Week 2 of the Chickens!

The chickens have been doing well and growing like crazy. This past weekend, Scott and I decided to upgrade their living space from one of our parrot's old cages to a spacious card board box. It took just 20 minutes to construct this cardboard condo for the kiddos.





We also added one more chick to our brood because Scott so desperately wanted an Easter Egg chicken or better known as an Ameraucana. I had the pleasure of attending a book signing for Gretchen Anderson and her new book, The Backyard Chicken Fight. It was a great presentation and Gretchen was so kind enough to refer me to someone who had an Ameraucana.

This weekend was very busy putting in the garden but a bonus was finding a few worms which I shared with the chicks. What a show!!! One grabs the worm and then runs for cover and then another chick jumps in and steals the worm. Its like a crazy, no rules game of capture the flag. Of course, Millie our Buff Orpington stole the worm. I can tell she is going to be the bossy queen over all the other chickens.

Next project is to get to work on modifications to their permanent home (an old dog house) and a chicken tractor both of which I picked up on Craigslist for $80 each. Screaming deal!

Millie (the Buff Orpington) is the only chick that has a name at the moment. I named her because she has a big puffy butt and she reminded me of the stereotypical large bossy farm wife which I of course assumed would be named Millie (or Bessy). Any ideas on names for the other crazies?

Here's is a pic of Millie:

Victory Gardens Revisited

As many of you know I have really been getting into this slow food movement. It calls to me in a way few things have and I can't get enough, but this isn't a new thing.

I was reminded that having gardens (and chickens) was to some a patriotic duty. They were called victory gardens. The US, as well as many countries in Europe, encouraged their citizens to help with the food shortage during WWI and WWII by keeping gardens and chickens to feed themselves and possibly their neighbors. It was estimated there were 20 million gardens with 9-10 million tons of produce grown!!! Can you imagine? How awesome and amazing! People really believed it was their patriotic duty to serve their country in whatever small way they could.

Now I am not a political person and don't ever plan to be political on this blog, but what I will say is that I only wish we had such love for our country (and inherently for one another) that we could do such things today. I feel our society is jaded (and divided). I am jaded. We don't seem to share the same ideals and values as times past. We seem very focused on being an individual instead of being a community. I won't glorify the 1940's because I know we have made wonderful improvements in so many areas, but I can't help but believe that the people of the 1940's knew something we don't seem to know today. It was a culture of honesty and respect for your fellow man (ok not always for women). It was doing the right thing even if it was the harder thing. It was smiling and tipping your hat. It was an understanding and a recognition that we are all in the life together and that we need each other. How did we lose all of that?

I for one think we should bring victory gardens back. Not to help a war effort but to seek victory over what we have lost and perhaps in going outside to the garden we will find it again. I don't think people will find what they are looking for in laptops, TV's and iphones nor in the fast food and shopping malls. The secrets are hidden underneath the fall leaves, the quite patience of winter's snow, in the tender green tendrils of spring's bounty and in the lazy sunshine of summer.

Here's to victory gardens a new!

Plain Simple True

I love blogging, but have had a hard time doing it regularly. If you noticed, I have taken a few months off. My blog didn't feel right to me and I needed some time to find my mojo. I found it in a chicken order and not your supermarket kind of chicken. I am talking about the walking clucking very much alive kind of chicken.

My life has been going through some major changes the last few years. I gave up the hot dry deserts of Arizona for the lush green rolling hills of Idaho. I have never looked back. My motto has always been that I am a complicated person in constant pursuit of simplicity. Anyone who knows me, knows that statement is true; although some would argue that I have an affection for the complicated. In truth I really have been seeking a simpler life, but for the short term I seem to be plagued by complication.

Try as I might to define what a simple life means, I can't. All I have are brief ideas and images of where I would like to be. The feeling of a wet dog nose on your knee, the singing of my canary in the morning, the flowers blooming in the front yard, the feel of dirt in my hands, the planning of a garden and the excitement of raising chickens. I love making my food from natural organic ingredients that I have either grown myself or sourced from a local farmer. I want to focus my energies on my husband and friends. I want to hike the hills and bike the city soaking up the sun, the birds and the sky. I want to be moved by the wise words of the authors I read and maybe bestow a few to the world myself. I want to share my knowledge so that when I am no longer on this plant, the mark I have made on the land will have been small, but the mark on the minds of friends and family will be big.

There are a few words that come to mind that might encompass all of these ideals and that's why I decided to call my blog plain simple true. Its more than the urban homesteader in me or the health nut seeking out the next best recipe or the love I have for the unique creatures I share my life with (3 dogs, 3 parrots, a canary and chickens). I am committed to living my most authentic life even if its quirky to most anyone else.

I found excitement and peace (and yes my mojo!) in taking a trip to the local hatchery to pick up some chicks. I was so happy and excited to be driving home with a card board box on my passenger's seat peeping at me. I didn't want to be anywhere else but with those chicks. It's a moment in my life where I felt I was doing exactly what I should be doing and is more satisfying than career success, fancy clothes or loud parties.

Happy Chick Day!