Raising Backyard Chickens - Class in March

Isn't this the cutest picture? Got it on Pinterest. Do you know about Pinterest? Celli told me about it some time ago and I am absolutely loving it. Great bulletin board of ideas, crafts, photos, DIY projects or just keeping tract of "some day" projects. I pin every day with pictures or articles I find interesting and love how I can instantly savie them. Check it out sometime.

Windmill Farm will be providing a class on Raising Backyard Chickens March 3, 2012 from 10:00 - 12:30pm. There is a huge interest in people having their own chickens but need the basic knowledge on the how to get started and what should I know about it.

I have had chickens pretty much all of my adult life and wherever we lived. My friend, Tina who owns Happy Chick Farm will be co-instructor with me for the class. Tina raises 100s of chicks each year and throughout the year and when they are just about ready to lay, she sells time to happy chick owners. Saves the time and expense of caring for baby chicks yourself. She also raises turkeys and meat chickens and has a rescue farm of large farm animals.

The class will provide a well stocked booklet of general information about chicken health; feeding; care; chicken coops and local rules and regulations. I will provide some snacks, drinks and after our 2 hour instruction, we will take a tour out to my chicken coop. Maybe even be able to handle a chicken so you can feel comfortable and see what fun and darling AND entertaining creatures they are. Maybe Tina will bring a few chicks to the class so we can see them and talk about them. The class will be at our farm, here in Gridley and the cost is $20. Email or call windmillfarm@sbcglobal.net - 530-846-3344 if interested and I will sign you up. Please feel free to tell friends and family but space will be limited.

We have started tearing out our hall bathroom. Our house was built around the 1930s and the original hall bath was remodeled sometime in the late 1990s. We have tried to add our remodeling elements to be modern but period to the Arts and Craft style of the house. I will add photos as we continue along. We are in day 2 of the complete tear out.

I had purchased some Narcissus bulbs before Christmas and had plans to give them away as gifts. I put them in my garden shed and just saw them again a few weeks ago but decided to plant in gravel and put them on my window sill and they just took off. The kitchen is smelling so good, love them as they remind me of spring.

Thank you as always for viewing our blog and being interested in Windmill Farm and Country Design.

What's Up With This Weather!!

What is up with this great weather??

I can't believe how warm it has been here in Gridley, middle 60's. Unfortunately, it is creating a false spring to my fruit trees and yesterday I saw 2 blossoms on my apricot tree. I saw tulips at the grocery store and Trader Joes and I love them, it just lifts my spirit when I see them in my kitchen.

I am a collector of antiques, have been my whole life. My collections can change from time to time but one collection I have are these glass containers with silverware in the pictures above. They are from the late 1880s-1930s and called "spooners" or celery holders, spoon holders. People with large families would have a large container of silverware of some kind in the middle of the kitchen table and fancy tables would have glass ones. I use them all the time for small flower arrangements, candy, at Christmas I put small Christmas ornaments inside. One large glass container I have I even put lights inside for the holidays. Most of the time I use them for silverware on a table.

Last week I wanted a lamp in my bathroom to match my fabric on a chair. I had used fabric to line a lampshade in the past but had never used wallpaper. So I tried it and it turned out fairly well. I did learn one lesson about the glue so next time I will water down the glue and use a small paintbrush to apply it.

Frank has continued to work on the restoration of his tractor. Yesterday he bondoed-not sure of this word but he puts bondo over dents in the metal, grinds it down and puts primer over it so the dents are repaired. I told him it seemed very strange to be putting bondo on a 60+ year old outside tractor. First time that old Ford has had any repairs done to it in its' life! The picture is of the front grill and side piece. Frank is having so much fun and loves doing a "professional" job.

I guess I have been feeling very homey and domestic lately. I get very anxious to work outside and get started on the vegetable gardens and plants, especially with this great weather but I just have to force myself not to, as it is much too early. So I think of flowers and food!!! I made this yummy chicken pot pie yesterday and invited our friend, Tina to come join us.

Until next time, thank you for joining me at our Windmill Farm and a new twist to my blog for 2012, Windmill Farm Life and Country Design.

Chickens and Friends

I have noticed something I have never thought about before. It could sound weird, but I think the Windmill Farm chickens have particular "chicken friends" they like to hang out with during the

day.

This will be the 3rd season that our resident pheasant is here with us. He roams free all over the place but as soon as I let out the 20+ chickens, he seems to like cruising around with my pretty Buff Orphington chickens.

Last year in March, Frank read about how helpful owls were in ridding fields of moles and gophers. So he made a bunch of the owl boxes and put them up around the first of April. We were able to entice one owl to stay the summer but the owls start nesting around January and we had missed their season in 2011. A few nights ago, I saw 2 owls fly into one of the owl boxes in the back and yesterday evening I saw one standing on top of the box on the west side of our property. I believe this year we will have lots of barn owls combing our fields. How exciting, gophers look out!

Here is another photo of Frank's progress with his 1947 tractor. Few more parts on it.