Weekend Reading

Since I was writing about aromatherapy for chickens, I might as well mention this book:

"Aromatherapy for the Healthy Child" by Valerie Ann Worwood.  (I snagged the pic from www.amazon.ca if you're wondering about the "look inside" icon there -- you'll have to go to the website to do that.)  I received this book as a gift when my daughter was a toddler.  It has lived in my bathroom cupboard since then, along with the essential oils I've accumulated.  I don't go on a major trip without it.  I've used it to treat coughs, cold, croup, insect bites, headaches, growing pains, sleeplessness, chicken pox... and the list goes on.  It has a great starter list and a "coles notes" version of the concept of aromatherapy.  Even if you know nothing about using essential oils, you can use this book.

Happy weekending, and Happy Canada Day on Sunday to all  my fellow Canuks!

Chicken Garden, Part 2

Ok, so here's the short version:

I started with the above, plus some other tasties...

Added cardboard, as mentioned before.

Topped with 1 year old sheep manure and bedding materials (wood chips and straw).

And proceeded to scatter seeds, willy-nilly.  

We then covered the whole lot with shade cloth, to prevent the dastardly quail from eating all the seed.  (Grrrr!) and to help germination with a little heat, as we haven't had so much of the sun around these parts of late.  The shade cloth is the black thing at the back of this photo:

Well, it's comin up like crazy now!  The chickens are poking their heads thru the fence to get at all the greens and I swear I even saw a couple of the smarter ones conspiring to jump the fence today... you think I'm kidding.  I turned the chairs upright after the windstorm knocked them over and when I glanced out at the chicken yard later on, there were 2 sitting on the seat of the chair staring determinedly at the lush greens on the other side of the fence.  At this point, to them, the grass IS greener on the other side!

We've since removed the shade cloth so those tasty treats are looking extremely tantalizing to the ladies right now.  But, we have to keep them out for a bit longer so that the grasses and other plants are well-established, or the chooks will happily yank them out by the roots and the entire yard will be barren by mid-July.  They'll have to be patient and just enjoy the garden gleanings and kitchen scraps for a wee bit more.

Chicken Aromatherapy

Have I mentioned that I love chickens??  I think they're awesome.  I also love aromatherapy. So when I found this here article, I couldn't wait to try it.

I have a plethora of catmint (or, yes, catnip) growing in our yard.  Like. Everywhere.  So I've been collecting it and tossing it in the hens' nesting boxes.  Really, it's quite a brilliant idea.  A hen will take up to a half hour to lay an egg, and that whole time, she just sits.  So if she's sitting on good stuff that can help her in a variety of ways, why wouldn't I try it?  Mint, in particular and in all forms, is good to deter insects, is a sedative (catmint) and is a rodent repellent.  (I also have 2 cats who do this naturally.)  Today, I also added rose petals (highly aromatic, and anyone who has ever been near a chicken coop knows they need all the help they can get!) and lavender (stress reliever & insecticide).

And, it looks pretty.

They often eat the stuff that I put in their nest boxes too, which would also benefit them from the inside out.

I planted some nasturtiums and parsley to add to the boxes as well.  Nasturtiums are purportedly a wormer, have antiseptic properties, act as an insecticide and a laying stimulant, while parsley is a laying stimulant.  I probably won't add all the laying stimulants at once, but rotate them around, coupling them with the more sedative and aromatic herbs.  Ah, for a fresh smelling chicken coop and happy, relaxed hens!

This happy hen is "Banana" (so named by the children) and is Jackson's mother.  She is what's known as an "Easter Egger" -- lays green eggs but is not a true ameraucana as she doesn't conform to breed standards. Kind of a mutt chicken.  But we love her :)
  

In a Bee Yard!

I did the coolest thing today!

I donned a bee suit and got to visit with some amazing honeybees!!  My friend asked me to accompany her to part of her honeybee course, as she was the only student and the instructor, Vic of Bees, Inc. thinks it's better if there is more than 1 learner.  Yay for me!  So I got a crash course in what the different cells look like -- honey cells, brooder cells, drone cells and we even saw a queen in the making!  Just. Totally. Awesome!

We (gently) took apart of couple of hives, checked for queens, dusted for mites, and even practiced marking a drone.  One doesn't mark drones normally, but Vic didn't want us to mess up marking a queen on our first go.  I really didn't know how I'd react, being so up close & personal with thousands of stinging insects, but it was so mellow!  The bees don't freak out if you don't freak out.  Hmmm.  This philosophy can be applied to other aspects of my life...

I'm not in a position to get bees - Yet.  But they will come.  Yes.  They will come.

I heart Bellyfit

 Have you ever made a conscious shift in the way you think, or what you do?  Maybe it was un-conscious and you only realized it later.


A major shift happened for me about six months before my 40th birthday.  My kids were no longer babies, and they were getting to those fun ages where I could really DO stuff with them instead of just looking after them.  Problem was, I had done little or no exercise since having my daughter.  Hmmmm.  This was just not on. Time for Me to be responsible, to Me for Me.  I couldn't rely on being 30-something and still in those forgiving baby years.  Nope. Those years were coming to a close.  There was going to have to be a change so I could have the energy to do more with them.  Plus my looming birthday spurred me on -- I wanted to be a Fit Forty.  Somehow, not sure how, I got on to Bellyfit.


Bellyfit is described as "easy to learn cardio moves infused with the ancient and beautiful fundamentals ofBelly Dance, Bollywood and African Dance. During the second half of the class, enjoy sculpting, toning and tightening with Pilates inspired core work, a deep yet relaxing Yoga inspired stretch and mindful Mudra Meditation."  Um, did anyone happen to mention how much FUN it is???  Seriously.  I sweat and smile and laugh and shimmy and, oh yea, get FIT all at the same time.  Oh and then, to appeal to the diva in all of us, there are these super cute hip skirts too.  


How do you stay fit?

Of Thistles and Vetch

I promised to tell more of the lower pasture here.

So. First, a short story.

We have 2 acres, right?  About 2/3 of an acre is weeds.. Ugh.  We want to get rid of the weeds, which is mostly prickly thistle.  Why?  It's unsightly, not fun when the kids run through it, and when it goes to seed, the seeds fly down the road to the other neighbor with the cows.  Not good for the cows. In the past, we've just roto-tilled it in, but this year we wanted to try something different.  Something useful (other than just putting more organic matter into the soil.)  Without digging it up and without spraying harmful chemicals.  Hmmm.  So last fall, we did some research, internet and with some permaculture friends and we came up with the idea of planting vetch to smother the weeds.  Vetch is a legume which, in theory, climbs the weeds (much like your garden-variety beans or peas) and, in essence,  makes it very difficult for the weeds to grow.  In theory.  Ahem.

Well, vetch seems to like warm weather and plenty of water to germinate.  We've had plenty of water lately, but not so much on the warm.  Thankfully, Hubby was wise and decided to also plant some triticale to "hide" the weeds and also to be used to feed the sheep and chickens or, if it wasn't suitable, for bedding. "Just in case" the vetch plan didn't work.  In any case, the long graceful stalks of triticale would look a heck of a lot better than a lower pasture full of thistles!

So the triticale came up amazing and the vetch that is with it, also.  Both are tall and beautiful waving in the wind, and the weeds are minimal in that area.

But then there's the center of this area.

You can see here the difference in the height of the plants:

Thistles on the left, triticale on the right, and the darker green bit at the back of the photo.

The thistle section didn't get as much water or the thistles are too aggressive or... I dunno.  But the thistles are coming up crazy.  The vetch is there, but struggling.  I still haven't lost hope on the vetch, but I wanted to help it out, so I went out this morning with this handy-dandy tool:

... and began lopping off the heads of the thistles.  Very cathartic, I must say!  My neighbor, who will remain nameless, is beginning to think I'm off my rocker.

As well, I didn't want to totally hack away at the thistles, as they appear to be home to these, in all life stages:

Hmmm.

C'mon vetch, GROW!

Weekend Reading

"The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls.

If you've ever thought your family was totally weird.  Or if you thought you poor.  Or if you need a reminder of how good you've got it.  Or if you just need a good read.

Enjoy.

Happy Week-Ending folks!

Steppin Out

Remember "Honey" - our lonely chick from the first hatch back in March?

Well, Honey's name is now "Jackson", as in Michael, and he had his first day outside this weekend, at 10 weeks old.  He was plenty ready to be out a couple of weeks ago, but since his besties are 3 weeks younger than him and the weather lately has been nothing short of a torrential downpour for days, this was the first good day for him to be out.

Yep, that's him, the big handsome dude in the front.

Here's a closer look at him:

He's a good boy, doesn't mind being coddled and is always on the lookout for anything amiss.
In regards to the other 3 chicks, hatched 3 weeks after Jackson, it looks to me like Mother Nature stayed true to herself yet again -- out of the four (total), 2 are roosters.  Jackson will probably replace his dad  in the flock, and rooster #2 will be... um. Dinner.

Sunshine Celebration

In honor of the sun showing herself for the first time in several days, after ridiculous amounts of rain, I decided to celebrate her return with a glass of sunshine:
1) Gather various citrus fruits:

2) Extract juice however you choose.  We have this handy-dandy citrus squeezer thingie that the kids love any excuse to use:

3) Add juice to glass, mix in sweetener of your choosing, to your liking (I like honey or agave), dilute with water and ice and serve:

And there you are, sunshine to drink!

Weekend Reading

Ahem.  Get ready for it:

"Holy Shit" by Gene Logsdon is a great read for anyone interested in the benefits of composting manure (sheep, chicken, cow, horse, goat, pig, cat, dog and, yes even human).  I did read it cover to cover, but glazed over the bits on dog/cat/human.  Sorry, I'm just not there yet!  But the other stuff, definitely.  How in the "olden days" they used the manure pack from the barn and spread it over their fields and how richly it fertilized the soil.  **No artificial chemicals required**.  I wholly believe we rely far to heavily on chemicals on our land, in our food and on our bodies.  Gene Logsdon helps us to understand the whys in how composting manure works it a very off-handed, humerus way.

How does your garden grow?

We've had record rainfalls in the Okanagan lately.  Thankfully, only for a few days.  Mother Nature's way of giving me a day off of watering the garden :)

Observe: The Blueberry and Garlic Jungle  (remember the garlic from April??):

The Heavenly Strawberry Patch:

And the Spicy Salad Forest:

How does YOUR garden grow?

Weekend Reading

I thought I'd give everyone another's week break in my gardening selection.  So, this Friday's selection: "Secret Daughter" by Shilpi Somaya Gowda.  I'm sure a ton of people have already read it, but if you haven't, look it up.  Well worth it!

Whatever you do, where ever you are, Have a fantastic weekend!