Yesterday I am over at Borders crusing the isles and I come to the Farm Section. You know the one..where there is Mary Jane's Farm, Hobby Farms Home, British Country Living, The Herb Companion,Culture..the one that shows you how to make your own cheese...more on that later....Mother Earth News..and then I see it. What is that? A magazine on Chickens? It is...I grab it and head to checkout. I know this is for me...
I told John the other day that this spring I want to get some chickens. Every spring over at Farm Supply they have the baby chicks. And every year I stand there and yearn. But with all the remodeling here at Farmhouse...a chicken coop was like the last thing on the list...but we MIGHT be getting close. It doesn't need to be the Rolls Royce of chicken coops..at least not for now..I have seen the ones that look like a cottage from Carmel set in a cherry tree orchard with the window boxes spilling over with red and yellow geraniums, shutters on the windows, a little peaky shingled wood roof and a gaslight lampost leading to the front door...but that's just not going to happen this year....we still need to do the bathroom.... I'll take the simplest I can get just to have the chickens.
So I opened it and what a whole new world. Did you know there is a yellow chicken?The last picture is of that variety. They even give sources for mail order. I am IN LOVE with her....and there is a variety called Buttercup...Oh, please...how much more belovedness can I take. Buttercup !
I have visions of the girls lazily pecking through the garden on a warm spring day. High white fluffy clouds in the sky...maybe a light drizzle for late in the afternoon. My clothes, sheets and yellow gingham tea towels are flapping in the March wind on the clothesline out back. I am gathering a small stack of wood to start the fire with tonight in the woodstove and am picking rhubarb to make into a small pie for after supper. A small bouquet of sweet peas that I picked this morning fills the kitchen with the fragrance of bubble gum and spice. A basket of straw filled with brown eggs from the girls sits on the drainboard ready to be made into a country quiche for supper. ...sigh...
I am thinking of naming them after my italian aunts that still farm up in Santa Cruz. Rose, Maria, and Diana...Hope they don't mind. Maybe I won't tell them.
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I've been daydreaming about the chickens too (up here in the South Bay). I wonder if our Borders has Grit - I've had no luck finding farm magazines at the local B&N.
ReplyDeleteSo on to the issue of the chicken coop: far below a Rolls Royce of coops (or coupe de ville), I saw on someone's blog the other day that she'd converted a Little Tikes playhouse to a coop. I happen to have one in my backyard and am plotting it's conversion. Anyway, it's something to think about. Maybe there's a chicken coop in your future this spring. Cheers ~
I've had chicken and I did love them very much....their chatter, friendliness and the eggs they lay for us. Not to shatter your dream, just...please know that they are work, they do stink and they are mean to each other sometimes, especially when one of them gets hurt they are cannibalistic to the one that's sick, or injured. You'll need a place to store their feed so the mice don't get into it and then you'll need somewhere to get rid of the waste, and you'll need a safe place so snakes and fox or the neighbor's dog won't be preying on them.
ReplyDeleteThey're wonderful, but also remember that when you're gone they'll need someone to check their water, gather the eggs, feed them and make sure to close them up at night.
They're a lot of responsibility but lots of fun to have, too.
Joni
Your chicken coop sounds cute enough to live in! I planted seet peas this weekend and look forward to sweet blooms come this summer,Lucky you, that you already are enjoying yours
ReplyDeleteI love the scenario you described! It sounds wonderful. However, I was thinking along the lines of what Old Centennial Farmhouse said. My brother had chickens and the smell was pretty intense. But I know how you feel. Every spring I look at the baby chicks for sale at the farm store and think I would love to have a few. Of course I also think that with the rabbits and the baby ducks....
ReplyDeleteI loved the little scene you painted. My imagination went along with you. The fact that chickens may be more than that rosy picture is to be expected I guess. But I bet the eggs would be wonderful. Thanks for the flight of fancy.
ReplyDeleteOh! I want chickens so badly. I am hoping that one day I can get some. You'll have to post about what you deal with and what you have do when you get them. It might help me figure out if I can really handle some chickens in my life. :)
ReplyDeleteMy first comment didn't take for some reason. My imagination came along for the ride in the peaceful scene you described. I can just hear the chickens clucking and taste the fresh eggs. Thanks for the trip!
ReplyDeleteWhat a dream that would be to own a few chickens :) You should definitely do it!
ReplyDeleteThe imagery you portrayed was so lovely, too♥
I do hope you get your buttercup chickens, what a great breed name and I like the names of your aunts for the chickens!
ReplyDeleteNow, if I got chickens in my backyard here, my neighbors would really, really think I'm nuts. Not just crazy. They actually I think are jealous, because sure enough a week later and I look over and they are trying to do something I just did the week before.
ReplyDeleteI for sure will be heading to Borders on my next trip out. You will have to give us all your chickpea bean soup recipe. I'm always up for trying something new.
Cluck on-
Kate xoxoxox
Ooh I hope your dream comes true as Chickens are such a delight. We rescued four ex-battery hens in September, however due to a fox and one being egg bound we now have two. They are very sweet creatures and we cannot wait to rescue some more and get a few fancy ones too.
ReplyDeleteNathan built our coop and he has extended our bought hen house so we can actaully keep about ten in total. We painted the coop and house country cream and sage so they look very pretty.
Some of the names of the breeds are so cute, such as the Bluebell and the Marsh Daisy!
Happy hen hunting
Morwenna xo
Love Grit magazine, and I loved how you pictured those chickens in your yard. I think it might be fun just to collect the different colored eggs I've heard various variety lay. I also heard you make an awesome Lasagna from Willow...and now I'm going to search for that. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteCheers
karen
xxoo
Those yellow chickens are the best, meaning that they are so pretty. I don't have any chickens but can understand your yearning.
ReplyDeleteHello Miss Kary,
ReplyDeleteThis post made me smile:). Your home sounds lovely and welcoming, with a lit fire and pea soup cooking..... and I bet your aunts would be proud to have some little chicks named after them;). It's a dream of mine to own chickens as well... I keep pestering Matt, though I think it would drive Luna absolutely BONKERS:). Nonetheless, I look forward to hearing more chicken stories from you:).
Have a nice evening!
xoxo,
Blair
I think it would be wonderful to have chickens, very cute and the fresh eggs - wow! You live in a very special place or should I say, you make it a special place!!
ReplyDeleteLove the idea of naming them after your aunts. Hope you have a big property. It seems romantic to have them...but I just keep seeing poop everywhere! I know...I'm a killjoy! Hope you are doing well. Holly
ReplyDeleteSCREEEEEECH!!
ReplyDelete(thats me putting on the brakes)
Buttercup?
sign me up.
And, just to tilt the scales in the Auntie's direction, our neighbors behind us in Santa Barabara had two chickens. I never smelled a thing and I was always out in the garden area and kept the kitchen window open and the air was as sweet as chamomile, but thats two chickens. I did grow up close to a chicken farm so I know about that too. and you could recycle the manure for your sweet peas.
i'm just saying.
xx
donkey at a chicken farm
Chickens sound like fun as long as the numbers are limited. On my aunt and uncle's farm in Smith Station, Alabama, there were about a dozen chickens and seven of the meanest white roosters that ever lived. My young aunt and I were always sent to gather eggs and these guys would come after us and peck our legs mercilessly. Three of them ended up being chicken and dumplings for Sunday dinner over the next couple of months!
ReplyDeleteLove your vision....it painted a picture in my head that I too loved! Hope you get some little cicks soon. I wold love to have some too....but.....
ReplyDeleteHow very cool...I was hoping to have some chickens this year as well...I think I finally have the family talked into it :) awww buttercup
ReplyDeleteBoth of us stick horse cowgirls plan to get chicks this spring! I MUST pick up this magazine. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteChickens would be nice. I understand they are not too hard to raise.
ReplyDeleteAwww... I really hope you get your Buttercup!
ReplyDeleteO I wish I could have chickens too! I feel just like you about them! Please keep sharing news about the chicken process so I can enjoy them vicariously!
ReplyDeleteLOL perfect names...i love the vision = so perfect
ReplyDeleteAloha, would you believe me if I told you I have had chickens in my farming days? Oh yes and a chicken coop that was built by my Father inlaw who happened to be a finished carpenter.Oh yes he even built in nesting boxes so I could gather the eggs from the outside of the coop. I had Rhode Island Reds that lay the greenish blue eggs. I loved my hens, we have stories about our Roosters, Thank you for reminding me of my days on the farm, I miss it!
ReplyDeleteAloha wishes from across the sea
How funny. There are magazines on everything aren't there. I am always amazed what comes out next.
ReplyDeleteI would love to have chickens! But I would then also have a rooster. It’s just not the full picture, if there is no rooster. Would you have only hens?
ReplyDeleteHello dearest Kary! What a lovely post...I hope you get your 'girls' & we get to see and hear ALL about them! We always had chickens & ducks at home..they were my special chore when I was a kid! Once, to my mother's eternal shame, I went to school with fleabites up my arm from spending SO much time in the henhouse! I got to read their little signs so well, that they'd lay their eggs into my hands...sometimes the shells were still soft, always so HOT! Only a child would want to - or have time to- do that, I guess...but it gave me a deep love & understanding for chickens. My parent's farm has a listed chicken house...which means it's so old that there's a protection order on it! I'm moving back there for a while next week (to take care of things while they're in Australia, more on that soon!) so I'll take pictures for you! LOVE Rachel, Alice & - still - China! She's staying a few extra days while her 'mum's' on a work course! xoxox Love to Buddy
ReplyDeleteOh, chickens! Sometimes I wish we lived somewhere we could have chickens - they are so soothing somehow, plus I love fresh eggs! In Albuquerque, we had friends who had a bunch of chickens, many different varieties - some looked downright exotic! Oh, I'm hoping you will get them this spring!! Love, Silke
ReplyDeleteHoly Bonanza! Kary, you've got to make the chicken dream come true! I LOVE your vision of chickens in March. And I just know you would find all sorts of wonderful uses for their eggs.
ReplyDeleteAlas, my chicken dreams will have to wait a while. I have dreamed of having chickens for as long as I can remember. We subletted a house when I was about 15, it had a beautiful garden and a dozen hens and a rooster (this was in California.) I loved those chickens so much, and I remember fondly digging gently under the warm feathery bosoms of hens to find their hot, perfectly smooth eggs. It was heaven!
If I ever get to live out my chicken dream, I will be getting a variety of hens which lay different colored eggs. Dark brown, blue-ish green, white. *sigh* Some day!
Here's to you and John making the dream reality. Then I can live vicariously through you!
And p.s., your description of the scent of sweet peas really made me smell them! Thank you for sweet peas in February. :)
XOXO
awww what a lovely idea and wicked names! I want chickens one day...I hope you get to have yours too! :) xxx
ReplyDeleteOh to have fresh eggs for breakfast, a place to dump my kitchen scraps and all that lovely chicken poop for the garden! What a win win! We wanted to get chickens a couple years ago, well I should say I wanted to...but my husband won out. I work too much to be able to adequately take care of them..and our neighbors complain about everything so assume they would not be hip to it either.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your chickens, named after your aunties (BRILLIANT!) and post about them often so I can live vicariously.
it's something to think about. Maybe there's a chicken coop in your future this spring. Cheers ~
ReplyDeleteWork from home India
Oh, my mom has daydreamed for as long as I can remember about having chickens and feeding them from her apron!
ReplyDeleteHere's to a whole SLEW of Buttercup Chickens. How lovely! The thought of it is almost too lovely to bear...
I think I, too, would love to have some chickens. And horses. I grew up with horses and miss their smell and their giant calm so much. I want a red barn to match ;)
poop, I wrote a comment and I think it got lost! Love the chicken names and I do hope you get some soon! I want some one day too! :) xxx
ReplyDeleteThe book was a great find and your decription is so refreshing. One of my co-workers has chickens and brings fresh eggs into work to share. They get so many eggs, they don't use them all. Have fun planning for your chicks : )
ReplyDeletemy mom has chickens...we don't eat them...but she eats the eggs. i love the image of your yellow gingham tea towels flapping in the wind.
ReplyDelete;)
Your writing made me daydream of chickens of my own. An entire harem of them would be nice. As we had when we were kids. Ah, the memories your writing brings up... Thank you!
ReplyDeleteButtercup! oh my, how could you not want one of those. Now your making me wish I had some too. My friend in Oregon has chickens and loves everything about them. She showed me how they follow her around, so cute. And there really would be nothing like fresh eggs of your own. Good luck with your dream Kary!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE our chickens! They really take such little work and harvesting their pretty eggs each day feels like such an abundant gift. They make me happy everytime I see them. (Mr rooster is another story, which I'll have to post about soon.) You must do it. You'd be the perfect mom for a buttercup or two. Betsy
ReplyDeleteWe had chickens for a time. My husband raised them and they were gorgeous. White Legerns, Rhode Island Reds, and Black Sexlink. When we moved the chickens were sold or given away. I wasn't involved then but would love to have a second change. Apartment living though and don't see it happening.
ReplyDeleteThe eggs were fine but there was no eating of chicken.
Have fun.