Pleasant Progress

Dwell as near as possible to the channel in which your life flows. -- Henry David Thoreau

What I love to do is grow and nurture -- see living things go through all those mysterious stages of development. It's where I feel most alive and close to something big and mysterious.

When people ask me why I do all this stuff that is really hard for me to keep up with while having a full time job, I don't tell them what I just said above. They already think I'm nuts, but I recently read that what makes us seem crazy to others is actually what makes us interesting and special. I like that.

The chickens are getting too big for their britches or at least for their indoor home. They need to be outside.

However... the weather turned stormy and cold and the coop isn't quite done, so the chickens will need to deal for a bit longer.  But I feel so good because the coop got moved into it's home base this weekend. 

The trim still needs some almond paint slapped on. The doors are sitting in the garage where I painted them avocado green. All of the non-assembled parts need to be put on the coop, along with the run fencing, and shingles for the roof. This perhaps sounds like a lot, but will go pretty quickly. Just getting the coop set in place was a huge accomplishment!

And that feat extraordinaire was all thanks to three men who worked their asses off getting the coop up my lovely hill to the backyard.

They also pushed many wheelbarrows full of dirt up said hill to fill my new raised beds. The beds have since been enclosed in wire fence with t-posts -- not so pleasing to the eye but a quick method of keeping the dogs out of the dirt. The next "To Do" is to buy plants and seeds and get them all in. Not too hard to guess what I'll be doing over Memorial Day weekend.

The chickens haven't been using a heat lamp for quite awhile but the bathroom lights have been on. I probably should have done it sooner but for the past week I've been shutting off the lights at night to get them used to the dark. They raise quite a ruckus when I turn off the light but settle down after a bit.

And I've started introducing them to grit and a few treats.

Oh, and a surprise for me, mushrooms starting popping out on both sides of my box when I wasn't really expected to get anymore. Sweet!

This week, my new potting shed will be delivered. I am so excited! Note that the coop will be all painted and shingled to match the shed.

Did you notice the skylights?! I can't wait to fill the window boxes with flowers and stand at my built in potting ledge filling pots with fragrant basil, rosemary, and lemon balm while gazing out at my chickens...