Itch to Stitch: Dress 6



My monthly dress for my Audra. I do love a gorgeous little dress, especially a mama made one, on my little girl.  So, that's the plan- a monthly dress.
Dress one: Here.
Dress two: Here.
Dress three: Here
Dress four: Here.
Dress five: Here.

And month six is a special one, as it's a flower girl dress. Here is the darling, fancy little dress, just what the bride wanted.

This month, not just one dress, but two flower girl dresses.  I should have taken a picture of the back, some pearl buttons and a beautiful tied sash. These girls are going to look stunning.
 You'll have to wait to see how beautiful they are when they get to wear them for the big day.  Until then, here's Audra trying it on, half finished.
 Another month, dresses completed. 

Chicks to Chickens.

Goodness, we have a variety of feathered friends on our farm now.  So many that my husband looked at me one night, with the most serious eyes and said "No more birds, Jack.  No more birds."  Okay, so I am cut off...but that's fine. It's not like we don't have plenty.

So, what we have now are:

Baby chicks! Lots of them!  In a moment of defeat last month when our cat turned our incubator up to 117 and cooked our baby chicks, I ordered. And then in our incubator, I wasn't assuming I'd get many.  They say eggs are only viable for 10 days, I had up to 20 day old fertilized eggs that hatched just fine.  Don't believe what they say about not being viable is the lesson I learned. 

And then we have some from our last hatch.

And then a friend had one lone chick that hatched in their last incubator fail that we took in.

And then we, of course, have our adult chicks.

Current count is 49 babies and adolescents and 11 layers.

Oh my, I'm not sure how that happened. 

But it's good, it's all good. They're all in different stages and the brooders are all set up and things are going fine. Well, for right now, anyway.  I'm trying to ignore the fact that these chickens will soon outgrow the great space we have for them now.  And I'm trying to stay on top of cleaning out the brooders so our house doesn't smell too much like barn. But, it does smell like barn, despite my efforts.  And these chicks are growing. We do have a second coop that we kept for the purebreds to breed, but I've been cleaning that out, getting ready for moving them all. It will all be happening soon, they grow so fast!  And goodness, they eat so much!

But being a chicken farmer is quite fun, I'd say.  We love our girls. Especially Audra.  She would love to be holding onto a chick 24/7. She'd sleep with them if we let her. She's always hugging them and talking to them. Adrian loves them too, but he likes to care for their needs, and then he's on to his other 'farming' responsibilities that he creates for himself (latest is he's been fixing his 'machinery').

Okay, so onto the fluffy chick pictures:
Our babies, part from our own incubator, part from mail order:




And our next born:

 


And our teens, goodness, they are funny looking at this stage:


 


And then our well loved layers. And our best egg collector.

 


 And one crazy chick, and her hen. Never thought I'd turn into a chicken lady.
But here I am, with quite the flock.  And I must say, I like the chicken life quite a bit.

All in the day.

Can we talk about a perfect weekend day?
Morning snuggles (And why he's still wearing sweaters, I don't know).

 Followed by barefoot walks with our chickens after breakfast.
 And then running outside barefoot, a few stories on the picnic blanket and creating white clover bracelets, just because. And then a picnic lunch.
 Then the little one falls asleep in the stroller during mama's walk while the big guy decides on his own to read some books. Dog, goat, chickens in close proximity.
 Then a delicious dinner followed by outdoor time until the sun sets.
Now, that's what I call a perfect weekend day.  Enjoy!

Thrifted. And chicken smiles.

1) Thrifted
1) Radio flyer ride on.  Six child size drink glasses. Another salad dressing jar (grand total of three now...which is helpful when you make all your own dressings, at least we can have a variety) and wool embroider floss.  $5.00 exactly.   Score!

2) And chicken smiles.  Happy Friday! :)

Straw Hats

Sometimes when there is work to be done, choosing the perfect straw hat for the job makes the task more bearable.  

And as a bonus, we all look a bit more stylish. (Or something like that.)

 
 Why not? It's fun to play along.

 
 

Fresh cut hay (And Farm Days)

We awoke to tractors the other morning. We knew they were coming, which is why he slept in his John Deere attire.  To be ready, you know.  He did his farming right alongside the big tractors...all morning.
 We did have someplace to be, so we ripped him away from farming. He couldn't wait to get back to run in the hay.
 He wasn't the only one who had fun!
 And then he spotted it. "Mama, a 'just my size' John Deere.  A real one, can I go see it?" 
 Absolutely.

 But then what happened next is what happens when he's beyond interested. Not 20 questions, 2000 questions.  All in a row. Goodness, I don't even know half the answers to his questions, but he just keeps going.  Needs all the info he can gather about farming, that's for sure.






 Alas, the questions stop...and off we go.
 Off to get his sister, who just *must* come see.
 Well, I guess she was dragged.

 And let me tell you, she got her own lesson on what was happening on the way.


 She was excited to get on.
 And he, of course, couldn't let her get on by herself.  Now that wouldn't be right, she's so little and all. He'll 'help'. 




 We headed back.
Well, we tried. He just couldn't leave yet.

So we headed back.


 
 Well, until it was more fun to hang with the dog.


 And then she spotted something else.

 
 And you can guess where she went.





But then she saw a chicken, so off she went...
And that, my friends, is how our farm days go. There's lots that intrigue, new things to discover and the familiarity of hanging with our animals friends.  A little discovering, a little taking comfort in that which we know and a whole lot of fresh air.  And I'm thankful to give them a life like this, and we're thankful to be able to share this life with oodles of friends this Thursday for a Farm Story Time (if you're local and would like to come, please send me a message!). It's a good life, it really is.







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