Good Bye Happy Bunny Bloggings

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Dearest Readers,

After much deliberation (and many vague hints over the past year and a half) the time has come to say goodbye to Happy Bunny Bloggings and sillyhappythoughts.blogspot.com 

I will leave all the old content available here as well as move all the posts to the archive at my new blogging home.

I will continue to blog as inspiration hits me over at myrrhmalade.blogspot.com 

Over the next couple of days I will switch myrrhmade over to the new blog as well. 

If you currently read from or subscribe to blog.myrrhmade.com you shouldn't have to do anything.

Look for a new post with some exciting news at myrrhmalade within the next few days!

See you there! 

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Happy New Year

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It hardly seems as though it's the end of the year with the rush and bustle of the holiday months still ringing in our ears. But there's the date - January 1st. 

Signs of spring - croci (or crocuses if you prefer)

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With Blizzards followed by balmy days preceding days of "wintry mix" it has been hard to tell what season it actually is. These past few days have brought new evidence! We are turning the corner into spring.

Buff's girls - introducing day old chicks to a broody hen

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We have wanted to expand our flock of chickens for some time and were planning on getting a new batch of chicks in the fall or next spring. In our flock we have two Buff Orpingtons that are known for going broody (trying to hatch eggs) but as we have no rooster, they will never be successful here.

We had one of our Buffys go broody this spring and after a few nights locked in the pen but out of the hen-house, she got over the feeling. When we found one trying again a month ago, we decided to order day old chicks again and see if she would raise them for us. 

Broody hens will sit on eggs for a few weeks to allow them all time to hatch, so we put in our order. A couple weeks later we got the call that our chicks had arrived. (Here's the video from our first batch)

200th Post! - Rhubarb and Raspberries

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Between traveling and all the various events and possible events, almost another month has gone by. I'm still running and hope to do a 10k race next month. 

Spring is most definitely here with leaves on the trees an flowers everywhere. A recent trip to visit my family up in New Hampshire sent me home with rhubarb and raspberry plants. They've had quite a patch up there since I lived there and it was starting to take over the lawn. I was happy to take some off their hands and start patches of our own. 

We got an egg!

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We moved the chicken coop to their winter spot. There's not enough left growing on the ground to be able to leave them in one place for more than a day or so. We've moved their pen to a spot in our back yard where it will stay until spring. We will spread dried leaves and other bedding materials in their yard and they will poop, scratch, and peck it to lovely compost throughout the winter.

As Joe went to move the coop he found an egg! Our very first pullet egg!

 

Our House in the Storm

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I've just about gotten everything ready for our mini-Thanksgiving break and so have time to come up for air and make a post. 

Just about three weeks ago our area of the country was hit by an extra early snow storm - before leaves were even off the trees which caused a fair amount of trees to break and caused quite the rukus. Our street was out of power for a full week with our house just a little bit longer. 

Both my husband and I were out of town (in different directions) for the storm itself but our dearest cousin Ben was able to snap the following picture:

Garden Bed Cleanup and Planting Garlic

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Due to a week without power (almost two without internet) following a freak pre-haloween snowstorm I'm a bit behind on posting. I've had a couple saved up and here we go!

The week before the storm I finally got around to cleaning up the garden beds - with a little help from the girls!

New Addition to our Homestead

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With a house that is more than 75 years old, there are lots of places where the darned varmints can easily come in to escape the cold. In a place like this mouse-catching is a very valuable skill. While we've caught a few with traditional traps and even found one of the less-than-intelligent ones in a water jug one morning, it was time to bring in an expert.

Meet Thelma our new "barn" cat. 

Modern Foraging and Sumac Lemonade

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One of the many things I love about having access to wild land is the ability to forage.  

On a walk the other day, I came home with blackberries, a few raspberries (the last of the season), wild grapes, and a big pile of staghorn sumac drupes 

(not to be confused with poison sumac).

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

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"Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out" 

-From Mending Wall by Robert Frost

We are happily back home with our dog and our girls. I'm getting excited about putting up the  harvest and looking forward to trying out some new recipes. I start school again in a couple of weeks and am interested to see how that fits in with our other adventures this fall!

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Quick Cucumber Salad - CSA Veggie Challenge

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Between our veggie CSA and our own garden we have lots of cucumbers! We've been enjoying blueberry cucumber smoothies, cucumber and dip, and of course, cucumber salad! 

A coop for the girls

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These last few weeks have been a little crazy. On this past Saturday we had about 30 people over for a graduation/promotion/celebration party for my husband. One of the big projects we wanted to get done before the party was to get the chickens out of the house (more pre-party projects in subsequent posts). As tempted as we were to open the door and toss them out (they were getting kind of loud!), we figured it would be better to give them a house of their own. 

Worms! (or: More fun things you can get in the mail!)

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We got worms! In the mail! Vermiculture, or worm-farming (for compost or bait) has piqued my interest for some time. We had an electric indoor composter for the first year or so we lived here in our house and slowly killed it as it was not the right composting method for our family. Since learning about worm composting I am excited to be able to harness these blessings for our gardens and plants.

Worm poop, or "castings" are a natural fertilizer that will not burn plants, even when applied directly, unlike most commercial fertilizers. Also, they don't smell! The more I learn, the more I am excited about all the benefits! Plus it's kind of cool to have a big bin of worms. 

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eSCAPES!

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Garlic scapes are one of my favorite things. One of the delights of growing ones own garlic is getting to walk out into the yard and pick scapes yourself!

Here they are escaping! (haha! get it? didja? didja?) 

I love how wild they are! And how delicious!

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Twig Trellises and a Chick Field Trip

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My mother's gardens have always inspired me and she has always encouraged me in my own experiences with gardening. Before I even started kindergarten I had a little circle garden at the side of the house. This led to my first prize petunias at the county fair. My luck with annuals coming back continues to this day!

We got chicks!

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After months of waiting, our chicks finally arrived! We missed the call at 4:50 but heard the call at 7am. 

We quickly set up the homemade tub brooder (inspired by this post) with food, water, and the heat lamp. We plugged in the light to  "pre-heat" and off I went!

Here is a video taken by Jesse Stanley of their first few moments in the house:

Thanks Jesse!

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Raised Beds: making my own

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When we started our gardens here a couple of years ago, I was fortunate enough to trade some work for some beautiful cedar raised beds. Our dear friends over at The Farmstead, in Leverett, Massachusetts make gorgeous raised bed kits based upon a 17th century design and also make other garden gems like trellises and benches for local sale.

Handsome Visitor

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One of the latest delights of our home is a red bellied woodpecker!

I managed to sneak a few photos before he noticed me.








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Our own Pot of Gold

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It has been almost two years since we bought our home. It has been such a pleasure to turn it into our own oasis, our own refuge. We truly have found our own pot of gold.

There are many exciting things in the works and even more in the plan - built in cabinets, storage benches, reworking cupboards, adding shelves and cubbies, and so much more! 

It is so satisfying to put our hands to work making the best use of this space and daydreaming of how our family will put it to use someday.
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