Freedom!! (Well, Kind Of...)

So today I hustled to finish getting the chicken wire up on the sides of the pen (the roof still needs a bit more) because I really needed to clean out the coop, and that's a million times easier if the chicks aren't IN the coop, lol.  So I got that done...and opened the door wide....and waited to see what the chicks would do.

I kind of expected a mad rush, but nope.  They had to think about it for a little while.  :P

Well, all except for Little Miss Floofle, who hopped right out, LOL!  She certainly has no fear, which isn't necessarily an ideal trait for a chicken.  It definitely gives her a lot of personality, though!!  :P

After lots of fluttering back and forth, the chicks eventually decided that they liked being outside, and I was able to clean the coop and put down fresh shavings.  Then I locked them back inside their coop, because their pen is definitely not predator proof!!  So they just got a few minutes of relative freedom, but it was fun to watch them explore.  :)

Dad and I also shuffled a few things around in the dome, trying out a potential kitchen layout.  What do you think?  :)  (Obviously, the stove will need to go up on a box or small cabinet.)

Happy Thursday!  :)

Mystery Plant Identified: St. John's Wort

So I posted my mystery flower from yesterday on a Facebook "ID This" group, and it turns out it's St. John's Wort!  This is a plant long used for medicinal purposes for people, but it's not good for cattle, horses, sheep, and goats.  Thankfully, they won't typically eat it unless there's nothing else to eat, but if they do happen to eat it for 4-5 days in a row, they will get a buildup of toxicity.  This results in extreme photosensitivity, which means that they'll be prone to really bad sunburns - in some cases, so bad that layers of skin can slough off.

So...I'm glad I spent an hour last night pulling this stuff up from the goat pasture!!

In other news, I finally remembered to snag a couple photos of the firewood I've been given...apparently there's another load this size still at my Aunt and Uncle's place that I'll need to go get.  I should be nice and toasty this winter!  ❤

And some randomness from my chicken visit this evening...I'm learning that when it starts to get dark, the chicks would very much like to roost somewhere up high...and I happen to be one of the tallest things in the coop.  So a couple times now, I've had a chick suddenly fly at me.  One sat on my arm for a minute last week, and tonight, Speedy spent a couple minutes perched on my shoulder.  :D 

I enjoyed the visit, though I'm glad I didn't get pooped on.  :P

NOTE - I occasionally add new people to the email list, or maybe you've found my blog on your own.  If you're new here, and you're viewing my blog on a computer, you'll find the blog archive on the right side of the page.  From there, you can scroll through old posts to see pictures of the dome and the land, etc.  And LOTS of pictures of my dogs.  ;P  

Happy Wednesday!!

Tuesday Stuff

I worked at my regular job, so I didn't do a ton on the land today...just pulled up a bunch of potentially poisonous flowers from my future goat pasture while the flowers were in bloom and easy to identify.  

These things are everywhere...I'm guessing it'll take me a few years to find and remove all of them.

Dad and Mom had a long day, though - they drove a couple hours further into Maine to see my aunt and uncle, who are moving soon.  They helped move around a bunch of frozen food, remove a big old freezer, and drove home with a load of firewood that my aunt and uncle are giving me!  From the left, you can see my Dad, my Aunt Judy, my Uncle Howard, and Pastor Hayman, an old family friend, with the trailer of firewood behind them.  Another gift that God has graciously provided for my homestead!  

Happy Tuesday!!

Monday Stuff

Got a little more work done on the chicken enclosure today, as well as throwing together a rough storage thing for firewood, as my aunt is giving me 1.5 cords of wood.  :D  

Here's how the enclosure is looking...just needs another couple rolls of wire, and all the chicks will finally get to fulfill their significant desire to see what's on the other side of their coop door!!

And here's the firewood thingie...lol, every homestead has to make ample use of pallets, right?  :P  We'll be putting a few sheets of metal roofing on top to keep the wood dry.

Many thanks to Dad and Paul for their work today!!

Sunday Update

Sorry I fell off the face of the planet this last week...I've been so busy that I haven't even had the time to sit down and write a blog post, lol!!  

This past week, we did a lot of little things that have added up quite satisfactorily...I scrubbed the inside of the dome skin and the floor, and then moved a few boxes in. 

Our friend Paul worked tirelessly on the pen for outside the chicken coop, and it's going to be super nice!!  Sadly, I don't have a more up-to-date photo, but the framing is done, including a beautiful screen door.  Now we just need to staple the wire on the frame.  Here's a picture from early in the process; I'll try to get a better one tomorrow:

Yesterday, Timothy and I picked up the propane appliances that the previous owners of the dome included in the purchase price.  There's a full-size propane kitchen stove, a camper-sized kitchen stove, and a 3/4 size propane fridge.  I'm leaning toward using the smaller stove, a) because space is limited in the dome, and b) because it's ridiculously cute.  :P

Here's the little stove:

And here's the fridge:

So stuff is starting to come together!!  :D

In other news, today is Thane's third birthday...he is my sweet, goofy, handsome boy who has matured from a seriously crazy puppy into a really wonderful dog.  ❤

Door Day!! :D

Hooray - I have a door!!  Paul, our friend from church, came to help again today.  He and Dad installed the door while I screwed down the flooring, added weather stripping under the edge of the dome skin, and made sure the dome skin was tightly fastened all the way around the base.  Here's the progression throughout the day:

I've got the key to my very first OWN home on my ring...and let me tell you, it felt pretty good to lock that door when we were done working.  ❤ 

And a Tiny Bit More Progress...

Got the flooring down!  And started fastening it in place.  Once it's all screwed down (and maybe once I've mopped), I can start moving stuff in - yay!  :D

A Quick Update

Due to my work schedule, I haven't gotten anything done the past couple of days other than visiting the chickens each morning and evening to feed them and pick the shavings out of their water, lol.  But Thursday through Saturday, my shift is 2-10:30pm, so that gives me some time in the mornings.  Today all I did was some site cleanup, but I'm very happy with the results!!

Here's the before:

And after:

Now I've got room to put an enclosure in front of the coop, so the chicks can get some outside time.  :)

Slow but Steady...

I got a bit of work done today...not as much as I'd hoped, but let me tell you - that dome gets toasty inside!!  I would work for a bit, then go sit outside in the shade for a bit.  I'm looking into getting a shade net for the dome, or a solar-powered fan, or possibly both, lol!  I got some flooring down, though.  It's a bit of a puzzle...I labeled the pieces when we took them up, but I may have messed up at some point, because things stopped fitting together at about row 21, lol.

I also took a quick walk to see how wet the ground was in various places.  It's dried up in the four acres, but there's still standing water in at least one place in the outer 13.95 acres.  Someday I'd like to try to figure out if there's a spring anywhere out there.

I found some blueberry bushes, and looks like the berries will be ripe soon...I'll have to try to remember to snag some before the animals get them all.

These are low-bush blueberries, common in this area...usually less than a foot tall.

One bummer - I spotted many clusters of a flower that I'm pretty sure I remember as being toxic to goats...so once I get goats, I'll need to walk around before I set up their electric fencing and pull the plants out.  I'll have to find my wildflower book so I can remember what the name of the flower is:

The clearing...you can see the dome over on the left!!  :D  Eventually, I'll be taking down most of the trees you see straight ahead and on the left.  I'll leave a few to shade various pastures.  And the ones on the right are staying because a) they're HUGE, and b) they're between me and my neighbors.

Spotted a turkey feather.  It was probably about a foot long!

I also cleaned the shavings out of the chicken coop, which resulted in lots of squawking and fluttering, lol.  The chicks and I will be very happy when I get their outdoor enclosure built!  Here are a few shots of my new favorite photographic subjects:

Look who's trying out the roost - Miss Floofle!!

I've started calling this one Buffy:

Big Blue:

And my new favorite photo...this one's name is Speedy:

Happy Monday!!!

The Dome Raising!! :D

It's up!!  :D :D :D

A million thanks to Dad, Timothy, and our friend Paul who assembled the dome yesterday in hot, hot weather with ridiculously high humidity!  (I helped, but the men definitely did the brunt of the work.)

Here's the progression throughout the day:

Hooray!!!

Next up: see if the dome needs any patches, install a pre-hung door, install flooring, install the woodstove, pick up and install the propane fridge and cook stove, attach a sink to the gray water drain pipe, and start moving my stuff in!  At some point, I'll want to put decking on the platform and build steps.

I also need to set up my composting toilet, start clearing a spot for firewood storage, build a chicken enclosure, put up dog fencing...and the list goes on and on.  But it was awesome to see such a huge leap of progress yesterday!  God graciously held off the rain until the guys got the top on and the windows installed, lol.

Happy Sunday!!!

More Chick Photos and General Updates

I'm delighted to say that I've managed to keep all 14 chicks alive for their first 2 days in my care...that's a good sign, right?  :P 

This is despite a mishap this morning where one of the little blackish/grayish ones got out, and it took me a good 15-20 minutes to catch her.  I finally got her after crawling up onto my huge brush pile, lol.  Dad had to help me get back down off the brush pile, since I was holding the chicken.

Here are a few photos from yesterday and today.  This little chickie wins the prize for most stylish hair:

Pretty colors:

The black one on the right might be the one that got out this morning:

Big Blue may not have the coolest hair, but he makes up for it with his stature!! 

And here's Little Miss Floofle...she's still a bit fluffy here and there, and still very independent.  There's actually a chance that she's a special needs chicken!!  And lest anyone speak ill of the breeder, he has offered to replace her if she is a hen, and if she continues to be slow as an adult.  (If she's actually a rooster, she will likely eventually go the way of all spare roosters...which is a little sad, but of course is what happens on working homesteads.)

Here she is scratching for feed:

And here she is showing her independent side...while all her compatriots huddle in the corner because I made a sudden move, she calmly grabs a snack.  I find this rather endearing...but these birds need to be flighty if they're to be successful free-rangers and not get eaten by predators.  So we shall see how things go with Little Miss Floofle.

In other news, I primed my pump yesterday, and filled a 5-gallon bucket.  It took me probably 3-4 minutes.  Lol, I'm going to build up some good muscles from pumping water!  :P  The water is still coming out quite dirty...I probably ought to spend a long time pumping it sometime and see if it clears up.  Otherwise, I might need to get a filter.

Dad has still been steadily picking away at projects on the days I've been at work, though the heat has been brutal - it's been in the upper 80s/lower 90s lately, and there's not nearly as much shade on the dome deck as I had hoped.  Yesterday he made excellent progress on the platform, even bolting down the dome frame.  There's a chance that tomorrow might be the day we try to put the dome back up, though I won't be able to be there the whole day, as I work in the afternoon/evening.  But if anyone local wants to participate in a good, old-fashioned dome raising (LOL!!), feel free to check with me for directions to my land!  :P  

Happy Friday!!