Happy Easter!

Easter at our house has been quite pleasant.  Parents-in-law and I enjoyed Zach's cooking for breakfast, and then once they were off, Zach and I headed out to the yard to get spring started.  Or at least that was the intent.  Since it was so nice out, I got the idea to bring the chicks out to the garden for their first outing, so other than cutting back a few dead things, mostly I just sat and watched chickens.  They were so darned cute!

This is my favorite picture - Trixie peeking around the crate.  She is so adventurous!

The girls all had a good time, although the camera died, so I only got a few photos.

Cricket found a slug!

Chicken update

I took pictures of each of the chicks last night.  They are getting so big!  Merci is looking and acting more like a chicken everyday.  She's even clucking sometimes.

Trixie and Cricket are the rulers of the coop.  I'm not sure which one is top chicken, because they seem to team up to gang up on Merci and Scooter all the time.  Today's trick is to fly across the brooder and land on the other chicken's back.

 



And finally Scooter...  She's kind of the tagalong.  So far she seems the most easy going and friendliest.  She doesn't put up a fuss when I pick her up like the others do, and she is quick to settle in for a cuddle.  She mostly hangs out with Merci, which is funny since Merci is so much bigger than her.  Her feathers look like they are growing in mostly white, with some gray and tan in spots.  I can't wait to see what she looks like when she gets bigger.

Celebration time, come on!

Is it unreasonable to feel like I should be justified in buying two sweater quantities of yarn because I got a second interview?

I guess I'm unreasonable then.  Plus, they're no longer going to be selling online! That is enough to justify the second SQ, right?

It's been a long time coming

Hi.

It's been a while.

I'm going to change the focus here and actually focus on more interests than just food.  After all, the blog is called War of the Appetites, right?  I have an appetite for many things in my life. Food, yes, but also books, crafts, gardening, chickens, cats, and more.  So I'm going to widen the focus and maybe you're interested in other things too.

The first thing I want to get out there is that I am currently unemployed. This has given me some extra time to explore different interests of mine.  So far I've spent a lot of time napping and surfing the interwebs, but I have also developed quite the interest in urban homesteading.  Now, I daren't say the phrase "urban homesteading" to the other half; he'd accuse me of being a hipster and not take a word I say seriously.  Instead, I'm starting small.  With chickens.

Trixie and Cricket came first. One yellow, one black, they were sweet and fluffy and adorable when I picked them out at the feed store.

Trixie, the yellow one, is a Buff Orpington.  I've read that they are docile and friendly, and since I want lap chickens, she seemed perfect.  Cricket is a Barred Plymouth Rock.  Mostly I got her because I had to bring at least two chicks home the first time and the store didn't have the other two breeds I wanted.

A few days later, after corresponding with a woman down in Edgewood, I brought home Merci.  She is a Black Copper Marans, a hard-to-find breed around here.  When she's all grown up, she'll lay dark chocolate colored eggs.

Merci was three weeks old when I got her, and was hatched by a man who raised parrots.  She already knows how to step up, which is completely adorable.

Lastly, I got the Ameraucana I wanted.  Ameraucanas lay blue-green eggs and have fluffy beards.  Scooter's beard was obvious from day one, and her little fuzzy face is so sweet.

They've all gotten a lot bigger now... more to come!