More and MORE wedding photos!!!!

the getaway car

So for those of you who don't know, I got married recently. And for the fewer of you who actually are interested in seeing photos of the blessed event please continue scrolling.

Okay, so I am very aware of the fact that I have gone a liiiiiiiiitle overboard with this post, and that it will take some of you hours to just load, but we had SO MUCH FUN, and it was so beautiful, and I just must share. So bear with me, or just ignore and come back later!

The "Chapel"

No groomsmen or bridesmaids, so this was our "wedding party"

Post-Nuptuals

My Beautiful Grandma

Flower Girl!

Relaxin'

My Clan

One of the illustrious ring bearers and the flower girl taking a drive....

Grandpa's boots (since he couldn't be there)

The happy couple...

Sister-in-law and a would-be ringbearer (instead he sat with his parents and used a parasol to shoot at some passing goats during the ceremony)

We broke into the sparklers a little before the party was over... there were "incidents" haha

I started to have, perhaps, a little too much fun...

So things were tossed, caught, and put onto heads...

And my dear new hubby and I drove off in a 1960 "Cattle-lac" with horns and cow print upholstry (that my dad ACTUALLY OWNS)

The New Man in My Life

Farm Aspirations readers, please meet the newest member of my clan, my nephew Hudson Walter...

Destined to give his mommy, Mary, plenty of trouble, he was in a hurry to get out yesterday morning, and was born at about 11 am. He's 6lbs 11oz, and doing well, despite his appearance 2 1/2 weeks early! His nickname in the womb was already "The Hoss" and the nurses in the NICU have apparently now nicknamed him "Big Boy". Now the origins for this name are up for debate, but these are not the things we discuss on my farm blog!

So, to Jeff, Mary, Harrison and Hunter... congratulations on your new son/baby brother!!!

And WELCOME HOME, HUD!!

Learning Curves

Piggy and Camilla have finally found their way to the roost (that first night with Piggy was a fluke, let me tell you). When they first came to me, they started sleeping cozied up under the ramp to the roost (where I would definitely bed down, were I a chicken). Then the third night they discovered the ramp and the oh-so-cozy nest boxes just above their first sleeping spot, which apparently were even MORE comfy. At this point, not wanting them to get used to sleeping and mucking up the nests, I took action. Every night they would tuck themselves into the nestbox, and mean-mommy would come in just before dark and move them up to the roost. Then in the morning I'd get the frantic cheeps of "how did I get here???!!!!" and "it's SOOOO high!!!!!" and "HELP!!!". Eventually they'd find their way down the ramp and out the door for a little breakfast (I'm finding that Piggy IS, in fact, aptly named).

Anyway, last night I was doing my usual chicken-watch, and when they were going to bed I watched intently (perhaps I could give them a little guidance?). It was great! Piggy just hustled up that ramp, and while Camilla had a little more difficulty (a few more steps needed on the ramp?) she eventually made it up there too! YAY! Mission Accomplished.

*On a side note, these are probably the cutest chickens ever. They are TOTALLY inseprable, running around as a pair at all times. See how close they are? It's like that all the time. It was actually kind of hard for me to break up their little cuddle-fest in the nestbox. It was so cute!!!

*Also, my worries about the neighbors vs. the chickens were apparently unfounded. I finally actually met my neighbor on Monday. How, you ask? Why, he wanted to tell me how much he loves my chickens!!!

GO CHICKENS!

Introducing....

So, after much consternation and vacillation and other thoughtful type activities, we have finally named the chicks. And about the next 15 animals we get. For a day or two they were named after my great grandma's (Jewel and Lula), but instead we decided to name our first two milk cows that....

And of course, the first gut feeling was right. Muppets.

I have loved the Muppets since I was little, and what on earth would be better than eventually being surrounded by a flock of chicken muppets??!!! (with perhaps one Thanksgiving turkey named Big Bird.... and a rooster named Gonzo)

So, without further adue, meet.......

Miss Piggy

and Camilla!!!!


Now perhaps you don't see why I chose these names.... allow me to demonstrate:

Right!!! Get it!!! They look EXACTLY like their namesakes! Okay, maybe not, but I've always loved Miss Piggy (I wanted to be her from about 2 yrs of age till 8 (or maybe 20)). And Camilla? Well she's a CHICKEN!! And she's Gonzo's girlfriend, which will be perfect when we get Gonzo the rooster...

So there ya go. Properly named chickens.

Picture This:

Me, clad in my work clothes (which I must say, TODAY at least, are quite sophisticated), 3" heels, slick hair, skirt, etc, chasing two mangy chicks around the chicken run trying to round them up to put them back in the coop...

My heels have a little mud and straw on them, but my chickies are safe from the coming thunderstorm!!! I was reading GirlOnAGlide's blog the other day, and now I'm paranoid to leave them out if there's a threat of rain!!!

Tomorrow (or Friday, or sometime soon) I will be unveiling the new girls' names!! WOO HOO!!

Poultry Sunday

Well, this weekend chock-full of Pre-Poultry Prep. We had the coop from last weekend, so early Saturday morning we headed off to Home depot to buy the last few things we needed to outfit the chicken run and coop. Needless to say, we changed the design once or twice, and finally, while I took a mid-afternoon nap, the Husband put his engineering skills to work and built a 3-D model in the computer of what our run should look like!!!!

Well armed with ideas, we headed BACK to Home Depot, and came back tuckered and ready to start building our enclosure the next day...

Early Sunday morning, well fed with waffles, the Husband started digging the post holes, and I took off to Sachse to pick up our chickens from Hank, the other chicken-hobbyist that was giving us his overflow. Well, what can I say. They are BEAUTIFUL! Hank is a suburban farmer in his own right, and his little backyard is overflowing with native gardening, chickens, rabbits, toads, parakeets, and all of the other things that go along with a well established wildscape.

Sooo--- We set up the chickens temporary home and go to work!


It took ALL DAY (we finished at around 10pm) but isn't she beautiful!!!! It's all made with MOSTLY reclaimed materials, with a few exceptions, notably the posts for the corners.


And last but not least, our two new Americaunas (that's what he said they are, though I've never seen a white Americauna... but what am I, an expert?)

White Chicken (I'm thinking she's the pretty, dumb one)


and Red Chicken (I've decided she's a little smarter... she DID find the roost on the first night!)


I will come up with real names someday... I'm leaning towards Muppet characters...

COOP-erative Process!

This weekend, The Husband and I went to a coop building workshop put on by our new favorite feathered friend league, The CLUCK. What better way to build a coop than in a chicken-lover's yard, with recycled and found materials, surrounded and being helped by other industrious urban chickeners? I'll tell you-- there IS no better way! A few weeks ago, Tim, one of the founders of The CLUCK, found two tiny "treehouses" sitting out by the dumpster at a local bar. After inquiring, he learned that they used to belong to the sign for the bar when it used to be called "Mike's Treehouse". He saw the potential, as I think many of us chicken keepers do, for a beautiful coop out of what was once trash...

Before...

After a little bit of tweaking, adding some nestboxes, a roost, and lifting it up off the ground, we had two FABULOUS new coops! One is an adorable little adobe house, "Mi Casa de Pollos" and living with Chickenlady Lynn, and one is my (as of yet) unnamed farmhouse.

After!!!

Front View

Side View with egg collection door!

The other bonus of being involved in the Cooperative League of Urban Chicken Knowledge? Networking. Not only did we get a lovely coop out of our day, we also got a great day of discussion with other chickeners AND a line on a couple of pullets that need a new home!!! At the workshop, we met Hank, who happens to have eyes bigger than his yard and went a little overboard at the feedstore! He's been raising two americauna chicks who are now about 4 weeks old, and is going to give them to us!!! We're getting them next weekend, so I just have one thing to say.... The Husband better get to work on that run!!!!!

The ladies are coming, friends, the ladies are coming...............