Growing Up

It has been quite a while since I shared anything on this years new chick addition.  They certainly are growing and today I think I heard more of a clucking sound out of a couple than the normal peeps.  Of coarse before moving the chicks out to the hen house there needed to be some cleaning and I had read that the littles needed to be kept separated at first from the older hens.  They certainly were outgrowing their blue container.

This is how things went for a couple of weeks until some of the littles decided they did not want to be kept in their own area and started escaping when I feed them.

There was a little overseeing going on when they first ventured out to the run.

But I think that they have decided that since there are 15 of them, the littles, over 6 of the old hens they could certainly stand up for themselves.

And then one night a couple of weeks ago I peeked in after dark and found all the littles on the roost with these ladies.

And over to the other side on the food can was this lady that always goes broody every spring.  She is finally able to be the mommy that she always has wanted to be.  I could not snap the picture fast enough but both of these littles were under each of her wings before I disturbed them.

Now if I can just get brave enough to let them all out together to free range.  I am not sure if they will stick with the older hens and go into the run and hen house when I call them in for the day or not.

Blessings from our home in the woods!

Brenda

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Recycling for Garden Decor

I enjoy browsing Pinterest and Facebook to find ideas for recycling objects for our garden areas.  I was given an unused headboard by my sister in law for a project that I liked on Facebook.  I used spray paint with primer in it by Valspar that worked really well to paint this headboard.

After painting, I added a piece of chicken wire on the back center section of the headboard.

Dug some deep holes to bury the legs of the headboard and planted a Clematis to vine up through the chicken wire.  I also plan on planting some other plants or flowers around legs of the headboard

This spring I found this old bird feeder had fallen from the pole it had been sitting on for a number of years. 

I had been gathering up some miniature Fairy garden furnishings to start building a Fairy garden and decided this would be a perfect addition by turning it into a greenhouse.

Added acorn tops, which we have an abundance of in our woods, for the roofing.  Painted the feeder in some bright colors and had hubs cut a new piece of acrylic for the front and added some small potted plants inside. 

Of course any fairy garden that is located in our yard must have a few chickens.

The Fairy garden is a work in progress and I will share as I add to it.  I cannot wait for my grand daughters to visit because they gave me a small potted Fairy garden last year as a gift and I know they are going to love the expanded version.

I have not added much to the room divider that I shared on my last post.

I did paint the leaves with some exterior acrylic paint and I think it really made a difference.

Below is a glance of the shady pathway that I have been planting and the Fairy garden is in the group of trees beyond that path.

There is a  lot more to share with you and I will share as the gardens take shape.  Thank you for reading and blessings from our home in the woods.

Brenda 

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Sunday Praise

A Good Day

The weather has finally started to change here in Michigan.  It has been a rainy, cold spring and I have hardly been able to do any gardening except for one weekend in April.  But today, it was a gorgeous day! I work part time and have Wednesdays and Thursdays off.  Yesterday, Wednesday, I got my inside chores taken care of because it rained on and off most of the day. Today I started my day off with my normal coffee and worked on a crochet project, love mornings I do not have race out the door.

I finally got around to making the hubs an apple pie today that he has been requesting for a couple of weeks.

 When I went outside to start my gardening I decided I better get my daily walk in first or I would be to tired later.  Have any of you joined in the YOU Challenge on Facebook.  The challenge is to get out there and walk everyday in the month of May.  I have actually walked all 8 days anywhere from 1 mile to 3 1/2 miles.  Today my pedometer said I walked 4 1/2 miles after my walk, walking the dog and working outside. If you want to read about this challenge and maybe join the group read the post that Rebekah has written here.

After my walk I started cleaning out my perennial flower boarders.  They needed and still need a lot of work.

Just getting started.

After the trailer was full  I came to a stop after running into a snake and decided I was done for the day.

Not very pretty right now,  a lot of the perennials have not came up yet and we need to add mulch this year. Every two years we get loads of mulch to replace all that has disappeared through our winters. I cannot wait for blooms! The only thing I have in bloom right now is a daffodil.

I also have been working on the shady path that runs over to the side lawn.  The Hosta are starting to peep through the ground that I have planted along with some other shade plants.  Of coarse it dose not look very shady in this picture because the trees are not leafed out yet.

Last summer my mom in love gave me this room divider that was used to hold photos.  I think she picked it up from a garage sale and thought she would use it outside in her gardens.  When she had it sitting around for for some time she asked me if I wanted to find a use for it.  So I asked the hubs to stake it so it would not be blowing over and I have started to tie pretties on with copper wire.

 

It may take me the complete summer before I find something to hang in each opening. I think it will be fun to keep this project in mind when I go to the flea market.  If anyone has any suggestions on fun things to add please let me know.  I was thinking maybe small potted plants wired in a couple of the openings might work or a pretty little wind chime.  Had thought about spray painting it but hubs was not to keen on that idea. What if I just painted the leaves?

I have decided since I worked so hard today that a piece of the pie I baked for hubs is calling my name along with some time reading the magazine that I received  in the mail today. A perfect ending to a really good day!

Wishing you many blessings from our home in the woods.

Brenda

Linking with these fun parties:

May Sewing Party

Thought I would join up with Deborah at Deborah Jean's Dandelion House Tuesday sewing party.  I worked on some ongoing projects this past weekend.  I have been making the monthly Aurifil Designer of the Month blocks this year.  I caught up this weekend by getting the April and May blocks finished.

I also finished bordering the last block of the this past years Red Brolly SAL.

Then I almost finished sewing the borders on to complete the top.  But the weather, it took a turn and I needed to get outside and start working in the flower beds.  I hope to finish adding the top and bottom borders this week and then I will have to decide if I will hand quilt or machine quilt this for a wall hanging.

Wishing you all sunny days and blessings through the rest of your week!

Brenda

Growing

It was time to add some hens back into my flock this year.  We are down to six from our original flock of twelve.  

These are the chicks the day I picked them up from the post office, I believe from the day they shipped to the day we received them it makes them three days old in this picture.  They are Barred Rock, Black Star, Delaware and White Wyandottes.  

 

Hubs built this stand that slides under the container they are in at this time to hang the heat lamp on.  

It has a number of heights that I was able to move it to control the heat.  As you can see from the curtains in the background I kept them in the house the first week because the temperatures took such a dip when they shipped.

A week old.

Week two.

Today, almost three weeks old.

I got a new computer a couple of weeks ago and it has taken me that long to figure out how to import my pictures and find an app that I liked to edit them in.  So I think I can truthfully say that I will be blogging a lot more often.  I hope to catch up with everyone soon!  I hope you are all having a wonderful spring!  Blessings from our home in the woods.

Brenda

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