Idle Chat

I thought yet again that I was going to let go of this space, finish up writing here, but apparently not so. In my meditation, this blog kept coming to me, and in my dreams I was shown again that this blog is to stay. Far be it from me to question guidance like that, and I suppose I better show up and write something again too.

We let go of our little chickens. That was the hardest I've ever had to deal with in terms of chickens. We've lost chickens to cold, dogs and illness; we've re-homed chickens, and I left our last lot behind when I couldn't bring them to town with us, and it has always been, not necessarily easy, but just necessary. When we moved into our little house in this little city I suppose I/we were feeling disconnected from the country, and we missed our chookies so much. So in the little space we had, we got two beautiful Rhode Island Reds, Beryl and Beatrice, and had a little house for them in the garden. I got so attached to those two, probably because they were the most cuddly chickens we've ever had, and the cheekiest, and the friendliest. But as life would have it, the benefits of our feathered friends were outweighed by the extra burden on me to keep them and eventually I had to accept that, as long as we're in this house, we won't keep chickens. We found a lovely new home for them, but gosh, the sadness when they left. I cried a lot that afternoon. I wanted to show my boy that it's ok to cry when we're sad. He cried too, not so much over the chickens, but for the box they left in - from our new vacuum cleaner (months ago) that he's been using as his dryer ever since. So we both did some crying. It's life hey. Better processed and dealt with than not.

I'm missing having more space and being in the country like mad, but I'm working hard on focusing on the positive aspects of where we are. I've been experiencing so much resistance to being here, and I know it stems from the circumstances surrounding why we are here. As a friend pointed out to me, "you didn't choose to come here; you chose to leave where you were". And she was spot on. It was a rushed, spur of the moment decision and where we ended up was dependent on what was available quickly and easily. And not to take away anything from where we live, we have a beautiful, happy home. But whatever the circumstances I've been feeling stuck. That desire to move on, find something more suitable, has been burning strongly, and I've been countering it with focusing my thoughts on stability. Letting myself feel whatever there is to be felt, doing yoga to move through it, finding postures that require stability. It all helps. Giving myself space to really, deeply reflect on what I do want, when we do move on from here. And goodness knows when that will be, I wonder if after all my resistance we might even end up staying here for a good time. Who knows. Moving house often is definitely a strength of mine, be that good or bad (but hey let's leave polarities behind, shall we?), it is what it is, and my only real concern is providing a the best possible home for my boy, and me too.

And it's nearly Christmas again, and I think back to what I wrote heading into Christmas last year (here) and not much has changed. I'm really not comfortable with the idea of Christmas, and my internal discomfort is growing. Funnily enough, I'm more willing than ever to celebrate Jesus in any way, shape or form, but not in the commercial, thoughtless, plastic way that Christmas is rammed down our throats by corporate giants. So I don't know what we will do on Christmas Day in this house yet. Or what to tell my toddler about Christmas. The whole thing is so pervasive in society. At the library, a kind lady gives him a stamp on his hand - and it's a Christmas tree. The marketing in shops, tinsel everywhere (for months now), people very kind-heartedly asking 'what's Santa going to bring you' without a thought that perhaps, for us, there is no Santa. And wondering how the heck to handle this with a 2 year old. Lots of conversations to be had, for many years to come, and lots of expectations to be managed. Wanting to give him the joy of childhood 'Christmas' without the burden of expectation placed squarely by society. The tricky moments of parenting. I will need to do more inner work on this one, I suppose, and see what I know, deep down. For me, I have always loved having a tree in the house and decorating it with beautiful, meaningful decorations. No flashing lights or plastics. Perhaps we can make lots of little clay angels and paint them, and adorn a tree with them to honour and give thanks for their guidance and support. And of course Jesus, we will celebrate Jesus. Perhaps I do know the inner answers after all.

Enough idle chat from me, it's been good to check in here again. I'll be back soon, I promise! (ps I'm having a little giveaway from my shop, details are over on my Instagram account if you'd like the chance to win a handful of beautiful natural crystals!).

A chicken story and a giveaway winner

Dot and Flossy

Back in November, we had a little Wyandotte chick hatch. She grew into the most beautiful little chicken you can imagine, and we named her Dot. She was a really happy little lady, followed her mama hen around everywhere. Then when she was about 10 weeks old, she got a funny leg - like one leg was just giving way and couldn't support her. It was not very nice. So we took her to the vet, who told us she had a temperature and gave us antibiotics for her. We had to keep her quarantined for a week, away from the other chickens and her mama hen.

We kept her up near the house, and at night she slept in a cat carrier that we tucked away in the laundry. She took it all in her stride, although she seemed a bit depressed, and the leg got better. I was surprised to be honest, chickens are not alway the hardiest creatures. But I'm glad we took her to the vet, as she pulled through beautifully. However, when we took her back to the chook run, she was rejected by all the others. Her mama hen didn't want to know about her. She was so, so sad. And it made me so sad too.

After a couple of weeks, with not much change, and Dot just mooching around, barely coming out of the hen house and just being on her own all the time, I figured it was time to find her a friend. So I put a little ad on Gumtree, wanting a young Wyandotte hen to keep her company. Someone emailed me and said try my friend, so I did try the friend, and the next day we collected a little gold laced Wyandotte, a little younger than Dot but that was not a bad thing. We named her Flossy. We kept the pair of them quarantined for a night, so they would buddy up, then put them back with the others.

I am so glad we found a friend for Dot, now the pair of them are always together, they are the most beautiful little chickens (and so are the rest, of course), and they're back in the good books with the mama hen and her offsider. They have all bonded so well. And Dot is a beautiful, healthy, happy little chicken. I love a happy little ending!

*  *  *  *  *

And so to the giveaway winner. Not many entries people! I guess I've not talked much about crystals and how I use them in my life here on the blog, at least not for a couple of years. I use crystals a lot, for all sorts of things. Such as, I use a nice big piece of garnet to help heal an old scar from when a car knocked me off my bike, and I used it for morning sickness when I was pregnant, and I used it to help my blood after I had a miscarriage. And I used a piece of Tiger Iron for the same thing. And I have numerous pieces of rose quartz throughout the house. And I usually have a piece of Tibetan quartz stashed in a pocket somewhere. And I carry a piece of Amazonite if I feel I need a bit of extra warrior woman energy about me. Anyway, more about that another time perhaps. For now, the giveaway winner is Meg Smith - well done Meg! Thank you to all who entered, I wish I could give make everyone the winner. And thank you for supporting my little shop, it really means a lot to me.

And my apologies for posting the winner a day later than I said I would. We had some really big gusty winds in these parts which caused a bit of havoc and we had no power, and so no internet. It was a wide area of power outage too, it was a bit of a treat to have a night with no electricity around anywhere nearby. Although I did realise how much I like my creature comforts like lights and a warm shower.

In The Garden… chickens and berries

Always a chicken. Eight of them actually, in my vegie garden.

Orange berries. I have no idea what these are, but I do like the colour.

Drying version of the orange berries.

And some more little berries, green ones. I have no idea what these are either. My knowledge of plants is surely putting me to shame somewhat right now.

And again, another plant that I have no idea what it is!

I'm enjoying these posts. It's really making me go and look closely at what is happening in the garden. An excuse to wander, camera in hand, examine this, have a look at that. Meander out the front and in the little corners where I don't spend much time. Most of my time goes into the vegie garden, but I am starting to turn my attention to other areas as well.

I'll be doing this post weekly, on Friday's, so if you would like to join me and share something In The Garden, please do! Any and all gardens, plants in pots and balconies, the gardens at your local park, any garden will do. Leave a link to your blog in the comments and I'll be there to take a peek. From last week, lots of seedlings to be planted over at With Vintage And Me.

In The Garden... things are flowering

The evening light fades, the last rays hitting the metal fence. Little potato flowers forming are illuminated in the reflected light.

The coriander is flowering, a small plant that we've not even taken any leaves from, except when I pulled off some early flowers in the vain hope of slowing down the march of nature. And it made me want a Thai green curry so badly. 

The smallest rocket plants ever, I think. Seeds planted months ago, promptly germinated and grew into seedlings and and and... didn't get much bigger than seedlings. I thought they had gone in the heat, but no - standing less than 3 inches tall, they are now flowering.

And some chickens. Always some chickens. Bertie and the babies. So far Bertie is the only one to have a name. We're pretty sure Bertie is a boy.

What's happening in your garden this week?

I'll be doing this post weekly, on Friday's, so if you would like to join me and share something In The Garden, please do! Any and all gardens, plants in pots and balconies, the gardens at your local park, any garden will do. Leave a link to your blog in the comments and I'll be there to take a peek.

Five Baby Chickens

Frankie and the babies.

I think I wrote late last year about how our little chicken, Frankie, just started laying eggs, then got broody. About that time we also added two new 8 week old chickens to keep her company, and moved her house to another section of the yard, so with the disruptions she snapped out of her broodiness pretty quickly. Then in December she went broody... again. 

So naturally, we got her some fertilised eggs to sit on, as you do. Actually I don't know what we were thinking. But it seemed like such a good, reasonable, rational idea at the time. She had twelve eggs, so the worst possible scenario was twelve little roosters. Of those eggs, five hatched, and of those five, well we have no idea how many will be roosters. Or what we will do with the roosters. I'm sure we have room for a couple more hens, so a few can stay. And they are very cute.

Our son loves them. They are very cute, and there is something so completely amazing about watching new life unfold right before your eyes. And it forced us to fully cat-proof the chook run. And now we just wait and see who starts to crow. 

Do you breed or hatch your own chickens? How do you deal with roosters? I think it would be a most unfortunate fate, to be born a boy chicken into this world.

Declared: A Year of Decluttering

Last year we decided we were having a year of consolidation [which you can read about here]. And it was pretty good really, we feel that we have 'consolidated' our lives a lot. Unexpected things came out of it, like moving from our house in the country to a regional town again, and some of the things we knew we needed to do were also done, like consolidating bank accounts. Things that you can just put off, and put off, and put off. Still a few loose ends to be tidied up, but all in all, we feel consolidated, for now.

Audrey and Beryl enjoying a dust bath under my little quince tree [in need of a tidy up..]. But what have chickens got to do with decluttering?

So this year, we have decided that our focus is on decluttering. There's nothing like moving house to highlight how much excess 'stuff' we are carrying. So it's all about going through our belongings, sorting out what is staying, what can go, and then making it happen. We made a good start on the process late last year, using the local paper to rehome some of our unwanted and unnecessary things - an extra baby car seat, a hand-me-down porta-cot [we co-sleep, so it seemed unnecessary], a home brew kit that was an unwanted gift. And this represents just the tip of the iceberg.

I'm not even thinking about declutting my books at this stage, although I did have one of those 'ah-ha' moments recently where I realised I could, I really really could, actually part with at least half of my book collection. I could, but it seems pointless when we have some built-in floor to ceiling bookshelves in this house. So perhaps for the next move I will tackle the books. For now, we have a shed full of extra bits and old things and bikes and broken lawnmowers. An extra bed, his old speakers, my old gym equipment. Two extra washing machines, a second pram. Desks we don't use.

It's a big job. That's why we've decided this whole year is dedicated to the big declutter. Little things from the house can also go - clothes, toys [already, and our son is not even 10 months old!], kitchen appliances we don't use, little belongings that hold no meaning for us. It is an ongoing process. I dream of a house and shed where there is space, and room to breathe. A place for everything and everything in its place. Nothing that doesn't need to be there. No clutter. No climbing over garden tools that lie sprawled over the shed floor, with all the shed space taken with unnecessary things. 

Do we really need a whole year dedicated to the process? I think we do. If last year is anything to go by, we didn't feel like we even started our 'consolidation' until the middle of the year! Plus keeping our focus on this whole decluttering thing is helping us make better purchasing decisions. Already we see this thing or that, and think hmmm that would be ok - or is it just an unnecessary thing? Something to use once or twice a year? Hardly worth it. We are becoming smarter consumers. This whole decluttering business feels like the hangover from poor purchasing decisions in the past.

And what of the chickens? Well, we need to do some decluttering in that department too, as little miss Frankie has got five baby cheep cheeps running around now, bringing the tally in our little town backyard to eight. Of which, potentially five can be roosters. What were we thinking?

Chicken Update: The New Girls

We've had some ups and downs in the chicken department lately. We lost our favourite little chook, Gloria, which was quite upsetting for all of us. She was a good little chicken and we/I had become quite attached to her. I don't know exactly what happened, she certainly wasn't her usual self and hadn't been pretty much since we moved. But I also wouldn't rule out foul play by a cat either. Possibly a combination of both. Anyway it left poor little Frankie all on her own, not to mention losing her mum.

So we thought we'd best get some new feathered friends for Frankie, can't have just one chook all on it's own. Off to market we went, and sure enough, there were the chickens for sale. We decided on two little 8 week olds. We figured Frankie would be big enough to be the top chook, and two littles in with her would be better than one [in case Frankie gave it/them a hard time]. After only a couple of days they had all come to terms with each other and now they happily roam around as a gang of three. 

The whole ordeal was enough to break Frankie out of her broodiness, so she's up and about again and has now started laying again [seriously, she started laying then went broody a week or so later, so we only got a handful of eggs to start with!]. Still a little way off the new girls laying but they're settling in nicely, and as it turns out, are quite boisterous little ladies. I just hope they stay being little ladies and we don't end up with another accidental rooster. We are not going through all that again!

So this is them. Beryl, the white one, and Audrey, the speckled black and white. And our dear little Frankie. They've got a lovely new enclosure that contains their chook house and which gives them room to roam a bit and scratch around in. We also let them out for a wander in the garden in the afternoons, but I have to stay close by and supervise to make sure they stay out of the vegie garden. Yes, that old problem, still. They're pretty good though. It's lovely to see them all looking happy out there.

Audrey, Beryl and Frankie in the background.

Bossy Beryl.

Audrey's bum.

Our lovely little Frankie. Sweet little chicken.

Happenings of Late

Our little Frankie chicken is now all grown up - she started laying eggs about a week ago. Frustratingly, we had just wormed them so had to wait a week before we could start to collect the eggs for eating. But now we are, and they're lovely little bantam eggs, with a good hard shell and bright yellow yolks. She's now sitting in her nest every day too. Her mum Gloria did the same thing when she first started laying. A bit haphazard, inclined to wander away and forget about the nest, but then return to sitting. We think this will pass pretty soon, but when it happens again, we'd like to put some fertilised eggs under her.

I've been snatching every spare minute to do some jobs in the garden. There isn't much to show for my efforts, but the vegie garden is starting to become just that, a vegie garden. And finally, finally I have the beginnings of a herb garden. I can't tell you how many years I've wanted to plant a herb garden for, and now it's finally happening. No order, no planning. I'm just planting out those things most urgently in need of a home, in places that are the easiest/best spot for right now. So if they have to move in the future, then I'm ok with that. At least it's a start. Rosemary, mint and chamomile so far.

Making way for my herb garden are quite a few succulents. I thought I'd make use of the multitude of garden pots I have floating around and rehome a lot of them, since they are easily moved. So I still don't know what I'm going to do with them [maybe I'll just stick them out the front on the street with a 'free' sign and hope they dissapear]. I might try a few indoors, we've been trying to add more plants to the house to improve the indoor air quality of late. I've been struggling to find nice indoor pots [not plastic] - why do the only pots you can buy these days come with a fake plant and no drainage holes?

My days are more hectic than I thought possible. I suspect they may become even more hectic. Keeping up with this 7 month old baby is hard work, and he's not yet fully mobile. Day time naps seem to be ever shrinking. How does he not need the sleep? Goodness knows I need it! I tried to explain to him how good daytime naps are but he's not buying it. But this is also such a lovely stage he's at, exploring lots of food with our baby led weaning and getting out and about more. A weekly baby rhyme time session at the library with other babies is one of the highlights at the moment.

I made my next batch of soap. It looks wonderful, better than the first. I'm nearly finished crocheting another dishcloth [that has taken waaaay too long]. I'm spending lots of time in the kitchen, which I need to get better at managing [hello large batch cooking]. I've been getting a weekly ride on my bike. I'm missing time to read blogs as there has hardly been any lately [time for reading or writing this blog]. I love right now but I also look forward to a slightly less hectic pace of life.

What's been happening in your life of late?

Frankie Baby

Frankie and Gloria - baby and mum.

I've mentioned a couple of times about how we had some 'unplanned' baby chickens [thanks to our 'unplanned' rooster, George], and the mother hen of the group, Gloria started sitting on eggs. Well back in about mid-May, three of those eggs hatched and out came some tiny chicks. Two blacks and one yellow. Sadly, the two blacks both didn't make it. I think they both didn't survive the cold. And to be honest, we had no idea what to do with them - we are by no means chicken breeders! Basically we left mother hen to do her thing, and just made sure she had a sheltered spot. Anyway, it is now roughly 12 weeks later, and the little yellow chick has blossomed into a lovely looking... chicken!

Naturally we have fingers and toes crossed that Frankie is a girl, and doesn't start crowing and become Frank. So we make sure to call her 'her', like that's going to make all the difference. We couldn't give away the first rooster, goodness knows we don't need two of them out there. Anyway, she has grown into a fine looking bird, in my opinion. Her mum Gloria is part silky, and Frankie actually seems to have more of the silky look about her than Gloria does. Although Gloria still has more foot feathers than Frankie. Proud dad George is nowhere to be seen in Frankie's looks. And we have no idea what the colouring is, as both mum and dad are black chickens. 

Strutting like mum.

Isn't she pretty? She's just started making proper cluck cluck noises instead of baby cheep cheep noises. And she's officially part of the group now, albeit the lowest ranking member. The whole time Gloria was sitting on her eggs and then growing Frankie up, the other three were pretty much a roaming gang of three. Poor old Gloria and Frankie got a bit hen-pecked when they started venturing outside and joining the others. And now the five of them all cruise around together. In some ways we're back where we started, we originally bought 5 bantams [alleged bantams might I add] at the market and lost a little white chicken, Sylvia, so it's sort of like going full circle. Sort of. 

Chickens. I am learning so much about chickens. These images are from a few days ago when Gloria and Frankie got stuck on our front porch when the rain started, so they waited it out. One thing I do not love about chickens is having chicken poo in places where I do not want to find chicken poo. Like the front porch. I see more jute webbing and prayer flags happening in the near future. Oh and the cutest thing is that Frankie still hops in the laying box with Gloria when she sits. Gloria really needs to put her foot down about that. She's a good mum, that Gloria.

Just Living

Those chickens. As soon as they see us they come running. I trained them to come when I had the chook bucket full of our kitchen scraps to feed them. Now they just come running all the time. This is them, and Pepper cat, trying to join us on our daily walk. I sent them home again [read: I threw an apple core towards home]. They wander too far as it is.

These days are pretty quiet, really. We have some routines happening. Like a play in the play gym after a mid-morning nappy change, which gives this mama a chance to do a couple of hands-free things around the house. Then we go and feed the baby chickens, of which there are now only two. They are growing fast also. 

We take a walk when we can, rugging up against the chilly June air. Sunny days are becoming further and further apart, and the dusty roads are now wet and muddy. Everywhere around is green from recent rain, in such stark contrast to the harsh dryness of the summer just gone. There are still cracks in the ground to show for it.

This morning we watched 'Play School' on tv. I remember loving that show myself as a kid. We might see about making that a routine. I'm very mindful of using the television with William, but hopefully we can install in him an appreciation for watching a good show, and turning it off again, to do other things with our day. 

We are doing the important things, for us. Hopefully soon we can spend time in the vegie garden and plant peas and spinach. We need to chicken-proof the garden first though. Maybe we should clip their wings. I really don't know what to do with them. Any ideas? They are so cheeky, they'd be in the house in a flash if we let them. Sometimes I'm tempted, it would be funny. 

Chickens and Baby Chickens

When we moved into our little house in the country, we knew we wanted to have chooks. It took most of a year before we finally got around to building our chook house, but finally late last year it was ready, and so were we. Off to the market we went, to find our little flock [is that what you call a bunch of chickens?].

We came away with five 8 week old bantam hens, or so we thought. We lost one to sickness [RIP Silvia], then it became apparent that Georgette and Cynthia were not bantams at all, and then it became apparent that Georgette was in fact George. So now we have two little bantams, Gloria and Bridget, an isa brown [Cynthia] and an australorp rooster [George]. We knew George was going to be trouble, but we were too soft to do anything about it [ie turn him into Sunday lunch].

And then Gloria started sitting on eggs. And then last week those eggs hatched. And now we have three little baby chickens running around in the chook house. Goodness knows what they'll turn out to be [fingers crossed for all girls]. But now that they're here, it's hard not to get a bit attached. They're really cute with their tiny beaks and their little cheep cheeps. And George is still here too, seems we can't even give him away. He is a fine looking bird. He's growing on me. As long as he stays out of the vegie garden, which he doesn't. 

Cynthia and George. Not bantams.

Proud Dad.

Gloria and babies.

The babies have been named Phillipa, Bernadette and Frankie. We're not sure which is which yet. But all of them can become a boy name, if need be...

3 Things That Made Me Smile This Week

It's Friday, and it's the end of the week. Here's a few things that kept me smiling this week..

1. First Egg!

Late last year, we got chickens. Five little bantams, only 8 weeks old and super cute. We're down to four, having sadly lost one to a respiratory infection. Anyway, by our best guess the remaining girls [hmm, see No.3 below] should be about 16 weeks-ish by now. Turns out one of them is likely to be a bit older, as this week we got our first egg! And they've been coming every day since. We can't eat them yet as we gave them a dose of sulfur for suspected cocci infection a couple of weeks ago. Soon enough though, this will be my morning breakfast!

2. Chill Out Time

The last week was pretty hectic, with a weekend in Melbourne, running around with errands to be done closer to home, and I had an exam for my course [and all the associated procrastination that studying for an exam entails]. And you know what? I'm tired. So finally, FINALLY this week I got the chance to kick back and unwind... with a soothing cup of chamomile tea and the current issue of Frankie. To get me feeling all warm and fuzzy and inspired. It worked. Life's good.

3. A Hen Became a Rooster

Continuing with the chicken theme, we discovered that our little Georgette is actually a George. Pottering in the back garden this morning, I noticed Georgie throw her head back and crow. Now I'm pretty sure hens aren't meant to do that... turns out she's a he. And it explains some other behaviour quirks of this 'hen'. Like sitting on the other chickens. Anyway this means two things - firstly, that we will get baby chickens [cute!] and secondly, a lot of those baby chickens will be boys. And boys don't lay eggs, and I'm a vegetarian and an animal lover, and I suspect I'm going to find the situation somewhat confronting. 

George striding out with Cynthia in pursuit. I hope Cynthia is still a hen.

Do you know how difficult it is to photograph chickens? What's been making you smile this week?