pretty, happy, funny, real

I'm linking up again with a wonderful blog, Like Mother Like Daughter, for their Thursday (yes, I'm a day late) feature:

{pretty, happy, funny, real} 

~capturing the context of contentment in everyday life~

{pretty}

darling daughter #1 practicing piano

 

{happy}

Morning coffee is usually the job of the husband, so when he's traveling for work, I'm on my own - caffeine-wise.  The girls know that I usually just make a small-ish amount of coffee in the press for myself.  One day this week I was running a bit late and our oldest made this lovely tray and brought it upstairs to me.  She even remembered my favorite mug!

{funny}

Still smiling, even though the chicken just pecked her hand off :)

{real}

Sisters playing together - it's not always this joyful, but it was a fun moment to capture.

Looking for a way to help?

Several years ago we learned about a non-profit organization called Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA).  We have had a wonderful experience thus far with CFCA and want to spread the word.  What does CFCA do, you might be wondering?  Well, how about a little copy and paste from their own website?  I'm sure they say it better than I do.

Our mission is to walk with the poor and marginalized of the world.

• We provide personal attention and direct benefits to children, youth, aging and their families so they may live with dignity, achieve their desired potential and participate fully in society.
• We invite people of good will to live in daily solidarity with the world’s poor through one-to-one sponsorship.
• We build community by fostering relationships of mutual respect, understanding and support that are culturally diverse, empowering and without religious or other prejudice.

Grounded in the Gospel call to serve the poor, CFCA is a lay Catholic organization working with persons of all faith traditions to create a worldwide community of compassion and service.

After hearing about CFCA at our former parish, we signed up to be the sponsors of Rony, a little boy in El Salvador, who was 3 years old at the time.  Rony is roughly the same age as our middle daughter, so it's been easy to keep track of his age (CFCA also sends an updated photo of him each year.)  Over the years there has been a steady stream of correspondence between our house and El Salvador. 

 
Sometimes the letters were written by Rony's parents - sometimes by his uncle.  Every letter that came from El Salvador included a picture that Rony had colored.  Sometimes we sent him stickers, small puzzles, or other items that would fit into an envelope.  The girls also drew pictures for him.  I have to admit that we struggled with what to say in the letters - our daily lives are so very different.  Rony's adult family members refer to Mark and me as his "godparents".  What an honor! Rony's letters don't come directly from him; They come to us through CFCA - after they've been to a translator :)

When he was 4.  Isn't he a handsome little guy?

There was a letter in the mail yesterday.  As usual it was full of thanks for our help and promises of prayers for our family (and lots of decorating on the borders with blue, brown and orange crayon and a picture of Winnie the Pooh on the back.)  The news in the letter was not anything we had expected, however: we won't be Rony's sponsor any longer.  His family is doing better, they are moving, and Rony is stepping out of sponsorship with CFCA.  Isn't that fantastic?  We will miss our relationship with Rony, that is for sure.  But how great that he doesn't need our financial sponsorship any longer!

Doesn't Pooh normally eat honey?  This Pooh seems to be about to enjoy a scorpion - or some other many-legged insect!  Our girls would not think of giving Pooh a snack of that sort :)

We are convinced that the work CFCA does is good - and effective - so within just a few days, we'll be matched with another "friend" through CFCA's  Hope for a Family sponsorship program.

The CFCA website is quite good and easy to navigate.  Pop on over there and you too could become a sponsor in a matter of minutes.

Composting 101

No, no, no.  Fear not.  I don't intend to teach anything about composting here.  I am the one doing the learning.
Do you compost?  Believe it or not, we never have.  Back in the Midwest, we'd plant a couple herbs and maybe a tomato plant or 2, but never had an actual garden.  We did have a fairly big garden our first full summer out West, but the yard was so small that there just didn't seem to be a place for a compost pile.
Well, we now have space for as many compost piles as we can create.  And, the (deer-proof) fenced garden is already here, so let the composting begin!
Mark built an enclosure from some old pallets that were - somehow - just here.  Have we mentioned that the man we bought the property from NEVER threw anything away and had lots of storage space for all his stuff?  Remember the HUGO, right?  Well, when he moved, he did take most of the "stuff", but was good enough to leave a fair bit of it behind.  Therefore, we have a couple piles of pallets sitting around - among other things :)

Our youngest daughter was excited to help with the new project, so she and I worked together to get started on our pile.  We layered in leaves, hay, newspaper, and the few bits of kitchen scraps we had.  She had lots of questions while we worked.  I tried to simplify things and just told her that we were making food for the garden.

"The garden likes newspaper?  Are you sure, Mom?"

I tried for a more scientific answer, but I'm not sure she followed me.  She loves the idea of composting, however, and was tickled to learn that she gets the permanent job of taking the kitchen waste out to the compost pile.
I'll tell you... between the chickens and the compost pile, there's nothing going to waste around here anymore :)

The Chickens

Our desire to raise chickens began long before we actually moved to Aspen Springs. Backyard poultry raising is a growing trend. We love eggs - fresh eggs, like we recently had in Ireland. Firm yolks, great color, and marvelous flavor:

Fixing ourselves breakfast in Ireland this summer

So we were really excited when we discovered a "chicken palace" of sorts was part of our new home. We decided to buy baby chicks prior to our move so we could get eggs quicker (hens don’t begin laying until they are 20 weeks old.) So in usual fashion, I scoured the internet, read several books, watched a dozen YouTube videos and declared ourselves ready to become chicken farmers. (We also have several friends here who have chickens so we were really prepared...sort of.)

Our baby chicks came from Murray McMurray Hatchery in Iowa (cool video tour here). The minimum order was 25 chicks and we chose a variety of laying breeds including Barred Rock, Australorp, Rhode Island Red, Red Star, and Araucana. I received a call from the local Postmaster one morning at 6:00am telling me our chicks had arrived and that I needed to come pick them up. Of course, our girls were giddy with excitement when they discovered the chicks really did come in a box and were as fluffy as the photos they had seen.

One day old chicks...in a box

The temporary coop

With every 25 chicks, McMurray throws in a freebie, of unknown breed or gender. Our Mystery Chick is a white something, whom we have named Pat to be on the safe side. We lost one little gal who never quite survived the journey from Iowa in a small box (go figure). We decided 25 chickens might be a bit much to start with, so we sold 10 to some good friends.

Our brood grew quickly in their temporary garage quarters until we moved to Aspen Springs. I spent several long days prepping the coop.

The messy coop BEFORE

It had not been used for several years, but it is a great set up. I painted the walls and floor, added an adjustable air vent, and a light on a timer. The hens have a night room with roosting bars and nest boxes (eventually).

AFTER remodel

Their day run is fully enclosed but has lots of light and a dirt floor for scratching and dust baths. I will build an outdoor run next Spring. My favorite addition to the coop is a custom waterer I made from a 5 gallon bucket and chicken nipples (see below, hanging in the background). Chickens are insanely messy and this contraption provides clean water for them without the mess.

Breakfast time

 Grace, Pat, Laya, Rainbow, Martha, and the rest of our hens have quickly become part of our family and are a surprising amount of fun.

The girls love to hand-feed the hens feed, grasshoppers, worms or fresh grass.  The hens are curious about everything, especially if offered from a human. We are slowly learning their personalities and sounds. Our oldest daughter has really taken great leadership in their care.

#1 Daughter with Pat

We can’t wait for that first egg (which will indeed be the most expensive egg I’ve ever eaten). And it will be fun when we can let the hens out into the yard this Spring. But for now, we’re having great fun with the latest addition to Aspen Springs.