Posted in Birding, Homemaking, Locally grown on Jun 6th, 2010
While it’s by no means as big as this monster, we found quite a surprise in the nest box after church today.
Nudge, our Auracana, usually lays a large to extra-large sized egg (the pale green one in the middle (it looks a bit washed out in this shot)), compared to our Australorps that lay medium-large [...]
Posted in Birding, Books and Reading, Homemaking, Learning, Locally grown on May 5th, 2010
After a flurry of chicken-planning activity this winter/early spring, we have our long-dreamed for chicken flock (the three hens, plus three new Speckled Sussex chicks, and three more chicks on order (2 Australorps and a Buff Orpington)). And the chicken run is mostly complete (needs a little gussying up, and a grape trellis up the [...]
Posted in Birding, Homemaking, Learning, Locally grown, Moderation and Economy, Working the earth/harvesting its bounty on Mar 28th, 2010
We got chickens!!
After months of scouring Craigslist, pricing materials at the ReBuilding Center and researching plans (not to mention years of wishing, dreaming)… we finally found a used coop that met our super tight budget. (A coat of pretty paint, and the sturdy coop will look quite nice in the back corner of our [...]
Posted in Birding, Crafting, Learning, Outings on Sep 25th, 2009
Kortney at One Deep Drawer told me about the congregation of Vaux’s swifts in NW Portland, and this week we made it over to the Chapman School to see them. For a bird nerd like me, it was a huge thrill.
We set up early, with hundreds of other families, enjoying our picnic dinner (homemade hummus, [...]
We took the children for a quick visit to the Oregon Zoo (the best part of having a pass, in my opinion, is that you can pop in for an hour or two and just see a few things, so the children don’t get maxed-out). This visit, we decided to go with a bird theme [...]
Posted in Birding, Locally grown, Moderation and Economy, Nature Table, Outings, Uncategorized on Aug 6th, 2009
Some more shots from yesterday’s trip to Sauvie Island Farms.
Little Hen in the raspberry canes,
where we found an old abandoned nest, lined with feathers and seed fluff.
Firecracker helped her auntie pick blueberries.
And the flowers were absolutely stunning.
The biggest surprise of the day was finding a nest with four baby birds in the middle of the [...]
Posted in Birding, Outings, Playing/ Free Exploration, Uncategorized on Jan 29th, 2009
My favorite vacation desination – the beautiful sandy beaches of Sanibel, FL. The shelling is the best in the world, and the water is clear and warm.
We spent our time making a “beach fairy sand castle”, collecting sea shells, watching shorebirds. The girls also went kite flying with their Grandpa.
Wishing you a day just as sun-filled [...]
More from our day at the Six Mile Cypress Slough. I love being able to share my interest in the outdoors and birdwatching with the children. My mother was excited to share her botanical knowledge and interests with us, too. Not to mention the perfect sunny day spent exploring out of doors!
The new nature center was [...]
The weather was a little cool for another trip to the beach, so instead we went for a walk in this gorgeous preserve.
The entire walk through the slough is on a boardwalk, since the cypress preserve is flooded most of the year.
Last year we saw lots of alligators and a family of otters playing right in [...]