Jennifer Sartell Photos by author Disclaimer: This post is filled with cliché puns, and terrible jokes that certainly need no drum roll introduction, but will most certainly have you rolling your eyes. Consider yourself warned. Whenever I think of proverbs, the film So Dear to My Heart comes to mind. It’s an old Disney classic […]

Meredith Chilson Photos by author Two days of cooler weather! The early morning sunshine coming down our valley burns off the fog, the humidity is lower and it begins to feel a bit like fall. Children are gathering school supplies and just around the bend in the road, a family is preparing to send their […]

Jennifer Burcke Photos by author Imagine that you live in a small one room apartment without indoor plumbing.  Living with you are your closest friends.  You dine together in this space.  You sleep in this space.  You go to the bathroom, when necessary, in this space. It’s not the prettiest of mental pictures, is it?  […]

by Rebecca Nickols Photos by author July 2012 will go down as one of the warmest and driest months on record for much of America–including my Southwest Missouri coop. During this epic drought and heat, the importance of providing your flock with access to clean cool water is more critical than ever. Record temperatures, high […]

by Jennifer Sartell Photos by author My husband Zach and I recently took a weekend trip down to Ohio to visit the Lehman’s store which is nestled in heart of the largest Amish settlement in the United States. I’m sure many of you are familiar with Lehman’s merchandise and catalog, but if you ever get […]

by Meredith Chilson Photos by author   Some years ago, we had a lovely neighbor who could grow anything.  I would take my babies to visit with her, and we would come home with the back of the car filled with cuttings and clippings of various herbs and pots and buckets of perennials.  I think […]

by Jennifer Burcke Photos by author Earlier this summer, I shared with you Five Features To Incorporate Into Your Coop.   It was easy for me to decide which features I would be sure to include in the design of a new chicken coop if I ever found myself constructing one.  While I don’t have any […]

It happens time and time again, but it is heartbreaking to me every time I hear it.  Readers too often tell me that they brought home a new chicken from a swap or got a few pullets from a friend or neighbor to add to their existing flock and now all their chickens are sick […]

by Meredith Chilson Photos by author One of the traditional summer highlights in our rural county has always been the County Fair.  For a week in July one of our sleepy little towns becomes a center of activity.  Up over the hill, and the first sight is always the Ferris Wheel; there are carnival rides […]

It is generally good practice to spend time with your flock on a regular basis (as if you don’t already!), apart from the regular feeding and cleaning, but really observing them, so that you know what is ‘normal’ and immediately notice any changes in appearance or behavior.  The faster you can identify a health issue […]