Summer Evening 1

Artist's Gallery

Barns & Black-Eyed Susans

Well, it’s not winter yet, and here is a painting to celebrate these last days of summer we’ve been enjoying. I did this one two years ago in July, in the dead heat of summer! I still love the whole composition, old barns with country flowers catching rays of sun from an early-evening sky, though now I see ways I could improve how I painted it.

Regretfully, I don’t have step-by-step pictures, but here’s a brief overview of how I painted it. The barns were done in watered-down acrylic paint, hence the watercolor effect, which doesn’t distract from the foreground. I really layered the paint onto the flowers, shades of golden yellow, lemon yellow, yellow-orange, and maroon, to try and shape the petals. I mixed extra yellow into the grass greens to reflect the sun, also echoing it in yellow washes on the barn roofs. I wasn’t really happy with how the sky came out, the clouds are such a dark blue they look like storm clouds almost. The problem was using ultramarine blue, which just doesn’t mix with white that well, but I had no other blue at the time. But I still love the painting. Coming soon…“Summer Evening” finished and framed!

Winter Chickens

Backyard Poultry

Afternoon Sunshine

The roost was the lifesaver for many long days spent penned up indoors by the snow. It even got the afternoon sun through the window, and I always liked the peaceful scene of the hens enjoying the winter sunshine. Of course, the view was always through the wire covering the door, and that’s what those funny lines are in this picture. Really, watch out if you enter that house, since Puzzle will be coming at you with a sharp beak in no time!

Puzzle on Patrol

Yes, Puzzle was beginning to get even more aggressive, shut in that little house so much. More aggressive toward us, but more protective and bossy toward the hens. We actually began having to separate the rooster in its own run on the nicer days, since it was just getting to be too much for the hens. They got nervous and more aggressive to each other with that huge rooster around. We loved our Puzzle, and were sad to have to separate it, but something was going to have to be done about the issue.

Unusual Eggs

Backyard Poultry

Winter Eggs

As a chicken raiser soon finds out, not all eggs are created equal. Even from regular layers you can get odd eggs, and our hens were no exception. This little one, in the middle of the basket, was only the size of a sparrow egg! Through the shortening days of November and December, our chickens kept up laying very well: around 13 dozen a month (a lot for us!), averaging out to about 5 eggs a day from the 8 hens. This is really unusual when you have only 8-9 hours of daylight each day; I think it was the many extra treats that did it! Since this time I have seen many more unusual eggs, including a number that were laid shell-less or soft-shelled, causing them to sadly disintegrate before making it into the egg basket.

Winter Treats

Backyard Poultry

Wet Mash Snack

As I said before, even three nice warm runs do not keep 9 chickens busy, and we know what mischief idle chickens find to do! Giving the hens special treats was one good answer, especially since it also increased egg laying (AND cost). We discovered that chickens like to eat almost anything, but wet mash (layer food) proved an easy favorite. Here you can see cute little Acorn reaching for some mash. I would also fix the mash in old plastic quart containers.

Attacking the Corn!

 Last summer I had grown a bunch of Indian corn in the garden, and the chickens loved to eat it. At least once they got over being scared of the red, purple, and blue kernels—it was so funny to see them cluck and stare at the corn like it was some enemy! Other treats my hens liked included cooked potatoes, leafy greens, frozen peas, and cabbage—see a video of the cabbage here!!

Winter Water Works

Backyard Poultry

Water Pail

If you live any place that can stay below freezing for days on end, you’re sure to be wondering how our hens had drinking water all winter. Well, after some trial and error, we devised the system shown above. We used interchangeable small metal buckets that fit down in a wooden frame, which in turn was attached to the coop wall at hen-eye level. It was then very easy to pull out one bucket frozen with ice and replace it with a pail of warm water. The chore then was facing the 30-mph icy winds and 12”-deep snow to get the warm water out there! Normally changing it every morning and evening kept the water thawed, except for very cold days when we had to go out midday as well. We sure got plenty of fresh air that winter!

One Last Run!

Backyard Poultry

Side Runs on Coop

Here are the other runs with their tarp and straw bales. The tarp is fastened to the shed (chicken house) wall using ferring strips, about a foot above the tops of the runs. Then there’s a long 2x2 pole on the opposite edge of the tarp, weighting down that edge to hang over the runs. It worked well, with the same drawbacks as the other run, except it was very easy to remove—just roll it up! Also, it didn’t block out light into the house like our original plan (see it here), since it was attached below the window. The straw bales worked also quite well to shelter the runs’ sides, even leaving a little peephole for the hens.

Winter Poultry Runs

Backyard Poultry

Tarp-Covered Run Against Pophole Door

Want to see our chicken run tarps in action? Observe, there is snow all around, but not on the heavy-duty tarp nicely protecting the run. And underneath are the happy chickens enjoying dry dirt to stretch their legs on! Oh, and for insulation, there are a couple straw bales under the tarp too. The crates of rocks hold it down in strong winds, along with our handy-dandy bungee cords! Yes, this system did work pretty well, just a couple catches: 1) must keep snow swept off to less than 1/2” or it will freeze rock-hard, 2) cannot access dirt or chickens inside run without a half-hour operation on tarp, and 3) chickens get a tiny bit bored cooped up on 20 square feet of frozen dirt. But, as I said, it worked well enough!



What Does Puzzle Think?

Summer Salad

Gluten-Free Gourmet

Rainbow Veggie Salad

Nothing gets closer to the taste of summer than this peak-of-the-season salad. It features all the wonderful vegetables you can find in the garden or farmer’s market, literally a rainbow-colored salad. I’ll leave it to you to pick out each color in the salad! (Hint: There’s just one color missing: blue.)

Now some don’t like raw carrots or squash in salad, but the key is to chop them very thin and flat, stir fry style. You can see what I mean in the picture. Well, let’s get started! This salad is very simple to throw together. Just chop and mix in a large bowl:

1 head Romaine or green leaf lettuce, soaked in ice water and chopped roughly   

2 carrots, thinly sliced                1/2 yellow (summer) squash, thinly sliced   

1/4 c. raisins                              1 chopped ripe tomato

For the dressing, combine in a jar:

1/2 c. oil                          1/4 c. water                          2 T. honey 

1 T. Dijon mustard              1 T. white wine vinegar          1 t. basil

Shake well and pour over the salad.

A hint of sweetness from the raisins makes this colorful, crunchy salad a top winner! Try it, and tell me what you think!