Little Coffee Beans

the best thirty minutes

Do you ever look back on an hour, an afternoon, a day of your life, and find yourself reflecting on the richness of a few ordinary minutes? Do you ever feel completely and utterly blown away by how awesome an afternoon can be?  

Sunday was a fine day here on the divide. My family and I woke (too early, as usual) and for the second day in a row headed out just after breakfast for a forest adventure, exploring the neighborhood trails. The afternoon found us piddling happily around the house, and in the garden as the children rested. As the day progressed the thunderstorms started rolling in, one after the other, and we were all drawn to the deck, with its big covered porch-area to watch the rain fall. 

Over the next thirty-minutes, this took place...

:: Puddles and popsicles as one storm passes.

 

:: Roaming chickens, finding their way up to the deck.

 

:: The little Tree, stretching his limbs, and pulling up to a pot of zinnias.

 

:: Tenderness, and a helping hand.

 

:: Wandering toward the forest, and along the way a four-leafed clover, and a foxglove beg us to pause.

 

:: Tree climbing and exploring under the canopy as the rains begin to fall again.

 

:: A soaking-wet adventure as we run back to the house, and return to the shelter of the porch.

 

:: The exhilaration of his first rain-play.

 

Some days the ingredients for a happy, joyful life are freely given to us. If we get off the porch, step into the rain and play we may just stumble upon the best thirty minutes of a weekend.

Happy Monday friends! 

glimpses of life around here

 

Life is full. With warming spring days, most of our time is spent in the garden, building beds and fences and arbors, seeding and planting. All of our in-between times are spent loving up on these children, and cherishing small moments of quiet.

Here are some favorite glimpses from the last two weeks (left to right):

Hole digging to replant our peace pole in the garden.

Toby, one of the neighborhood bears, waltzing through our front yard.

The Flower and the Tree, playing in the clover.

My Man, cooking me Mother's Day dinner.

Baby wearing while gardening, the only way I get it done.

The Tree in the tunnel, showing off all those new teeth.

Nap time snuggles.

The Flower, barefoot tree climbing (oh, is she determined to climb trees!).

My girl just can not get enough baby love.

Couch-reading with Dada. 

Ahh, the smell of lilacs, right out my back door.

Our resident chicken whisperer.

Blooming azaleas, a tell-tale sign that we're in the South.

Sleeping baby squishiness. 

On the swings. She's learned how to pump.

In the garden, sowing seeds.

I'll be back soon with more stories from the homestead. 

ox

 

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fort cocks

 

 

Oh yes we did! We named our chicken coop Fort Cocks, and as I mentioned yesterday, it cracks us up every time we say it. Of course, it's a pun-on-words with Fort Knox, which is how the Man was describing the construction of the coop as he was sweating and straining to get it all put together. You see, we (we, ha! he would be the more accurate pronoun) was cutting into an existing dog run fence in order to attach the coop. It was quite a complex operation, attaching chicken wire to chain link. The angles were wonky so there was a bit of jerry rigging going on complete with poultry netting tangles, and maybe a wee bit of swearing, but the end result is pretty fantastic. The ultimate goal of Fort Cocks is, of course to keep predators out.

The girls spent three days confined in their coop, and on Monday we let them out into their yard. It was nothing short of captivating, really, to watch them explore grass, dirt and fresh air for the first time. One girl, who goes by Middle America, seemingly went limp and then splayed herself out on the cool, damp earth. I was naturally worried about her until moments later all the chicks started laying down, stretching their feathers and literally rolling in the dirt. At first they looked quite pitiful, and then as more relaxed into the dirt, clucking and nudging one another, I realized that they were downright blissed-out. Needless to say, we're enjoying this week's installment of Chicken TV.

 And, our little Flower, the Chicken Whisperer, she was right in the middle of all the action.

 

 

And in case you're thinking that all we're up to around here is swinging, and playing with our chickens, well, you're mostly right. But check back tomorrow because I'm sharing Michael Franti's salad dressing with you. And trust me, you don't want to miss it!

chickens and rainy saturday chores

 

 

The chickens have moved to their coop.  Thank goodness. Here's what I've learned so far about chickens: baby chicks are cute, teenage chicks are gross. Seriously, you'd think that evolutionarily speaking the species would have evolved, and learned not to poop in their food or water. Not so. Don't get me wrong, I still like the girls, but I'm happier, and they're happier moving from their brooder to their coop, they just don't quite realize it yet. 

I can't remember where I gleaned it, but some magazine/book/person told me that upon moving into their coop the girls would appreciate having a few days of confinement so as to really imprint on their coop. After that, they know where they live and roost and lay and they'll happily come and go as they like. Yesterday was their big move outside, and so began their three day confinement. However, today we bribed a few of them out into their yard for a little playtime. New sounds, and sights and flavors greeted them, along with a very eager, very attentive Flower. We could only get five of them out, the other seven were too scared to attempt a trip out in the Great Wide Open, but I'm sure they heard tales from the clucking beaks of the girls who made it out. My guess is that tomorrow more of them will step forward for a trip to the grass.

 

The afternoon brought rain, but it was mild enough to still be out in it. The Man did some repair work left by the backhoes a few months back, burying shrubs and such, and while the flower attempted to climb saplings and amused herself in mud holes, the Tree and I explored the forest around the house. 

Sitting back now, fireside with a glass of wine, I'm calling it a good Saturday. 

And a good night.

 

 

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around the garden :: spring chores and preteen chicks

around the garden :: spring chores and preteen chicks

 

 

Are you feeling it? Has spring descended on you with a flurry of nest-building birds, singing frogs, mating ladybugs, and green budding goodness? It's here, and we are basking in the glory of bare legs, windows open while we sleep and hours at a time spent outside. Ah. It sure feels good!

 

 

Our chicks are well, and growing into funny looking preteens. They're definitely in that stage that only a mother could love. Feathers are poking out in all sorts of funny directions, and they change so much overnight that if I were to miss a day of seeing them, I might lose track of who's who. 

I think (hope) we're over the hump of the infant period. For unknown reasons we lost two chicks that first week. I'm not sure why, and I anguished a bit about what I may have done to cause it, but after reading everything I can get my hands on, it appears that these things just happen sometimes. 

A few weeks later, and all the girls seem to be happy and healthy.  I was lucky to find a local, home-based greenhouse and farm supply family selling the chicken breeds I wanted. We have a happy rainbow flock that includes: Three Ameracuanas who go by Henna, Middle America and Max. Two Cukoo Marans called Nina and Simone. One Light Brahma named Wendy. And two Welsummers and four Buff Orphingtons who have yet to be named.

Last weekend we moved them to a larger brooder, and in another few weeks they'll be ready to move outside to their coop. With these warm temperatures we're having I'm anxious to move them to their new home, which is pretty much a chicken haven. But first, we need to fortify against predators by doing some fence work and electrifying their run, and the girls need to feather out a bit more. You can see in the photo below, just to the right of the coop is a large chain-link covered run that they'll be able to access on their own. We'll also give them access to range in the entire fenced side yard you see pictured. 

The Flower loves to bring them tasty protein treats. Dada picks grubs out of dead wood and the girl fills her cup with a dozen or more of the slimy looking worms. I hide my disgust as she plays with the grubs and eagerly feeds them to the chicks. The chicks go crazy for their tasty treats and when they hear the Flower's voice, they come running, necks up, looking for their treats. I'd say a friendship is being formed.

 

 

This weekend we'll continue to work on building the garden bed walls. Even with daytime temperatures in the 70-80's it will still be a few weeks before the tomatoes and chiles hit the ground, but we're so anxious (so anxious!) to seed our early vegetables. We're actually feeling a little behind, because we could already be harvesting early greens if not for the time spent constructing the garden beds. 

One step at a time though, right? We'll get there and I'm sure that our first year of gardening this new land will be fruitful.

What's happening in your garden?

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happy spring

weekending

{this moment}

 

playing along with Amanda

happy spring

 

 

Happy Vernal Equinox friends! This spirng is going to be a good one, I can feel it! 

We brought home five chicks yesterday and we'll be picking up six more tomorrow. We're all so excited about our new little baby girls. I keep running out to the garage to check on them, ticking around like a new Mama, making sure everything is just so.

Hope you all have a beautiful day! 

 

{this moment}

Joining Amanda at SouleMama

in her words... {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, {extra}ordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments below.

Happy Weekend!

What does the Chicken say?

"Bock bock," of course.

We've been trading our backyard veggies for our neighbor's backyard eggs for a month now. Every week we give her whatever we're harvesting, which right now is mostly greens, herbs and peas, and she gives us about a dozen and a half of eggs.  

Aren't they gorgeous?

This weekend we took Zinnia over to meet the chickens and she absolutely LOVED them. 

"Bock bock" she's saying.

We are so grateful to these sweet little hens for their yummy treats.

 

We've been talking about raising chickens for some time now and after seeing our neighbor's simple set-up, Steve is already talking about building a coop next spring...

So what are we doing with all these eggs? I can hear you wondering.

Our current favorite recipe (morning or evening) is a simple crust-less, Chard quiche.

To make ::

Preheat oven to 375^o

• Gather one healthy sized bunch of Chard (or any green, Steve especially loves his morning mustard greens)
• Half of a sweet onion (we're partial to Vidalias)
• One cup milk (any kind - we use rice milk)
• 1/2 to One Cup of a favorite cheese (we've used cheddar and Parmesan & feta, mixed)
• Four eggs

Wash and chop the Chard while the diced onions saute with a little Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) or butter in a cast iron skillet. Add the Chard to the onions and cook for a few minutes, just until the Chard begins to wilt. Remove from heat.

Beat the eggs and milk together and add salt & pepper to taste. Combine shredded cheese to the egg mixture then pour into skillet.

You can top with red chile flakes, scallions or chives if you like. Place in oven and cook approximately 35-45 minutes, or until it is no longer watery.  Let cool a few minutes then slice into it!

We've been eating this for breakfast with sunflower seed toast, and for dinner with a fresh picked green salad. This recipe is only an outline - I can see it being delish with grilled zucchini, fresh tomatoes, green chiles, black beans and many more variations. Play around with it and let us know your favorite combo.

"Bock bock"... Enjoy!