Chicken Pyramid, Chicken Countdown

Chicken Pyramid by Scott and Moira Johnson

Yes, I said Chicken Pyramid.  This is *not* an A-frame.  This pyramid hen house was built by my high genius husband who has no training in carpentry.  My daughter Moira was his dedicated helper, but I'm not ashamed to say Tessa and I hid out in the house after about a day and a half of working on this project.  

No Roosters!  Chicks only!

Of course I did come out to help paint the finished pyramid.

Moira's Sun with the door to the hen house propped open.

Roost and ladder to the nesting area.  I hope they can make it up top easily, or we may have to make a modification.

Egg tower

Two days left until chicken pick up.  The plan is to bring home 2 young hens at the Barberville Farm Swap.   I can't wait to have fresh eggs again.

All photos by Moira Johnson, age 8

I promise to post new chicken photos soon!  Could be Barred rocks, Rhode Island Reds, California Whites, or something else?  It really depends on what we find at the swap.  I've been watching to see what the Barberville area farmers have been posting on their swap Facebook page about what they are bringing to the swap on Saturday..  

Reindeer are Eating my Lettuce

My daughter Moira took these fun pictures of her handmade cork reindeer in my garden yesterday. This is her own design she made with some wine corks that I won from The Wooden Bee blog, hot glue and pipe cleaners.   

I think she did a great job.  The first two pictures are of the reindeer in my Romaine lettuce bed. Looks like I have a little bit of weeding to do in there.  I see some chickweed hiding in there.

Looks like Santa tried to keep them contained to the flower bed with the young Amaranth plants.

But I can't blame those reindeer for wanting to eat up this yummy purple pak choi.

It was very kind of them not to trample my baby Chamomile plants.  They also left my brocolli and Siberian Kale undisturbed.

Hope you like them!

Cory and Moira

Pumpkin Peanut Butter Soup

I recently posted to the EcoEtsy blog about one of my favorite things to do with pumpkins, which is making pumpkin peanut butter soup.  I included a recipe that I work from, but I have never followed the recipe precisely, and I have always had great results working with these ingredients together.  Check out the post and give this soup a try if you have a lot of pumpkin or even squash stashed from your garden harvest.

Aquarian Bath Customer Review on Youtube

Patchouli soap with a sprig of patchouli from my garden.  

Big thanks to my customer Jennifer who used all her Etsy Gift Card funds on my shop and made this super video about my shop and products.  It was so nice of her.  I really appreciate it, and wanted to share it with everyone.

My patchouli soap is her husband's favorite and my Jasmine perfume is one of her favorites.

Trip to the Florida Agriculture Museum

I spent Saturday at the Florida Agriculture Museum near Palm Coast.  The Museum hosted a holiday event with the Florida Etsy Street Team.  After shopping for some wonderful handmade holiday gifts, the girls and I took a tour of the museum.

The museum is on 400 acres which was donated for the creation of the museum by Flagler county.  The museum was started with a government grant.  There are currently 2 employees and many volunteers who operate the museum.

On the tour we saw these short horned Florida Cracker Cattle, like this bull.  We also met this talkative pig.  Tessa said 'he's beautiful... very pretty momma.'  That was the first time the tour guide had heard the pig described as beautiful.  

These two buildings are what would have been the ranch owner's living area complete with an outdoor kitchen (left) and the living area which had 2 bedrooms.

The garden looks neat and orderly.  The pig and cattle enjoy the mustard greens and volunteers take home some vegetables also.

There were some lovely chicken coops at the Museum for ducks and hens.  This pen had 5 or 6 chickens including Rhode Island Reds and Buff Orpingtons.  The chicken wire had a beautiful grape vine growing up it to provide shade to the birds during the hot weather.  

The girls enjoyed seeing the horses. The museum also offers riding lessons and trail rides.

The museum is definitely worth a visit!