by Meredith Chilson Photos by author It’s a long story.  Several weeks ago, when we moved the teenagers into the main coop, our Buff Orpington hen, Mrs. Feathers, was so intrigued with the new birds that, apparently, she decided she wanted babies of her own.  She retreated to a nesting box, fluffed up her feathers, […]

by Meredith Chilson Photos by author …when’s she gonna lay an egg? Not so very long ago I was waiting for the mailman to bring my box of baby chicks.  Now, I’m waiting again—for the very first egg from those same chicks.  They’re no longer considered chicks, though—they are “pullets”—the proper word for female chickens […]

by Meredith Chilson Photos by author Dusk.  I think it may be my favorite time of day, especially this summer.  The intense heat has eased a bit, the crickets and tree frogs are tuning up in the hedgerows, and as I head out to close in the chickens for the night, I often stop at the […]

by Meredith Chilson Photos by author The original title of this post was “Do-It-Yourself: Grit/Shell Feeder”. After an afternoon struggling with the carpentry aspect of the feeder, I realized it wasn’t going to be done by MYself.  For my handyman husband, however, this was an easy project.  We recycle and save all sorts of things, […]

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 […]

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 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 […]

by Meredith Chilson Photos by author I’ll be picking the first garden beans tomorrow. Bean time, to me, is the beginning of busy garden harvest days. Beans lead to zucchini, which leads to tomatoes, which …Well, if you’re a gardener you’ll know the sequence. The peas are long gone; the tender greens have bolted and […]

by Meredith Chilson Photos by author “To introduce,” according to my well-thumbed American College Dictionary, means, “to bring to the knowledge or experience of something.” My newest chicks are now 9 weeks old, and in their short life they have been “brought to knowledge” or have experienced many, many things. I was thinking about all […]

by Meredith Chilson Photos by author Hot, hot, hot! In the winter we shiver when we hear the wind chill is below zero, and now we are listening to reports that the heat index is above 100 degrees. We have plenty of trees in and around our small acreage, and those, plus cooler nights, bring […]