Caught one of our young hens in action.
We found two eggs in the nesting boxes this afternoon.
We tagged the red roosters by tying a piece of different colored fabric on their legs. Hoping this will help us tell one from another and decide which one we want to keep.
Just a few shots of them on the side of the house – resting and taking dirt baths.
Found in the coop this evening.
Over the holiday Damian is taking care of some animals in Raphine. Helen lives in this cute little cottage.
On Christmas day, Samantha, Duke, Len and I visited during evening chores.
Just adorable.
We want a couple of these goats! Too cute!
Trinity Parish House
Our calendar was open this past weekend so Dave asked what I wanted done. He didn’t have to ask twice! There were a few things and he ended up going with painting the kitchen walls. There is more I want to do in the kitchen and this is a great start. Just having one coat of white over the beige really brightens it up. There is good light in this kitchen and though the big window over the sink is a northern exposure there is light coming in from the west from the back door and the window in what I call the kitchen nook.
One of the first things we did when we moved in was take down the awful ceiling light. There was a problem with the lights I ordered and even just having a bulb as a light source until the new light arrived was an improvement over what was there. See before photo at the end of this post. I got these retro looking light from Barn Light Electric. I love the red stems and stripes on the globes.
Dave painted the nook earlier this year.
Here is a photo we took from before we moved in. See that awful ceiling light and how this whole kitchen other than the appliances and countertop was beige. The biggest wall space is on the wall perpendicular to the fridge – on the right of this photo. There was a lot of patching to do on this wall and we had taken down that old electric heater on the wall close to the ceiling. You can barely see it in the above photo. Under it was old green paint and some old wallpaper. I looked at that for over a year! So nice to have it freshened up.
In the future I’d like to have a range – cooktop and oven together. It is nice having two ovens at holiday time but I think a warming oven would suffice. I want to move the range to an outside wall so we can vent cooking odors to the outside. I’d also like a farmhouse sink – one big one. While I’ve gotten used to the double sink I don’t like it. My wish would be to use the same cabinetry but reconfigure it. I don’t know if this is possible. When I have the money for the reno I’ll start asking around. I’d prefer a smaller island on wheels. This one is a little too big and too close to the fridge.
Lately I’ve been trying to spend more time with the chickens because they should be full grown in January and we have to decide which roosters we will keep. We have nine roosters and eight hens. The extra roosters will become dinner. Dave wants to just keep one of the red dorking roosters. I want one of each – a red, a black and a colored dorking.
Above and below is either a red or colored dorking hen. We have three of these. We got our chicks from Sand Hill Preservation Center. They all made it through the mail – from Iowa to Virginia – and we haven’t had any losses. However, they told us they sent us six blacks, ten reds and one colored. Check on the six blacks and we know we’ve got five red roosters. We have three roosters that we think are colored based on the description on their website. Our three straw colored hens don’t look as dark as the red dorking photos I’ve seen online. I just don’t know enough to identify them for sure. In the end it really doesn’t matter as long as they provide us with eggs and meat.
Above is the black dorking rooster. I love his rose comb. He is the only black rooster we have. Of our eight hens five are black. This guy is on the small side and I’ve yet to hear him crow. Speaking of crowing – they have been making quite a racket throughout the day. So far none of the neighbors have complained…to us.
Above is a black dorking hen and a colored dorking rooster.
We think we have three colored dorking roosters. I’ve decided which one I want to keep and this guy isn’t it. I think this is the one that has a really high pitched crow.
Above is a red dorking rooster. We have five of these and they all look alike to us.
Above is a good representative of the three types of dorking roosters we have. From left to right – red, black and colored. This is the colored dorking rooster I want to keep. He seems the most comfortable with us. His head is more straw colored whereas with the other two are more white or silvery.
We like that they like to scratch around in the compost pile.
Temps were in the 60’s this weekend. Took advantage of the warm weather today and did a little garden cleanup.
Then worked a little on my Christmas cards while watching football. For the card I used a photo I took one evening last winter of our barn rooftop and the moon. I’m very happy with the simplicity of it.
The church hall is decorated! I love how it turned out. It was fun working with Carrie, Betsy and a new friend, Rebecca. Most of the greenery is from Glenalmus Farm.
From our farmer friend, Norm. Arrived just in time for Thanksgiving week. Includes fennel, celery root, chard and more.
Today we collected greens and pinecones for decorating the hall at our church for the Advent Lessons and Carols reception this weekend.
Couldn’t resist taking this photo with Freda.
Dave’s mom, Winnie, and brother, Robert, and Samantha’s friend, Colleen, spent Thanksgiving week with us. We played board games every evening. Colleen introduced us to a new game – Ticket to Ride.
Samantha, Colleen and Damian made a pecan pie using Lyle’s Golden Syrup instead of Karo syrup. It was much less sweet which highlighted the pecan flavor. The pecans came from Robert’s yard in South Carolina.
