until next time!