They do work!

This little egg is the first from our hens! Not sure which one it came from, but we are sure happy they finally laid. We were beginning to think we had 11 pet chickens instead of 11 working chickens. God is good!

Ladies and Gentleman

The yellow hen is Henny Penny (Buff Orpington). The black and white chicken behind her is Tatanka (Silver Hamburg), he is a rooster. He is pretty bossy, cocka-doodling when it is time to go to bed, when it is time to wake up, and if we let the hens out to run around. The other photo is Ribbons (Barred Rock) and Elenor (Black Astralorp). They love to be outside, and love to eat spaghetti squash.

Butchering Chickens

Rob and I raised 23 broilers this spring. We had some dog kennels already set up in the big shed, so we put them in there. It was crazy to see how fast they grew. A couple weeks ago we took them out to Marlin's farm to butcher with the help of Rob's mom, aunt, and two uncles. We only did about half of them the first time because a bunch weren't ready yet. That was ok. We would have been at it all day! We did the rest a couple weeks later. Here is a picture of the group making the game plan. I decided not to share any of the actual butchering pictures, I thought some people wouldn't care to see those.

Mama Robin

When we moved to our house, there was a nest on our porch. There weren't any birds in it at the time, but we decided that it wasn't bothering any one there. This spring a mother robing decided it would be the perfect place to lay her four bright blue eggs. She sits on the nest most of the time. Whenever we go outside she flies away screaming and sits in the tree close by warning us not to go near her precious soon to be babies. I took a few peeks, just to count the eggs. One day there was two, the next three, and finally four. I haven't checked since, so there may be more. I think they can lay up to five eggs. The nest is right outside our kitchen window. Wherever we wash the dishes it is like we can have small conversations with the mama robin. It is really fun to see.

Today was "Chicken Day"

Rob, Ollie, and I welcomed home 12 day old chicks! They are such a joy. They had many visitors today.


I will post better pictures soon. Cheap Cheap!

Snow at home

Just a few pictures of the winter wonderland outside.

Sometimes we see these out our windows.

Snowed in?

I don't mind. As a matter of fact - I liked the blizzard. I woke up, decided that it wasn't worth going to Sioux Center for work, and proceeded to make these...


They are a recipe from one of my favorite blogs

The recipe is from one of my favorite blogs - Bake at 350. She is amazing! This was my first attempt, and other than working on my piping technique, I think I did ok. I also made peppermint marshmallows.

We also spent some of our day watching the birds outside feasting at our bird feeder. It quite the site, seeing all the birds fighting the blizzard - having to fly sideways to get to our porch. They decided that it was warmer by our window. Ollie and Neko thought they looked a little tasty.



We ended the night with some homemade Chinese food and a movie. A wonderful way to spend the snowy day.

How did you spend yours?

Maisy Blue Blonnet

Here is the newest resident at the Roost - Maisy Blue Bonnet. Her job is to fertilize the garden and to look cute. She lives in a little bunny hutch between the garage and the soon-to-be chicken coop. She came to us from a farm near Doon, and we are glad to have her. She is about 7 years old and has soft brown and gray fur. She really enjoys a good carrot now and then.

I hope you can all meet her someday! She is a real joy!

*FYI - So far all of our animals have a first and middle name. The first names are picked in order to complete the middle part of the alphabet (L M N O P) and the middle names need to have a color reference.

Maisy Blue Bonnet
Neko Violet
Ollie Redford

Camera is getting fixed... finally. I have so many things I want to take good pictures of to show all of you. (the house, Christmas decorations, ornament swap results, Neko getting a hair cut, the new bunny)

Oh yeah. Rob and I are getting a 7 year old female rabbit from some people in town. They now longer what it, so they are giving us all the goods along with her. Rob picker her up this morning. We named is Maisy Blue Bonnet.

And Neko hasn't been feeling well lately. We brought her to the vet and they had to take x-rays to figure out what was wrong. It turns out she just has a big hairball. But while they had her, they gave her a hair cut because her fur was in rough shape. Now she looks like a wild lioness. Hopefully, no more hairballs! I will post a picture soon.