Monthly Archives: February 2011

Peeps on my Mind

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Well my new baby chicks catalog just came in the mail over the weekend.  I love to look through the catalog and think about what exotic chicks we’ll be getting this spring. 

 Sigh!  We always get the same kind. LOL!  But I still like to think about different ones anyway.

Our breed of choice is Barred Rock, or Plymouth Rocks.  They are a hearty breed, good layers, that lay nice brown eggs, but can also be meat birds too.

We also have Shadow, an Aracauna hen, or as they are sometimes called, Easter Egg chickens, because they lay colored eggs.  Shadow lays green eggs, and got her name because she and a Barred Rock named Emily, follow my 3 year old granddaughter all around the yard.

We won’t be getting new baby peeps until April or May, but it’s still fun to look at the pictures of new life when it is cold and snowy outside.

Are You Becoming Self-Suffient?

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With the current economy the way that it is, have you been thinking about becoming more self-suffient?  Maybe having a garden, getting some chickens for the fresh eggs?  I know my family has.

Pretty much ever since we’ve been married, except for the 4 years we lived in the city, we’ve had a garden.  We always canned and or froze our produce because they just plain taste better.

This year though our garden will be slightly bigger with a few more varieties of vegetables.  And what we don’t grow ourselves we will be purchasing at the Amish Farm down the road.

With all the worry about salmonella and E-coli, we try to buy local.  We have our own chickens, so fresh eggs are always at hand.  We buy our potatoes from the farmer that plows the snow in our driveway in the winter. 

So that’s what we are doing little by little to become more self-suffient.  What if anything are you doing?

Six More Weeks Til Spring??

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When you live in Western Pennsylvania, February 2nd is a big day.  Just like in the movie Ground Hog Day with Bill Murray, a huge group of ground hog Punxatawny Phil’s followers trek on up to Gobbler’s Knob in Punxatawny, Indiana County, Pennsylvania.

They grab poor Phil out of his burrow to tell the groundhog whisperer’s whether there will be six more weeks of winter or if spring is just around the corner. 

It’s a big deal around here, and this year was no different.  Except that this year, Phil didn’t see his shadow.  So sprin will be coming early this year.  WooHoo!  I hope old Phil is right.