Famous Hens and New Additions

Just back from two weeks in Key West, and is it ever nice to be home. The trillium are in full bloom, completely blanketing the forest floor in places, and the gardens are coming along nicely as well. While Key West has it's own beauty and charm, as a little girl from Kansas once said, "There's no place like home."

Our girls are now famous, gracing the pages of the spring edition of Edible Grand Traverse (on newsstands everywhere and on the web at http://www.ediblegrandtraverse.com). Susan Ager gave a great write-up and her husband Larry took some fabulous pictures. As is often the case when a story goes to press, this one was edited down a bit and some important (important to us at any rate) details were lost. The biggest omission was any mention of some of the folks who were instrumental in getting the co-op up and running but have since had to step away from the group for personal reasons. I'm referring of course to the Moehle family and Keith Brucker. The Moehle's not only designed and helped to build the coop, but they also raised some of the chicks at their home. Keith was a great help during the construction of the coop and the pens. I was erroneously credited as being a "key player" in the construction of the coop when in reality illness and travel prevented me from participating at all. Just wanted to set the record straight and make sure that all parties received the recognition they deserve for their efforts.

In other news, our flock increased by 10 today. Peggy picked out the new additions from a group of three week-old chicks and came home with 3 Barred Rocks, 3 Wyandottes, and 4 New Hampshire Reds. The reds are a new breed for us and are known for being good layers of large, brown eggs. They are currently dwelling within the relative safety of the garage in a custom home designed and created by Peggy. They are cute little fluff balls at the moment, but won't stay that way for long so we're going to have to get busy with completing the "juvenile housing" and pen in the near future. We have a plan as well as most of the materials we'll need, but are lacking in free time right at the moment. I've just started a new job, Wendy's work is getting busier, Frank Jennie and Keith are booked solid, and Peggy and Jeanne have an impressive array of projects, obligations and activities. I'm sure it will all come together, but it's going to take a bit of juggling to make it all happen.

That's about all the news for now. I'm hoping have a photo session with the new chicks tomorrow (photographing children is so difficult!) so that you can all see them at their cutest and we can finally get a new picture up for the blog - I do believe it is time to replace the picture of Pete standing in the snow-covered yard...

Matt