Picture Post!

We ordered our wood burning insert and have finally started getting our wood organized.  I'm so excited to have this project underway because the wood has been piled in several areas of our yard that I have pinned for other projects.  I have been moving wheelbarrows of wood daily and the pile is growing.  Nate has become quite the wood splitter too!

I don't think I shared with you the finished "barn" yard yet.  It turned out really well.  Vanilli can scale the fence, so we clipped her wing.  We decided we hated t-posts.  I can see the economy of them if we were running 1000s of feet of fencing, but for this small project, the wood posts fit the aesthetics of the yard and our tastes much better than t-posts.   

Is that a jungle bird?  No, it's just Napoleon roosting in the willow tree.  For the past several nights we have had to retrieve him and put him up with the ladies.  They are getting used to each other.  He is not being picked on, so I think they knew he's a he, but he hasn't stepped up to the plate and asserted himself yet.  His tail feathers are growing back and his neck feathers are starting to come back in as well.  Maybe he just wants to be "purdy" first. 

As of today, our newest addition to our motley crew of hens, a Red Star.  I'm thinking of naming her Ginger.  Pearl, our Black Star, has been a tremendous layer, so I hope she will be as well.  I know better than to buy a bird from the flea market, but I just feel so sorry for them.  Vanilli was a flea market rescue, and she's turned out to be a fabulous bird now that she's in a healthy environment.  Ginger looked healthy, bright eyes, nice glossy feathers, but when I got her home I realized she is missing a digit off one of her talons.  It's totally amputated.  I think we are destined to find and care for messed up birds.  They seem to find their way to us. 

Finally, my thoughts exactly!  Snuggle up and find a warm place to sleep.  Winter is coming.

Happy homesteading,

Candace