Season's Greetings!

It's Monday which means our chicks are yet another week old, 6 to be exact! Here's what's been going on since our last post.

Thanksgiving

After missing an entire year of holidays at home, it was really nice to jump back into the traditions. We spent Thanksgiving Day in Little Rock with the England family and friends, enjoying a large bird and other delicious foods. We made the Friday morning trek to Camden and spent the weekend with the Knight family, enjoying more large bird and other delicious foods. I think most of all we were thankful for being home and spending time with family, and for large birds and other delicious foods.

This holiday also inspired us to consider growing—you guessed it—large birds! Be on the look out next November for your very own, farm fresh, free range, turkey! All proceeds will benefit the Camp Mitchell Farming Project.

Winter

The early visit from Father Winter encouraged us to stay inside and do paper work. We finished a grant application for a hoop house and are currently working on two other opportunities 1) that will enable us to support volunteers and 2) that will support us on a individual/personnel basis. We avoided B-cabin fever by escaping to take pictures and bake bread.

Chickens

A Hamburg on my head..

As I mentioned, our birds are 6 weeks old today. They have consumed over 65lbs (the weight of a small child, circa first grade?) of feed so far and a few of them are getting personal. Which is what I call their desire to be close to me/in my way when I clean their brooder. One Little Miss likes to fly/jump on me and explore the specks on my shirt and hat. Also, since more of their feathers and combs have developed, I was able to identify one of the “hamburgs” as a Sicilian Buttercup. I believe she is the only one of her kind and the other seven are in fact Hamburgs.

Work Weekend

We had our first official work group this past weekend. The Knight and Lapicz family worked with us on Saturday. It was pretty miserable and cold but we were able to put up all our fence posts, finish sifting potting soil for the greenhouse, weed and thin all our garden beds, and clear limbs on the north side/farm side. On Sunday, we made lots of progress with Coop Mitchell: the floor is complete, laying boxes are installed, windows are cut and covered, and the roost is finished. All that lacks for the coop is a screen door on the front and a paint job! Doug and Kathryn turned our compost pile. Our friend Kevin also joined us and did an awesome job fixing up our hoops for row cover. Our beds are no longer dependent on the bottle...

Work Weekend, to come!

We will have another work group this coming weekend to clean up the north side/farm side land. A dumpster will be on site, as well as a thermos of hot chocolate. We still have room for a few more people, if you are interested in joining. We will begin work by 9am Saturday morning and work through the day. If you are willing and able, you can stay the night and continue work with us on Sunday. Lodging and meals provided! Just comment here or email me, jennyknight924@gmail.com if you'd like!

If we don't post until then,