A Bird In Hand .......

The chicks are growing like mad, and we now walk them every day in the garden. The boys are particularly attached to the little gray one my son is holding here, but I really love the little black one in the other picture. Good thing these are going to be our laying hens because we are a little to friendly with them to eat them. I think this batch is a little different because we hatched our own eggs this time.
We also have a big batch of eating birds we picked up the other day. They are just as cute as the laying hens, but we are trying hard not to get to attached. If they are anything like the last batch of broilers they will have awful personalities so that will not be to big a problem.

With the days being warmer we are starting to get out into the yard and " spring clean". It feels so good to be able to hang dry our laundry again, and I am super excited about the sprouts I now see in the garden.

Bad Goose, Very Bad Goose

It seems as if our geese have developed a new and VERY BAD habit. They now spend their days standing at the end of our drive waiting for joggers, trash pick up men, wandering teens, etc to pass by. They must then defend our house against such obvious intruders. Oh, and they also try to bite the tires of passing cars. While this is quite funny to us from the safety of our home, it is not to the intended targets. Full grown African geese are huge and a bit frighting. We are, however, a bit stumped on how to stop them. They are after all wild barnyard geese.

Picking Up Chicks

How cute are our new baby chicks !


It is that time of year again here on the acre. We are now over run with adorable baby chicks and new plants are springing up in the mini green houses in our window sills. This year, how ever, the chicks are extra special. A friend of mine called last month and wanted to know if I wanted in on her hatching plans. They have a commercial incubator and had some room for a few more eggs before they fired it up. So we made a sweet deal, I give her a bunch of eggs and she gives me back half as many chicks. Every one wins with an arrangement like that. Now lets hope I did not end up with all roosters !

Be The Change You Want To See In The World

Ok, so I stole that quote from Gandhi, but that is exactly what my family decided to do.

Any one who knows me at all knows that I have been ranting on and on about wanting an electric car. Our car was getting a few miles on it and we like to have at least one newer car to head out across the vast New Mexico landscape in. So on this trip to the dealership we decided to be that change, and boy are we glad. We are now the proud owners of a 2009 Toyota Prius. Ok, so it is not electric but it is the closest we can find at this time. We are also getting 44 miles to the gallon, and have fallen in love. I was worried at first that it would be a bit small, but in all honesty it fits 90% of what my family does with a car. What about the other 10%, well, I figure we will improvise. Besides it is all apart of my new years resolution, being honest with what I really need.