Our first chickens!

Meet Daisy and Zeeba, our first chickens. We don't know much about them, unfortunately. We found them at a local pet shop and the owner wasn't very helpful. What we were told is that a lady brought them in, they should begin laying in a couple of months, and they are bantams, (duh) the blond one is a "Millie" and the zebra one is a "cochin". Hmmm... So I hit the internet and did a bit of research. It looks to me like Daisy, the blond feathered girl is indeed a "Millie", short for "Millie Fleur", French for "thousand flower." But this is actually the name of her color pattern. The name of her variety is called the Belgian d'Uccle. Her color and markings are just amazing. I've never seen anything like it! Don's eye was captured by our other newcomer, Zeeba. This little hen is apparently a Silver Sebright. Both of these little girls are super sweet and very quiet. A good thing since they are spending their nights in our kitchen in a large dog kennel! We had planned to get chickens in the spring, after we built a small coop in the corner of the back yard, but when we saw these,... surprisingly, even Don didn't want to let them get away! We built a run for them to spend the day until they get used to the backyard. I want to give them free range of the whole yard, but I don't know if that's going to be possible with our neighbors' 3 mean dogs. They said they will put up a privacy fence this spring. I hope they do! Another possibility is clipping their wings. (the chickens, not the neighbors) I may just do that anyway to be sure they stay safe and in our yard.

Cattails!

If you have never popped a cattail, releasing the millions of seeds into an autumn breeze, then you have missed one of the finer points of life! But who knew cattails were so versatile? I've read that cattails are highly nutritious and are a wonderful survival food. They are an excellent source of starch, containing ten times the amount of an equal number of potatoes. Virtually every part of cattails is edible, and they have a wide variety of uses. In spring, the new shoots can be eaten raw or cooked. The young flower heads can be boiled and eaten like corn on the cob. The pollen can be collected in the summer and mixed with flour to provide nutrients and protein. The winter rootstock can be boiled and mashed much like potatoes, or can be dried and ground into flour. I've never tried any of these folk remedies, but according to tradition, the fresh root of cattails can be pounded and used as a poultice for infections, blisters and stings. The sap from the green leaves can be used as a topical antiseptic, coagulant and mild pain reliever. The boiled leaves can be used as a wash for irritated skin. The root flour or young flowers can be eaten to relieve diarrhea. The fuzz from mature female flower heads can be used to relieve scalds, burns, diaper rash and weeping sores. The pollen is homeostatic and astringent. Take It internally for internal bleeding, menstrual pain, chest pains and blood stagnation. So the next time you're picking cattails, you might try taking a nibble!

Merry Maybon!

Maybon, or Second Harvest, is an ancient holiday feast from Northern Europe held on the Autumn Equinox. Since we just moved, and aren't even finished unpacking, we don't really have much to harvest. :( But that didn't stop us today!!! :)
Don suggested we go to Steptoe Butte. We had a super fantastic day! And what a harvest! :)
First we came across the wild apple trees growing in the ditch along the east side of the road along the edge of the wheat fields. They were LOADED with small, plum-size apples! We all picked handfuls and loaded Grif's backpack. I'll use them to make apple jelly! Then on the opposite side of the road we picked some cattails and wild oats to make a fall wreath for the door. Nef decided to pick some fresh mullein leaves to dry for the medicine cabinet. On our way up the butte, we stopped to have a look at the rose hips. The bushes are absolutely covered! They are still orange and hard, not quite ripe yet. They won't be ready until after we have a good hard freeze. That's when they get really sweet! YUM! And we'll make tons of rose-hip jam! -A great source of vitamin C during the winter!
We saw more apple trees, more mullein, lots of butter-n-eggs, and Grif (always prepared ;)) used his handy pocket snips to cut some teasel heads for more decorations... probably that wreath! But the best part of the whole day was V THIS GUY V we saw on the way home!

Cloncurry vs Mallee

I was reading up on the Mallee or Barnards parakeet, the latest addition to my favorite birds list. I had seen pictures of this bird before, but not a single one has ever come close to showing what this bird looks like! Our local pet shop has a pair, and that's where I first saw them. WOW! such brilliant green! I knew I had seen pictures, so I went home to look it up. I indeed found the picture, but it was dull and subdued compared to the brilliance of the real thing. In my book, it gives the name Cloncurry as another name for the Mallee. But this is incorrect according to this article I found while looking for a better picture. I did find a pic that was pretty good, You'll see it below. I think this is a bird I'll be looking for to breed here at Qwatra! :)

http://www.birdkeepinginaustralia.com/articles/article22.html

"The Mallee ringneck parrot is also known as the Mallee parrot, Ringneck parrot, Barnard's parrakeet or buln buln. It is often confused with its close relative, the Cloncurry parrot. Both the Mallee ringneck and the Cloncurry are the same size but their body colourings are different and more distinct than the Twenty-eight and Port Lincoln.

They are approximately 34cm in length including 17.5cm of tail.

The male Mallee ringneck has an overall blue-green body plumage, a red frontal band above the beak and blue cheeks. They have a V-shaped brown-blue band extending from the eyes, back around the head, to meet a narrow yellow collar at the nape. There is an irregular band of orange-yellow across the belly, with the back and mantle a deep blue-black. The shoulders are yellow; the outer webs of the flight feathers blue, the underwing coverts also blue. The central tail feathers are blue with a faint edging of white. The eye is dark brown; bill is pale grey; feet and legs are grey.

The female is very similar to the male, but the back and mantle are a dark grey-green. The hen is slightly smaller, especially in its head size. Immature birds are duller than the female. The normal call sounds something like 'Kwink-Kwink-Kwink' and, when disturbed, the alarm call is a harsh metallic shriek."

......*snip*......

"The Cloncurry is of similar size and stature as the Mallee with the sexes alike. The Cloncurry has a general plumage of pale green; no red frontal band; a wide pale yellow band across the belly; the wing coverts are green; and the tail feathers get darker as they go down the tail, almost to a blue. The feet and legs are grey-brown. The female is paler than the male and slightly smaller. Immatures are duller than the adult birds and may posses a russet frontal band which disappears after a few months.

They have a call, courtship and mating habits very similar to a Mallee. They seem to be a quieter bird and more docile among my collection of ringnecks. The male Cloncurry is the clown of my collection, as he usually hangs upside down on the aviary roof and moves from one side to the other. He is usually seen to roost this way too."

Bayberries!!

This bayberry candle comes from a friend
so on Christmas eve burn it down to the end.
For a bayberry candle burned to the socket,
will bring joy to the heart and gold to the pocket.

When I was a little girl, one of my favorite books was The Little Mailman of Bayberry Lane. Ever since, I've always loved the thought of making my own bayberry candles. Now that I'm home and am putting down some roots, I can finally make that little dream come true! On our south fence I'm going to put a row of bayberry bushes. They'll make a beautiful hedge, and with any luck, I'll have a ton of bayberries to make a few candles! To make the candles is pretty easy. Just boil the berries and the waxy coating floats to the top. Pick up the wax when it cools, remelt it with 20% beeswax (Bayberry wax alone is too brittle and will crack), then pour into candle molds or dip tapers. Voila'!
Northern Bayberry is native to the East Coast, but it is hardy and adaptable to a wide range of conditions, so I should be able to grow it here without much effort. There is a high demand for real bayberry candles, and they are quite expensive, so maybe I can even make a few dollars!
Here's the bayberry in Summer dress and decked in Winter silver! Such a beautiful bush! I can't wait!

Lunar Eclipse!

How cool! We had a total lunar eclipse last night. Don took this wonderful picture in our front yard at 3:12am. The moon and its habits are so fascinating and beautiful! And I adore the magical glow it sheds on the garden at night. Oh! I need to make a moon garden. (click here too) This is a very special spot in the garden especially for nighttime flowers and creatures. It is a quiet place to sit on summer evenings, with fragrent flowers like moon flowers and jasmine. Nighttime visitors include frogs, crickets, bats, moths....and the neighbor's cat...
Here's a couple more links with some cool facts and folklore about the moon and its phases: Click here or click here
Oh here's a neat gadget for the moon garden: Solar Flowers

HOME AT LAST!!! Much to Do!

We've been home now for a week and a half. Oh it feels so good! Yesterday we went to Riverside State Park and saw an osprey and a bald eagle! What a nice welcome home! These are two pictures Don took on that hike. The day before we went up to Mount Spokane to look for huckleberries, but the bushes were very small and bare. Not enough rain this year. (sorry, I couldn't find a good link on the huckleberry. Ours is the Vaccinium Membranacem. I'll have to take some pictures and post some info on these)
The yard was a bit of a mess to our dismay. Our property management people left the automatic sprinkler system on for us, but no one mowed the yard for the month our house was vacant. The grass grew up over the sprinkler heads, so they were blocked. So we had this dead brown yard with brilliant green spots all over it!!!! I should of taken a picture! 'Didn't think about that till just now. Sorry. Anyway, now its mowed and starting to recover. We used the thick clippings from the green spots to start a compost pile. Grif made a quick frame with a 10 by 3 foot piece of hardware cloth from the hardware store on the corner.
We also had to trim up our box elder tree. We want to remove this tree because it's a fast-growing, and very brittle tree. NOT a good tree in a climate where the limbs break under heavy snow and ice in winter (as in the ice storm of 1992!). It's gonna take a lot of work to get this tree in decent shape before winter sets in.
When I left before, I had a nice hedge of black currents along the southern fence. All but 3 frail bushes are dead and gone. So I think I'll put in a row of bayberry. They may be a bit hard to find, but it will be worth the effort! On the other side of the yard I want to put in a row of high bush blueberries and maybe bilberries underneath.
I need to build a home for our allowed 3 chickens. Our yard is covered in maple bugs! But a week of chicken-grazing should take care of that! We have also found several hobo spiders around the yard and have killed 4 in the basement. Yikes! But again, I think our chickens will gobble them up.
Much to do! Much to do! :) I better get to work!