This is a rooster. I know. His name is Kibosh. I wanted some chicken art for this post though. Obviously, with no chickens of my own yet to bore you with, I had to make do by pulling some art from the studio archives. Heh.

So, here is the chicken coop plan so far. I am trying to stay focused and not obsess over the fact that we have seen 3 Cooper hawks and a couple of red tailed hawks winging their way through our woods this month.  I am trying not to think too much about all of the stories I have heard about clever predators getting into chicken coops. Instead I am pricing hardware cloth and pavers and stakes to secure the bottom of our pen and lumber and corrugated roofing to cover the top and hoping that the fortress we are building and the dogs that live in the same yard will offer enough protection for our chickens. Hoping, hoping, hoping. I will require therapy if I go out there and realize that someone has killed my chickens. Ack!

I am not dwelling on the scary parts all of the time though. I promise. Just trying to keep safety in mind as we design, ya know? This week I am doing lots of research so we will be ready to start building as soon as O is off for the spring break holiday. Ahem, while I am at it, I would like to put in a request to the Universe to keep the rain away next week so we can get some work done. And also asking ever so nicely that no surprise blizzards like that one that blew through in ‘93 put a damper on our springtime plans. Please.

Our plans include the obvious like a building a bottom for the house and the loft floor and the nesting boxes. We are going to build little panels to put in the windows with hinged/screened doors so we can access the nesting boxes and keep the chickens safe. We will screw pieces of plexi over the hardware screen in the winter so there will be no drafts but leave the shutters open for ventilation during the warm months. Or, that’s the plan at this stage. There will be ramps and vents added, of course. Yep, all of the standard coop goodies. But, we are going one step farther to make the ugly playhouse work for us. We are going to put a green roof on the little house to serve as insulation and decoration. It will hide the ugly blue roof and also serve to keep our chickens healthy. It gets really warm here in the summer so the idea is to grow sedum and some other ground cover on top of the coop to help keep the girls cool in the summer. Some folks grow edibles up there but ours is going to be in the shade so we are thinking moss and fern and sedum will do the trick. Maybe a trailing flower on the edge if I can get something to grow in the shade. The plants have to have shallow root systems so, yep, more homework.

Here are a couple of coops that have green rooftops that I just love! This one is in Seattle somewhere. It is the first one I saw and fell in love with the idea immediately. Then I saw this little box shaped coop and this very artsy coop. There are small and simple garden rooftops everywhere! I think we need one too. We are hoping our limited carpentry skills will allow us to build a box to fit over the plastic roof of the playhouse. The plan is to line the box with plastic and then fill in the box around the roof and dormers of the playhouse with layers of gravel, hardware cloth, perlite and plants. I am hoping the pitch of the roof will allow for healthy and easy drainage. I think a little gutter and a rain barrel might be in order too to keep water out of the run.

I am thinking a rain chain and a little rain barrel at the bottom. At first I was thinking we could make these out of chain from the hardware shore and a small galvanized trash can (the space is too small for a big plastic barrel) but now I am thinking I want to try to make a ceramic rain pot (or two). A length of inexpensive chain from the hardware store and  a nice little ceramic water well at the bottom with a hole in the lid for catching the water –covered with screen  of course to keep trash and bugs and chickens out will be really pretty and also good for helping keep our gardens nearby green. Here are some samples of  small rain pots and barrels I found to show you what I am talking about–sort of. I can’t use this water for the chickens but I can use it to water the flowers I hope to plant around the coop in little pots or the sunken garden that is only a couple of feet from the spot we have picked for the coop.

We probably won’t get all of this done next week but we are going to do our best! We are going to set up the run and start building a platform to raise up the coop to offer more room on the ground for the chickens but also to raise the roof up to be even with the top of the run where it will connect with the corrugated roof we are putting on to keep out rain and –er hawks and foxes and raccoons.

Wish us luck!

Oh! I bought a copy of Raising Chickens for Dummies yesterday and I have been gathering info at Back Yard Chickens on and off since we moved to this house. I recently started looking for local chicken farmers too.  Anyone got any tips on what to look for when I go–er–chicken shopping? I thought I wanted chicks but am not sure I want to spend my summer worrying about babies this year. I am getting 2 new bee hives and expanding the garden this year too so I already have my hands full. But I expect you bond better with chicks and this might be good for the kids who want to help with the chickens. I don’t want to get a feisty hen that they might be scared of right off the bat, ya know?  Yep, undecided on this one.  Maybe I will get a couple of hens this year and think about a couple of chicks next year after we have learned what we are doing and build up our confidence? I’d really like the girls to have that experience of raising chicks–but I am very new to this. I guess I am just feeling a little chicken. Heh. Sorry. Couldn’t resist. Anyone have an opinion on this? I have a giant dog crate that we could keep the chicks in to keep them safe until they are big enough for the run. The run is really big (7X12 feet) and we could let them have some supervised play time outside each day. My only concern is that the chicks would have to stay in the house or my studio most of the time until we could put them out and with 3 cats and 4 dogs, and two kids that forget to close baby gates and doors, I will worry. I keep flashing on Jenna’s  Cold Antler Farm blog post (or was it in the book?) about her dogs snatching her chicks out of a box on her kitchen counter while she was at work one day. Don’t want that to happen. Since hens will go straight to the coop, this plan  sounds easier and hopefully safer for now. Um, I hope.

Categories: chickens
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Three Cooper hawks circled and and perched right over our heads on and off for several hours yesterday. There was quite a show with calling and swooping. It was gorgeous. The girls and I watched them swoop from the lower meadow to the pine forest past the upper meadow and back again over an over.

And then, all of the sudden, there was only one. On one race to the upper meadow, 2 kept flying. The one that was left sat in a tree in my meadow for a half hour calling out and getting no response from the other hawks.

And then, after about 20 minutes if this, he just glided away with one last little call. He was beautiful.

This all took place as I was getting the little spot in my yard ready for the chicken coop. Yep, the loner hawk was resting on a branch just over the spot we have chosen for the coop.  And the foxes were in the meadow early this morning too–visible from my back garden. Think I am crazy for getting chickens?

Categories: meadows and woods
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The theme for this week’s Illustration Friday is “Brave”.

Categories: Illustration Friday, bees
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Before I write anything else, go look at this. I know. I know. It’s not the dream coop, right? I know. It caught my eye when perusing coops at Back Yard Chicken though because we have one of those playhouses. Obviously there are much nicer coops out there. Some of my faves are coops like this one and this one and, this one. I could go on. There are some beautiful coops out there. I can’t afford to build a nice rustic coop like those right now though. And I am ready to get chickens–I think. I have been thinking about getting chickens since we moved here and I have put it off because, I couldn’t find the time or money to build a coop. As I may have mentioned before, I am also surrounded by foxes and hawks, owls and raccoons. This means I have to build a fortress to have chickens. So, we have started planning and we decided to re-purpose rather than spend money on new materials to build a swank coop. We have one of those goofy playhouses and we have a big dog kennel and we have some pretty hardwood floor scraps, some pretty stepping stones and planters. We are thinking we can scrape enough money together to buy some hardware cloth, locks and the materials to make a nice corrugated roof to cover the entire run since we get a lot of rain around these parts some years–and, yes, to help hide a little the goofy playhouse.

Our little house is moss covered in the back yard under the holly tree right now. The kids never play with it anymore. We are going to scrub it up, modify it and put in our dog run and then plant a Lady Banks rose and train it to cover the coop to help shade the girls–and hide the house. Heh. We have some beautiful Dennis Hunt stepping stones and some planters. I think if we set our minds to it we can do something creative and make a safe little coop for our chickens that is easy to clean –and cute. I know you don’t believe me–but I think we can.

I am not of fan of brightly colored plastic kid toys but I am all about saving money and re-purposing so I am putting on my thinking cap and and working to come up with a nice little chicken coop and garden outside my studio. Wish me luck–and stop laughing! We are going to work next week during spring break to get it spruced up. It’s going to be nice! Just you wait and see.

In a few weeks we will have a nice big garden started, blueberry, blackberry and strawberry patches blooming, 4 bee hives buzzing and making honey and baby bees—and chickens! I am really doing this urban farm thing. I am!

Categories: chickens
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Bees in Art

Categories: bees
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It’s March. I have been longing for March. It is still very cold at night and I wake up to a view of the neighbor’s frosty field each morning, but after breakfast, when the sun creeps over the point of my roof and illuminates my front yard, I see spring trying to poke it’s head up through the tightly packed soil and crunchy grass.

I see flowers!

That makes me giddy. This gives me permission to start planning the garden properly. This means I can open windows and leave heavy wooden doors open so I can smell and feel the outdoors through screen doors! This means an extra quilt on the bed but no more central heat. I look forward to spring greens and yellows and pinks. I look forward to hearing the frogs and crickets.

March also means I will start to take on lots of work. I get excited and create all sorts of projects this time of year. Sometimes more than I can handle. But oh, how I love trying to squeeze them all in! Longer, warmer days mean so much more time to accomplish the things I want to do. So many ideas for the house and gardens and art projects are filling my head right now that they are pouring out my ears. I am leaving a trail of words and images, seeds and petals, thread and paint spatters wherever I go. Heh.But oh! What a pretty springtime mess it is.

The girls and I have recently pulled out squares of fabric sent to us when the girls were babies for 100 good wishes quilts. I never got around to making the quilts but I have a huge bag of colorful squares all ready to be turned into something pretty. The girls want to make their own little quilts and I think this is a great idea! We have been sorting through squares with butterflies and ladybugs, fern fronds and little frogs. The quilts will be lumpy and crooked but filled with excitement and giggles and love. That sounds about right to me and they can embroider their names and the date on the corner so they can remember who made which when they are older.A perfect spring project for school, don’t ya think?

I am having lots of fun in the studio too. Lots! I have taken the works for the Biennial show for next month to the framers. They will be ready in a few days, I think. I have mailed off those scholarship and grant applications and am trying not to think about them too much but am also spending a lot of time sending good thoughts toward the state capital and Penland. Heh. Little clay goodies are drying on a shelf in the pantry and watercolors that I have been making for Illustration Friday challenges are filling my sketchbook.

I have asked the gallery to consider me for a small installation next year. I want to do something all about bees. I have also asked them to find a way to squeeze me onto the calendar for 2012. I am turning 50 that year. I want to celebrate by putting on a big show. I have already started working on ideas. If they can’t squeeze me in then I might have to find another spot and ask them to host the show. This means I need to get busy now so I will have something to pitch. Either way, I feel something will need to be on show that year. I will need something good and productive to keep my mind off of–gulp–turning 50!

I am currently working on a collaborative piece for the Bare Hands “Strange Bedfellows” anniversary exhibition with my friend Wendi Flowers. We will show the piece this summer. I am beyond excited about this piece. I can’t tell you what we are doing because it would spoil the surprise but it is going to be fantabulous. I promise! Can’t wait to give you a sneak peek.

March also means I don’t poop out at sundown and crawl toward my bed with a dog or two after dinner but occasionally go out and have some fun with my family in the evenings. Last night we went to see Alice in Wonderland (in 3D, of course).

And if this wasn’t enough! The craziest thing about March this year is that O and I will be celebrating 20 years of marriage! I can’t believe we have been married that long. We aren’t doing anything special to celebrate. It does fall during his spring break from school but we can’t afford a holiday, so sadly, or not so sadly, we are spending the week spring cleaning the house and building raised beds. We may try to scrape together enough cash for a new wheelbarrow (the decided upon 2oth anniversary gift!) but homemade dinner and maybe a date at the park with the kids and a rip roaring exciting bee meeting will have to do for this year’s celebratory excitement. Heh. Maybe we will throw a party when we have been married for 5o years. Think I will be able to handle that at the ripe old age of 78? Probably not. Heh.

I hope you are seeing signs of spring in your world and that your head isn’t spinning like a dervish like mine (unless you want it to). It’s been a long weird winter and I am ready to be rid of it. I am spinning and shaking and hopping about like that mad March hare and doing my best to leave the muddy, snowy and icy winter behind.

Categories: exploration, home
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Categories: inspiration wall
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Categories: Illustration Friday
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I sit in the same chair at the kitchen table every day. I paint here. I teach the kids here. I eat here. This is the view from the window behind me. I love this view. I can see the creek and my favorite trees, our broken lamp post and now and then a hawk, heron, or fox.

Categories: photos
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So Shelba told me about the Hipstamatic app today and I am having lots of fun playing with it. I can’t always afford Polaroid film but always love looking at other’s  pictures. Playing with my iPhone tonight and getting pretty pictures are filling that need for me. I think you can expect to see more Hipsta pictures from me.

Categories: photos
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