Ready, Set, Sew

I've been missing the cord for my sewing machine presser foot since Christmas.  I knew exactly what happened to it.  It was while we were crammed into the little rental house for 6 months.  Our dining room, if you can call it that, also doubled as a home office and tripled as my craft room.  I noticed it missing while we were packing for our final move.  I asked Gary to look through the ginormous boxes of cords he had sittting under the desk.  I continued packing and was confident he would find it when we finally unpacked everything for good.  I've asked him about it about 100 times since we've moved.  He's always responded "I don't have it."  Of course I knew that wasn't true so last weekend I went into "crackdown" mode.  That means "I can't find it" will not be accepted as an answer.

It took a while but he finally found it in a "computer parts" bag in his car.  So now...Let the sewing begin!  I'm doing a super cute quilt pattern that uses reproduction vintage fabrics.  The colors are mostly soft muted tones with contrasting brown and deep coral for that great pop of color.  The pattern itself is really interesting.  It's a basic pinwheel pattern.  The picture above shows what the block look likes after trimming off the corners. The picture below shows the completed block in yellow.  It's coming together quickly so I should have the top done by the end of the weekend.  Only 30 more blocks to go!

Not too much going on in the way of farm news.  We are putting up an electric fence for the dogs in the hopes of keeping Otis from killing any more chickens.  He killed my favorite hen, Sleepers.  I was completely heartbroken.  I miss seeing her perched on the fence waiting for me to come and pet her.  I have another Blue Andalusian in the group of chickens in the barn but they aren't as friendly as the chickens in the coop by the house.  We handled them so much as chicks and hand fed them.  My hubby calls me the chicken lady because the minute I walk out the front door the chickens come running.  I've been trying to give the chickens in the barn equal time so I have been bringing them treats.  Yesterday I went into the barn with a loaf of bread.  I started ripping off little pieces and tossing it towards them.  My older chickens fight over any little tidbit I throw them so  I was a little startled and slightly offended when the chickens in the barn ran away like I was assaulting them.  I'm pretty sure they thought I was throwing the bread at them not to them.  What to do now?   Thankfully my older chickens have been visiting the barn and mingling with the younger crowd.  Hopefully they'll teach them a thing or two, like how to enjoy the treats thrown to you!  Crazy chickens!

Goat VS Cow

Here is an interesting book that debates some of the benefits of goat's milk over those of cow's milk.

http://www.amazon.com/Devil-Milk-Illness-Health-Politics/dp/1603581022#_

Blogger's disclaimer: I have not read the book.  I no longer drink cow milk and choose to drink goat milk because I feel it is a healthier alternative for my family.  If you drink cow milk I am happy for you and hope that you enjoy it and I do not judge or criticize your decision to do so.  I am not trying to coerce you into drinking goats milk but if you find yourself compelled to do so, you know where you can buy it! =-)

RIP Bonaparte

Today, I have sad news.  Our trespassing Peacock was struck by a car and killed on Saturday.  My neighbor found him in her driveway.  My guess is that he was attempting to fly across the street after visiting our farm.  He had been molting so was lacking in feathers.  He only had 4 tail feathers left when he was found.  As annoying as he could be we did enjoy his visits and the lovely dance he did for the roosters!
Rest in peace Bonaparte!

On a lighter note...

Our fist batch of chicks that we got in March have just started to lay eggs!  We know that two are laying and two should start any day.  They are laying light brown eggs.  I can't wait for Sleepers to start laying because she will be laying white eggs.  The picture below is of Penguin.  I couldn't believe it when I went into the hen house to collect eggs and there she was sitting in one of the boxes!

If you look carefully you can see the egg behind her right leg.  When a chicken first starts to lay eggs she will lay a very small egg.  As she gets older her eggs will get bigger.  By next summer she will laying large light brown eggs!  She's so sweet!

 Here is an egg laid by one of my adult Barred Rocks and the small one next to it is the one Penguin laid!  She may look as big as the other hen but she is still just a chick and hasn't reached her full weight yet.  She probably weighs about 6-7 pounds and she will top off around 8-9! 

Snowdrop, our baby goat is coming along nicely.  She is gaining weight slowly but surely.  Our most difficult task has been to get her to stay in the pasture with the other goats.  She is so little that there are lots of little bends in the fence that she just sneaks under!  It's not unusual to put her in the barn only to have her standing at the back door a minute or two later.  We will be moving the goats into another barn later this week and building a little "goat kid" area for her to hide in. We hope that will alleviate her desire to escape!