Why Not?

I realized that I never mentioned that we got chicks last weekend, so I let the kids have the camera to document them for you:

So there are now 6 chicks living in our garage again.  Three of them are Isa Brown pullets.  The other three are possibly (probably) Rhode Island Reds.  The guy working at Tractor Supply that got the chicks for us was not a knowledgeable chicken guy, and so the Rhode Island Red label is really just a guess.  We also aren't sure if those three are pullets or are straight-run.

So these 6 chicks will eventually join the 6 hens and 1 rooster we have in the coop.  For now, though, they are enjoying life in the garage.

Little Johnny Appleseed

The first grade has been studying famous American contributors, and each child had to pick someone to learn about and portray.  Lydia picked Johnny Appleseed, and she was thrilled when I let her bring a real pot to wear on her head for the class "wax museum".  Gyunay wasn't sure what was going on, but he enjoyed visiting Lydia at her school.  I asked Lydia why she picked Johnny Appleseed, and she said, "Because I like apples, and he planted lots of apple trees.  And he ate nuts and berries because he loved wild animals and didn't want to kill them, and I love wild animals."  I did point out that she eats animals, though, and she replied, "Well, yeah, cause they taste good!"  That's pretty authentically Lydia; she adores animals, but she has no qualms about watching her daddy cull chickens and then eating them.

Book Review - Counted with the Stars by Connilyn Cossette

 Author Connilyn Cossette has crafted an entertaining and inspiring tale of life for one young Egyptian woman during the Biblical Exodus.  The main characters are multi-faceted, and the story deals often with themes of friendship and loyalty.  Kiya was used to a life of luxury, but she becomes a slave to a harsh woman.  Her fellow handmaiden, Shira, intrigues her with her faith and positive attitude, and Kiya finds herself drawn into Shira's stories of the Hebrew God.  Then strange plagues strike the land, and Kiya has to evaluate what she really believes, and whom she trusts.  Sin and forgiveness, guilt and reconciliation are all seamlessly worked into the story of Kiya and her family and friends.  The book seems authentic to life in that time period, and the author does a good job of explaining customs of both Hebrews and Egyptians without turning the book into a textbook lesson.  While the story does not contradict the Biblical account, she does enhance the details of the story in creative new ways that I really enjoyed.  This book is the first in a series, and I look forward to reading the next one.  I highly recommend this book, and I think that even readers who do not normally enjoy fiction based on the Old Testament would find this book deeply satisfying.

I received this book from the publisher, Bethany House, for the purpose of writing a review, but all opinions are my own.

The newest garden

The yard is beautiful right now.  There are several tulips in bloom, mostly red and orange, but also a few yellow.   There are dandelions and violets all over, too.  I know most people consider those weeds, but I love them, and I really wouldn't ever want to have a yard without them.

Here is one of two grape plants I planted.  I'm hoping they do ok; they are in only partial sun.

And this is the new garden.  I know it's probably not very exciting to you, but to me this is a beautiful sight!  All of the holes in the concrete blocks now have seeds planted in them, mostly peas but also lettuce, arugula, carrots, swiss chard, sweet mace, spinach, etc.  The trench looking part on the left is where the potato plants will grow.  Near the fence (where one raspberry plant is on this side), there will be cucumbers, although it's way too early to plant those for quite some time.  Gyunay helped me fill the concrete blocks with dirt and plant the seeds.  He likes helping, at least in small doses.  Nathaniel helped me fill the main part of the bed from the dirt/compost mix we bought and had delivered.  Things are looking good for the garden this year.  

And, in totally unrelated but very exciting news, Gyunay said 9 out of 10 vowel/consonant combo words correctly at speech today!  He said "oat, on, up, eye, ouch, ant, out, eat, and in" correctly, and he just missed the "m" in "arm".  This is great progress.  He's trying to talk all the time, and has more approximations than he did just a few weeks ago.

In the Bluebells

While on spring break, we visited my brother's house.  As kids, this valley was my grandparents' home, and it's always nice to let my kids wander in the woods and down the lane like we did many years ago.  As is mandatory when the bluebells are blooming, we tried to get a picture of all of the kids:

This is probably the best one of the 6 I took!  But oh, well, we had a great time.

Now the kids are back in school, and I'm busy here in my gardens.  I planted potatoes for the first time ever today.  I bought Purple Viking seed potatoes, and I'm eager to watch them grow in the new garden area that Nathaniel helped me build.  I'll have to take a picture soon.  I'm also still piddling around with seedlings indoors, and I've got peas and onions going in one garden, and broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower in another.  So far, I'm off to a pretty good start, although I don't know if the cauliflower will make it.  I'll have to try it again as a fall crop.

Chicken Updates

It's been a while since I did a real chicken-centered post.   Our chicks have developed into 5 pullets and 3 cockerels, and we have the one old hen, which Malachi is holding.  Two of the cockerels are slated for the table soon.  They really only got a stay of execution because of having guests to focus on the last two weekends.  I don't think my sister and her girls would be visiting again if we harvested chickens in front of them!  And of course this past weekend, we celebrated Easter and had my inlaws here.  So the two cockerels that we have decided to eat soon gained a few extra weeks of life.  They definitely have to go soon, though, because the two of them are fighting over mounting the hens, and we don't want our hens getting hurt.

Here the chickens are enjoying the third yard.  The tree in the foreground is our peach tree - starting to bloom.  I do have hopes for peaches this year.  The chickens don't get to enjoy this yard as much as I'd like.  Since we've had so many problems with neighbor dogs, we only let them into this yard when some of us are outside, which means that gray, rainy days like today keep them from enjoying the fresh clovers and etc of this green yard.  I actually plant clover in this yard every year, because the chickens love it, and they eat it up.

All 5 of our pullets are laying eggs regularly.  We are thrilled to now be getting eggs every day.  We are averaging about 3 a day, and we expect that we will generally be getting 4 a day soon, once all of the new layers get regular.  Finally, I can depend on fresh eggs again!  We have tentative plans to buy more chicks next week (our spring break), because we would like a bigger flock and because I had told the kids we could get chicks this spring.  Plus, who am I kidding, I'm a sucker for more chicks.  I plan on getting straight runs so we get more roosters to eat, as well.  I've also toyed with the idea of getting some meat chickens.  The kids all love to eat chicken, and I can't really bring myself to buy factory farmed chicken meat, so we need to raise some more.

Book Review - Catch a Star by Tamika Catchings

Catch a Star, by Tamika Catchings, is a brief autobiography of the Indiana Fever basketball star.  Tamika seems like the kind of person you would want as a friend: kind, hardworking, honest, and dedicated.  Her stories about growing up with hearing loss and bullying strike a chord, and the sincerity of her story is evident.  This book would not appeal very much to non-sports fans, though.  It is mostly about her basketball career, and how basketball and God helped her through tough times.  Fans and players of any sport will understand the role of basketball in Tamika's life, and her dedication to it.  It did seem like, as the story progressed to more recent years, that Tamika is much more willing to share her feelings on the court rather than real details of her life.  I enjoyed this book, but Tamika herself did seem to remain slightly out of reach.  That said, this book is a good read, and the message is a great one for teenagers, so I would really recommend this book for anyone with a teen who likes sports.  I also find that I suddenly would like to see an Indiana Fever game, after reading this!  (I've never been to any type of professional sporting event, just college ones.)

I received this book from publisher Revell for the purpose of writing a review, but all opinions are my own.