Chicken Dreams Do Come True.

Years and years ago I read an article somewhere about a family raising backyard chickens. It was before I knew folks who had them and I was intrigued.

It wasn't the eggs, or the idea of funny-cute chickens running around that made me want them so badly that day. No, no. It was how fun I thought it would be to have chickens and make them their own mailbox so the neighborhood kids could send them letters. That is what the family in the article did.

They had a chicken mailbox on their chicken coop.

And their chickens got love letters.

Yes please!

I am a sucker for that kind of stuff.

Now to present times-I still want chickens but for normal reasons. (Not just crazy reasons.) I want eggs and I want funny-cute chickens running around and I want to share the experience of raising baby chicks with the kids. Plus, I hope to find a vegetable gardener willing to trade veggies for eggs next spring.

Above are the very official and to scale plans for the coop.

I love how Jeff didn't blink an eye when I interrupted him mowing the lawn the other day saying I had committed to 20 chicks to be hatched at the end of August. He finished the lawn, drew up his coop idea and started collecting wood and measuring things.

Here is where the coop and covered run will go. There, to the right of the workshop. Good beginning structure and looks as though chickens may have been there years before.

(Funny how Minna is very willing to be in pictures when I kind of just want documentary photos or something. Never that easy when I want portraits of her. hmm?)

Anyway, Minna says, "There is where the chicken's are gonna live!"

They get a nice long and tall coop, with 5-6 nesting boxes and kid-friendly hatches for egg collecting.

And here is where the outer run will go. It will be plenty big, giving the 20 (or so) chickens lots of room to roam. It will encompass what is now called the "chicken tree". Only by me, as usual. At least when I say, "over by the chicken tree" everyone knows what I am talking about even if they don't call it that.

Here is the best soon-to-be chicken dad ever, building away.

And, yes, of course I still have to have a chicken mailbox. I told Jeff where I want it to go and he just asked, "So, like PO box slots for each one? Or just a plain mailbox?"

Again! Not even a raised eyebrow!

Man! Me and my soon-to-be chickens are lucky!

A lot has to happen before those chicks are born. Including a trip to California (for the kids and me) and lots of building and supply gathering (for Jeff).

Stay tuned for more of my chicken dream come true!

First Catch! (or, The Icky-Morbid-Dead-Fish Post)

(If mild blood or guts makes you uneasy, you may want to skip this post. I am leading with that because I have many animal lovers in the family and I don't want to surprise anybody with a dead fish photo. It really won't be that bad though...)

Sully and Jeff caught their first Alaskan fish!

They are Red or Sockeye Salmon and are notorious for being tough to catch. As the story goes, these two wouldn't have been caught if a sea otter hadn't scared them right into the path of my boys' poles.

They are huge! And beautiful! Never thought of salmon as being beautiful, but they are.

It was amazing seeing them up close. The shimmer of the tiny scales and the gradation of color was amazing. The fins that can power up a stream and make a boy fight for 15 minutes with all his might, were so thin and delicate. Made all of us wonder, "How did they do that?"

Fishing and hunting here are so common and a way of life for many families on the island. For us, the idea of actually catching our own food is new. Especially for the younger ones. Fishing was more of a sport where we used to live and I have to say, that moving here has made me think even more about where our food comes from.

Catching our first fish led to questions and kid-brain statements like, "Mom? If we just go fishing, we don't need to buy fish that someone else caught anymore right?" And, "Now we can make sure our fish is cleaned good and cooked good."

And from my animal-loving, super-sensitive, fledgling-fisherman, "If I catch the fish myself, I can always know (emphatic arm movements) it was caught right and wasn't killed on purpose for no good reason."

All I learned from "Food Inc" and stuff, was in my 9 year old's heart all along.

Naturally, there was a lot of looking and wondering. Also, lots of learning in regards to prepping and filleting. Not everybody liked what they saw.

Or smelled.

But we understood and deeply appreciated.

We baked the fillets with honey, dijon mustard, pecans and seasoned bread crumbs. Then shared them with friends. Tasted very good and fresh and real.

Dear Fish,

Thank you.

Love,

all of us out here.

A Delayed Share.

I keep forgetting to show you the little favors Minna and I made for the guests at her birthday party! It was fun to try to make as much as possible on our own this year.

*Boring grown-up note: Jeff and I have put ourselves on a budget for the first time since we got married. Nothing extreme. We just want to think more about where our money is going and where we can save in small ways. Sometimes those small ways can be big, you know?

Anyway, back to party fun. So along with the pinky-cupcakes, we gave our guests tiny sketchbooks with stitched covers.

(Bound kinda as shown in this video-here.)

And we slipped them into little sacks with ties. That was it! Minna helped pick fabric and sat in my lap and stitched with me. I know her brothers liked theirs and one of the little guests said something like, "You guys made these? You are good makers!"

Sweet, right?

It was fun and I am going to make more of those little books ASAP. Good way to use up thin cardboard and stuff. If they aren't gifts, I like to use the backs of the boys' old homework for the inside pages.

We use that old homework for everything-drawing, painting, lists... I like turning a note I scribbled over and seeing Sully's handwriting from 1st grade or something. Makes my day.

Small really can be big sometimes.

Our 4th, In Black and White and Cardboard.

No BBQ or camping or beach trips for us this year.

But, we did some playing and swinging.

And, obviously, some picture taking.

Inside.

Outside.

Upside down.

And a family portrait of cardboard since Jeff had to work.

I was making dinner and the kids were antsy, so I cut up a cereal box on it's way to the recycle bin and told them to do self-portraits. And true portraits they are! I love how the most reluctant portraitist, almost crying because he didn't want to draw, ended up being the most creative when he did decide to join the fun. (That would be Ninja-Colyer.)

Sully has his pocket knife on his belt and his 4-wheeler in the background.

And Minna. Little Minna has a skirt and shoes on, and yellow crayon hair. (Gah! Adorable!)

I did Jeff and myself. How handsome Jeff is in his bibs with his fly rod and blue eyes. His picture is tall and lean, as he is in real life and his stand had to be really long to keep the cardboard up. I personally think that is hilarious.

You can't see it, but I have a chicken and some eggs at my feet and my new hair cut looks great doesn't it?

So, a funny and relaxed 4th for us out here. We may still get some firework action, courtesy of the neighbors. I think popcorn is definitely in order.

Happy 4th Of July to you!

sunday

saturday

This Moment.

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

-Amanda Soule (SouleMama)

Happy Friday! Hope you have a nice long, summery weekend!

We are gonna try our best.