The Brooder Coop

Soon we will have 25 balls of fuzz running around. Of course when we ordered the new chicks there was nothing ready. The plan was to convert Beauty, our dog's old shed onto a brooder coop. This was started last week with the impression "it shouldn't take that long" .

If there is one thing we have learned while living here it is that it always takes longer than we think it will. So the brooder coop isn't quite finished and we are desperately trying to get it finished. It will be done in time for chicks, the work done today assures that. At least we know our chicks will be warm and happy.

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ASA Aark 1.0

In preparation for our balls of fuzzy that will be arriving in a couple of weeks we must build the brooding coop. This has, until recently been the home of our two silkies, Hall and Oates. It is a big shed for Hall and Oates so they have been turfed. Now we haven't just put them in with the big girls yet, that doesn't seem quite right as they are a nervous couple. So we have made our first chicken ark. We got the plans on-line with the intention of following them exactly. But, like so many well laid plans the plans weren't all that good. Small details didn't seem thought through on the plans we were following making it not make a lot of sense. It may have been us too, or the fact that the original coop would never have to stand up to snow. In the end none of it mattered though. We got through it and made something that works quite well. Of course while building it one always sees better ways of doing things, so the next one will take all of these into consideration. 

The the Aark has 

• small rounded perches for little silkie feet
• a vent/peephole in the roof
• nest box
• wheels for easy moving
• "tarp" to stay dry
• locking doors
• removable feed/water dishes

Onto the new and improved ASA Aark 1.2!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Oops...

The art auction won't be up until Monday...it is a computer glitch. Go figure?

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Felted Snow Leopard in Art Auction

The first All Sorts Acre wool product is finally out there! Snow Leopard Trust is an organization that studies and protects the endangered snow leopard. This work also involves community partnerships to improve life for the local people. the snow leopard lives in the Himalayan mountains along with the Mongolian people. Felt is one of the staple products of the area which was what inspired me to use our own wool. 

We don't have a white sheep yet, so I had to buy that, but the body and padding of my little snow leopard is all from Itchy. Much of the black wool used is from Scratchy. It was really amazing to use our own wool to make my little leopard. I will just have to make another one as he is SOOO cute!

To VIEW THE AUCTION please go HERE

Snow Leopard image from Snow Leopard Trust.

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Urban Chickens in Guelph

This evening was the first Urban Chickens course with the school board. It went really well. Everyone who attended all brought their experience, questions, and enthusiasm to the class. Scrufflechook was without a doubt the star of the show though. She did wonderfully and enchanted everyone. She even let a bunch of people hold her and she didn't complain. We are so proud of her!

Thanks to everyone who came to the course. You are all going to help make it way better!

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First Urban Chicken Course Tomorrow

Tonight is quite nerve wracking. I, Jennifer will be teaching the first Urban Chicken course in Guelph tomorrow. I am excited and nervous all at the same time. Scrufflechook is going to be coming along with me provide moral support and socialize. She is now the official All Sorts Acre teaching assistant. I think she will be a star!

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Cute Balls of Fuzzy

We have just placed an order for chicks. It is so exciting having new animals arrive.  We have been back and forth about chicks for a while, do we get more, don't we get more, we just didn't know. We have looked into getting them from Performance Poultry in Prince Edward County, Ontario, but missed their deadline. We also looked into importing from McMurray Hatchery in the States but didn't really want to go through the border and really wanted to stay a bit close to home. So we waited. Well it has paid off because in three weeks we should have 25 Black Maran chicks arriving!  How exciting! These guys lay dark brown eggs and the cockerels are gorgeous. we are still waiting to hear about some other breeds too. This may well be the beginning of our poultry breeding career!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Pruning Time

Today there was a workshop about pruning at St.Ignatiaus Farm in Guelph. Pruning is something that we need to learn more about. Books aren't quite the same as seeing the real thing. Asking an experienced orchardist is very valuable. Seeing a number of good examples of central leader trees was incredibly instructional. Below are examples of a good branch crotch on a tree looks like, and a bad one.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Nature meets science meets art...

This is a beautiful short movie by Etereae Studios

Nature by Numbers

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It's Alive!

Last year we were lucky enough to receive some wild leeks from a friend. She has a woodland property with thousands on them. So she let us have free rein on her leeks. We only ended up taking a few for planting in our forest garden. They got planted and promptly died... or so it seemed. Apparently they didn't die. A few seemed to have survived the transplant and come up this year. We won't be eating them this year. Right now we would far rather they propagate.

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