One in the Nest

  This is one of our golden hens. I think she is half Barred Plymouth Rock and I know she is at least half Buff Orpington. Last year we got an incubator and hatched two batches at the beginning of the year. She was one of the ones in the second group.
 She is now very broody. Broody means she has stopped laying, is not eating or drinking as much, and is spending most of her time sitting in a nest.

  Her name is Mohawk. I called her that because she hatched with a black stripe running down the middle of her head and down her neck. (I'm not good at names, but that doesn't stop me from trying.) She still has little dots of black on her neck feathers and the tip of her tail, but the mohawk is gone. She has really grown into the name. She wing danced the rooster when we brought him in. (Wing dancing is where a chicken sidles around something with one wing down, hitting that wing with their toe nails, making a scraping sound. It's a dominance thing. Usually it's a rooster doing it to his hens.) If you hear a loud scream from South-East Texas that's me. I got too close. And now I'm blind.

    She gave us a scare yesterday when she left the nest for about an hour. Over the years we've had hens change their minds about motherhood part of the way though. Sometimes another will take over and bring the eggs to term, sometimes not. There had been a hen that had been taking over for her, but she seems to have changed her mind about the whole thing. So if Mohawk hadn't gotten back on when she did I would have had to set the incubator up.

   When she is off the nest she is usually fluffed up and clucking to imaginary chicks. I have never seen a chicken behave like this. She might have fallen on her head, but I wouldn't say that where she could hear me. She is very irritable now. Sometimes she will attack the other chickens and the rooster. Maybe they said 'What are you talking about? I don't see any chicks.' or maybe they just looked at her the wrong way. I don't really know.

  She has eight eggs under her. It'll be so great if they hatch. I will keep you updated.

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Blue Aquarius mermaid choker necklace

I got the idea for this when I made a tank top out of Sensations Rainbow Boucle yarn (which I really love) and realized it looked a bit like waves.
 Boucle is a type of yarn made by wrapping one of the strands looser than the others thus creating loops.  It can be a little difficult to work with at first, the loops have a tendency to catch on the needles and you have to work somewhat loosely at the beginning because the loops will pull out near where you cut it, thereby losing the boucle part of the yarn. But once you get used to it it's fine.

Variegated yarn is yarn that has been dyed with more than one color giving you the look of color working without the effort. And with a lot more randomness.
   Something I learned making this; if you knit a choker length wise and then sew a metal pendent on it, it will stretch out, horribly. So I make my knitted chokers from the bottom up.
 
   It is 14" long and 1 1/16" wide , not stretched, with an almost 1" silver plated mermaid pendant. The clasps is a hook and eye. Yarn is 88% acrylic and 12% nylon.
Can be made longer or shorter. Available in light blue, first two pictured, dark blue, not shown, and a mix, last picture. (Mix may not look exactly as pictured, because it is made by using variegated yarn.)
  I think it is perfect for that special someone born between Jan. 20 and Feb.18. I also thing it would be a great something blue, especially for an Aquarius or someone with a beach theme wedding.
 Use coupon code MOTHERSDAY for 5% off your purchase. Does not include shipping. Expires 5/12/13
Buy one at: https://www.etsy.com/listing/115749396/blue-aquarius-mermaid-choker-necklace

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Foxglove, an update

   I ended up having to stake my fox glove. We had a horrible storm a few weeks ago, some places got hail, I'm not sure if we did or not but those rain drops sure sounded loud. I didn't even think to pull the Foxglove under the eves. The poor thing didn't stand a chance. The next day it was bent double with the top of the flower stalk trying valiantly to grow upwards. I moved it to a bigger pot (which was good because the thing was root bond) and as I was doing that I noticed a little Foxglove growing on the side of it that is growing another flower stalk. I didn't have the nerve to try to separate them.

  I also didn't have a long enough stick and now it's growing in a weird corkscrew shape. I wonder if the local Humming Birds can get any nectar out of it like this?


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Blue Eggs

   It's funny, I never realized how much I missed getting blue eggs until the new Ameraucana girls started laying. They are surprisingly good layers so far. We have two and have been getting two light blue eggs almost every day.  We used to have some 'Araucana' hens (that's what they were called at the feed store, but after the research I've been doing I'm beginning to think they were Easter Eggers) who laid large olive green eggs, one white hen that came with the house that laid blue, and some mixes from those girls that laid blue or green eggs. Green or blue eggs have the same nutritional value and amount of cholesterol as brown or white eggs. The only difference is the color of the shell.

   I would like to get more Easter Egger hens that lay olive green eggs. I miss them. But for now I will be content with the blue eggs. They look nice in the carton nestled in the with the different shades of brown eggs.       
 
  We have thirteen hens, at the time I am writing this: four yellow Buff orpingtons and Buff -Barred Plymouth Rock mixes (not sure which are which), three black with yellow necked buff-and-what-I-think-were-Black-Sex-link chicken mixes, two Black Australope hens, two Barred Plymouth Rocks, and the two earlier mentioned Ameraucana hens. Oh, and a Ameraucana Rooster, my uncle's daughter gave us after a hawk killed our old one. (she had an extra rooster)  
 All of our hens are under two years old and right now I'm picking close to a dozen eggs a day. (about nine or ten, sometimes eleven, a day) and thinking we need to start looking for more people to buy our yard eggs. Right now we only have my Aunt and a woman she knows. Mom's talking about making and wearing a shirt that reads: 'Ask me about yard eggs'. That should prove interesting. She'll do it, too you know.

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Calla Lily earrings

I like Calla Lilies, but my Mom really likes Calla Lilies. She was so happy to see the little green leaves raising out of the soil where she had planted Calla Lily bulbs last year.

It seemed fitting to announce the beginning of Bats Bizarre's Mother's Day sale on the same day these debuted. Beginning today 4/16/13 use Coupon Code MOTHERSDAY for 5% off. Ends 5/12/13. Does not include shipping.  

It takes over an hour to shape these earrings out of Polymer clay, sometimes longer if I'm having a bad day, but I'm hoping that if I keep working at it I'll be able to make them in a hour or at least not have bad days.
 They are made out of different colored polymer on hypo-allergenic surgical steel studs and cost $14. Here is the link to the ad: https://www.etsy.com/listing/129571789/hand-sculpted-calla-lily-stud-earrings?ref=sr_gallery_6&ga_search_query=calla+lily+earrings&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_explicit_scope=1&ga_page=0&ga_order=date_desc&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmadecalla+lily+earrings
                                    
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Silver Chain Choker with an Anchor Clasp

Like most of my creations, I'm not exactly sure where the inspiration for this necklace came from. The idea for something seems to show up in my head. But I think this one came from the fact that I'm not a big fan of clasps.

The chain is part of Michael's Bead Landing: Legends line, which apparently means it is classified as seasonal and more cannot be ordered. Once I run out of chain (I have enough for two necklaces and two sets of chain earrings) that's it, I have to find a new chain with loops large enough for the anchor's 'hook' 'prong' 'blade' -whatever those things on the sides of an anchor that catch on to things is called- to fit though without falling out accidently.

Sometimes I like to wear this necklace with my chain earrings for a real nautical/ rocker look. And sometimes my skull and crossbones spike ear cuff, if I feel like a really punk look. But I'm a fan of mixing masculine and feminine looks (This last Easter I pared the afore mentioned ear cuff with Easter Egg earrings.) so I often mix my anchor choker with Starfish earrings or my Rain drop earrings. You know, something elegant.   

It costs $13. Here is the link to the ad. https://www.etsy.com/listing/114053179/silver-chain-choker-with-an-anchor-clasp

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What I'm growing (in the 'herb garden')

I'm not sure if anyone reads this blog enough to notice, but I'm sorry I missed Thursday's post. I'll try to do better. Anyway...
Starting from left to right here is a list of what was in the herb/ front garden as of when these photos were taken.

There are some 4o'clocks that came up from last year's plants. But they're rather hard to see. Most of them came up outside the and had to be moved. Last year it was a mix of yellow, white, and red, all pretty much in the same spot, so I don't what color these will be.

A cat water dish/ bird bath and an oversized planter that's supposed to have pomegranate seedlings in it. And next to that is an old sheet I used to cover the limes I planted last year when I ran out of pots.

Oregano- a great herb that comes back from the roots every spring. A must have for spaghetti sauce.

A line of Garlic Chives that makes a good block against soil erosion. They multiply like crazy and can be used as a substitute for green onion.

Marigolds- also from seeds that last year's plants dropped. They came up everywhere, usually too close to each other or some other plant. I'm move them around.

A Dutch Iris- I bought one of those bargain bags of mixed white and blue Irises (I don't know which this one is) and Gladiolas last year and ran out of places to bury them.

Rosemary- one of my mother's favorite herbs. It tastes great with chicken, and potatoes.

 Blue scent salvia- A member of the sage family. I don't think it's edible. I planted it from seeds last year, it is drought and heat tolerant but it's apparently some what cold tolerant too, because I didn't really cover it.

Basil- it's planted in the middle, but is too small to see, yet. It does not tolerate frost, so it must be planted every year or overwintered in a pot in a warm protected spot. Goes good with tomatoes.

There is an bearded Iris and two cone flowers, but none of them have really leafed out well enough to be seen.

That's our fig tree on the other side of the cinderblocks and in the second picture you can see the lemon tree. Would you believe it has all those lemons on it and is starting to flower? 

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Seedlings

A few weeks ago I sowed some Feverfew, Pennyroyal, and Hyssop seeds I got from 'Nichols Garden Nursery' in pots of soil from the vegetable garden. What has come up so far? Some weeds and 5 onions. I guess I shouldn't have gotten soil from so close to the green onions. Which isn't so bad, because we can always use more onions.

After these less than spectacular results, I've decided to try going back to the old school science experiment where you put two beans in wet paper towels placing one in a dark location and the other in sunny spot to see which one does better (long story short, the one in the dark did better) by putting catnip seeds in a wet paper towel in an old pill bottle and leaving it in a dark spot in my closet. Checking every other day it to make sure it's still moist. It looks like two of the seeds on top are germinating, or they are growing some weird looking lines of white mold.

By the way it's wasp season over here. Mom has stopped six nests from being built in the green house and the pump house already.

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