We have EGG!

My sister-in-law arrived about 10:15 with my niece and her cousin.  They were here for a visit and to see the chickens, which they've not met yet.  As we approached the coop, Pete Rose and Betty were no where to be found.  This is unusual, as Pete is usually crowing the second he sees me.  I am his mother after all.  But today they were not there.  I was mildly alarmed and wondered aloud , "Where's my rooster?".  I opened the coop door and there he was and Betty was inside the nesting box panting an in obvious distress.  Expecting that perhaps she might be ready to lay an egg, she is 20 weeks old after all, I shut the door to give her her privacy.  I checked her a couple of times quickly, no change and she wasn't moving.  We stood around the pen chatting over chickens and suddenly, my sister-in-law and Maestro both said, "I heard a knock sound in the coop!".  I opened the door and sure enough, there was Betty proudly standing over her very first egg.  To say I was excited was an understatement.  And Betty let out a very proud cackle of her own.

The picture above is a normal large egg, on the right is Betty's first pullet egg.  Small, but perfectly formed.  We cracked it open last night to see if it was the way it should be on the inside.  It was miniature, but perfectly formed, all parts there, color right. 

Our little farmstead is making food.  That's the most awesome thing I can think of.

Wishing you miniature eggs in your nest, ~Peacemom

Spring is Springing!

Hello Everyone,

Thanks to everyone for the kind and encouraging words for us due to my hubby's yet again unemployed status.  I've finally got things in perspective...we were not hit by a tsunami or earthquake where our entire lives are leveled and family is gone.  Music Man was laid off again, yes, but he's an amazing and talented man and will find something else again.  There's a tremendous amount of age discrimination (though no one admits this) in the job hunting market right now, so it's not on his side, but he'll do it...he always does.  This month he celebrates his 50th birthday (Happy Birthday, Sweets!) and things in the job market become a whole lot harder when that's the case...I read it actually starts at 40 now.  Apparently, employers want "fresh" and "young" ideas.  Experience counts for something, but the college degree counts more (even if it's in something like Elizabethan poetry, as long as you've got that degree, mister).  He's currently working on his degree, but at 50, you can't exactly reinvent your entire career, so it's a struggle sometimes.  We're getting our bearings and reassessing our situation and seeing what the next step is. I'm trying very hard to talk myself out of any freaking out sessions I allow myself to delve into.  It's not helpful or useful to anyone to allow that, so I'm trying.  I'm not always successful, and they will usually pop me into wakefulness when I'm sleeping and then I'll lie awake trying to talk myself out of it, then become more and more tired as this happens night after night...you see the vicious cycle that begins, right?  It's very unproductive and stress inducing, so I'm working on this all the time.  Trying to just be and allow that it is what it is right now.

In the meantime, spring has sprung around our neck of the woods.  It was quite lovely here yesterday with temperatures in the 50's, and we've had so much snow melt in the last two weeks that...yes, I know you're all dying to know this...we did get water in the basement.  But, after one long, awake night of bailing with buckets and shop vac'ing continuously, we managed to discover what the problem areas were and how to solve a good bit of it.  Two sump pumps humming and we're doing fine now.  PHEW!  After last springs horror show of a literal river in the basement for 3 solid months in the old house,  we'll take one night of bailing and two sump pumps that actually solve most of the problem in a heartbeat.  Doable, definitely doable.

Yesterday, Music Man and I sat outside in the Adirondack chairs, feeling the sun warming our skin back to life.  We planned the future sites of the garden and chicken coop. We'll be getting our chickens sometime next month and so need to have the coop up and running soon.  I'm hoping to salvage a lot of the materials for this project at our local "still good" shed at the landfill.  I'm also keeping my eyes open for any construction dumpsters around to get what I can from those as well...waste not, want not.  Certainly my treasure will be someone else's trash, and that's okay by me.  My goal is to have the chickens be a not so costly adventure for us and salvaging is a great way to NOT make a dent in that chicken budget.  And, they'll be paying for themselves once they start laying for us in about 24 weeks or so.

So, spring planning is in full force around here. It's good for the soul.  I know we'll get more snow at some point, but watching Music Man and Maestro playing catch in our back field yesterday did my heart some good.  And hey, the boys are loving having Daddy home with them more again, they don't see the bad in this lay off at all.

Hoping Spring is springing for you, too, ~Peacemom