King Bartholomew

 I'm pretty sure that Bartholomew thinks he rules Butterscotch Farm. Here's a post from his perspective. 😂 

"Hmm, what part of my domain should I visit this morning?"

"I could roust a few chipmunks from the brush pile by the new chicken coop..."

"Ah, one moment... I spy one of my subjects... the tall one. It is good to acknowledge her presence occasionally, and remind her not to neglect her duty to keep the kibble dish full."

"Next I shall demonstrate my lean musculature before the Caged Fowl. I do not know why the Tall One keeps these birds caged, except perhaps to protect them from warriors such as myself. Though they are as large as I am, I have no fear of them."

"Hmm, I thought perhaps that it would be a good day for a hunt, but water persists in falling from the sky. I did not authorize such an event, and I thoroughly disapprove."

"Ah, there is the Tall One again. Perhaps if I deign to greet her as if she is worthy of my affection, she will remember to place some of that marvelous concoction known as 'Wet Cat Food' in my bowl before she ventures forth in the Large Silver Chariot."

Happy Monday!

A Few Pictures

 I got off work a little early today, and got a little bit more done on the chicken coop. I'm trying to be thrifty, especially with current lumber prices, so the coop is mostly built with reclaimed materials and even with small trees from my land. 

Here's the coop right now... I want to cover the cheap siding with wooden shingles or old barn wood, but this will do for now! 

We're also using logs as some of the posts and rafters in the runs. I'm stripping the bark off the logs; otherwise bugs tend to hang out under the bark and chew the wood up. I'm using a drawknife most of the time, but on some of the logs, the bark has peeled off in long strips by hand, which is immensely satisfying!! :P 

As usual, the coop is ending up taking WAY longer than I thought it would... maybe someday I'll be less of an optimist and more of a realist when it comes to envisioning the timeline for building projects. 😂 

In other news, Purrcy is starting to look way too grown up already!! Breeze is doing well with him... she needed a few stern reprimands when I first let her in the cottage while the kitten was loose, just because his quick movements are fascinating, but she's 99% good now. ❤️

Well, that's about it... I hope everyone is having an awesome week! :)

Comings and Goings

 I've been super busy the past few weeks...my newest batch of chicks came this past Wednesday, and I was hoping to get the new coop ready before they arrived. Even with a couple days of help from Dad, I didn't succeed, but they're happily ensconced in a whipped-together brooder pen with their adoptive mother for now. They'll be fine in there until we get the coop done.

Here's Snow White and her brood of 26 Icelandic chicks, who came to Maine all the way from Wisconsin...in the mail! Getting one of my broody girls to accept the chicks was a bit harrowing - it went very smoothly last year with Buffy, and I was counting on her to be the mama again this year, but she was kind of grouchy about these new arrivals. Thankfully, Snow White stepped in, and she seems very proud of her little flock, lol. 

My blog post is titled "Comings and Goings..." the chicks represent the "coming," and the "going" is Henry. That's right...my sweet, goofy boy is traveling to South Carolina next week. He's going to do a board and train on a friend's farm, and will likely sire a couple farm Collie litters. In fact, I may even get a pup back from him. I don't know whether he will make his way back to me....Thane would probably not accept him back here once he's gone, sadly. I'm sure I'll cry buckets when he leaves, but I'm also excited to see how he does in a real working home. 💗

In other news, the cats are doing well. Bartholomew continues to rule the homestead. He's being awesome with the new kitten - they play with each other whenever I give Purrcy time to run around. 

Well, time for me to head off to work. It's going to be a crazy summer...in fact, I have to update Breeze's puppy waiting list, because I've determined that my work schedule won't permit me to breed her for a fall litter...I will plan to breed her next winter/spring. 

Anyway...here's a sweet little Strawberry flower in closing! I hope everyone has an awesome weekend! :)

It's May Already??

 Wow, time is flying, isn't it?? I can't believe we're already almost done with the first week of May! 

Things have been bonkers here at Butterscotch Farm...here are some of the things that have happened since the last time I wrote:

1. Tons of site cleanup.

2. I spent two solid days working super hard to clear a section of forest for new chicken coops... and then decided I want the coops somewhere else. 🙄

3. Tick season and black fly season have begun - ick!!

4. I lost a hen to health issues, and both ducks to a predator. 😭 

5. Two other hens have gone broody, which is good because I'm counting on them to raise the 25 chicks arriving in a couple weeks!!

6. I got a new kitten - Purrcy. He's super cute!! 😍

7. Dad installed another window for me today, up in the front gable end of the cottage. I love having lots of light!!

I think that's most everything that has happened... it's been awesome having more time to work on my land lately. 

Here are a bunch of photos from the last week or so: 

This is the "before" picture of one section I cleared. I decided not to put the chickens here, but it's still a satisfying transformation... here's the "after": 

Below is the general area I DID decide will be for the chickens. This is also a "before" picture. I didn't think to get an "after" picture yet, but I'm happy to report that it is looking much better!

The coops will be a little behind where that red piece of roofing was in the above photo. Here's a possible layout... the gravel shows the potential footprint of one coop, with the run extending out beyond it: 

This also shows a little of the clearing I've done. Some of the stumps will need to come out, but some will stay - if I leave some in the chicken runs, the birds will enjoy perching on them.

Here's the window Dad put in for me today:

I think it'll really help to show off the neat rafters!

And last but not least... here's Purrcy! He's living up to his name so far, and Bartholomew really seems to like him - yay!!

Anyway... it's past my bedtime. :P 

I hope everyone is having an awesome spring!! 😊