Looking up the drive this a.m.
So we are not alone in giving up on plowing this year. Our average highs at this time in March are supposed to be in the 40s; let's just say we're shooting for average highs around 30. With sun, and the white stuff usually melts a bit. Maybe we're all just tired, but on my way out this morning I noticed that the only people who'd bothered to plow were the road and highway crews: I made a stop at our big-box farm shoppe and noticed that they'd not plowed AGAIN.
Why the quick trip to the farm shoppe? Well. Lest anyone think "Hey, El is a woman, she must like to shop," I will have you know that if shopping is somehow related to a gene expression on the X chromosome, well, it certainly skipped me. I HATE shopping. (And it's why I married a shopper.) I do make an exception for shopping at the big-box farm shoppe and our feed and seed two towns over! I love the smell, I love the sights, I love the...tack. The possibilities inherent in crates of dirty seed potatoes. The shiny farm implements and hardware. The peeping of the chicks and the ducks and the turkeys.
Uh oh. Yep. Looks like we'll be getting more chicks in a day or so. Ostensibly, I walked in the store looking for something for the sheep, but instead, I came home and told Tom we need to get the chicks tout suite. (The guinea keets won't be out until the end of April.) They've got barred rocks, black australorps, isa browns, white leghorns, ameraucanas, rhode island reds...peep...peep...peep...
7 comments:
Oh, I want more chickens too! I'm lucky that I don't have a farm store close by that stocks live poultry because I would be in trouble. Baby ducks and chicks are just irresistible.
I can't even imagine how the little chickies survive that weather.
Nature. Amazing.
so early on the chicks? The favorite of my feed stores is not getting theirs until the first week in May. So that's when I'll be getting mine I think. If they can get some breeds I want. Which I can't find out until the middle of March. I really don't want to have to go through the TSC and we don't have good luck getting them mailed usually. Although I'm always amused at the thought of all the peeping in our carrier's car all the way out here. We've had bees mailed too but the PO tries their best to kill all of those. I think I'm going to stock back up this year, maybe 50 pullets. Not getting chicks hatched last year has meant a long period of no eggs this winter which totally sucks.
Feed stores and hardware stores - I love them.Book stores are somewhere up there too but shopping generally is something I try to avoid.
Thanks for the kind words about the photos last week.
Cookiecrumb: the babies come and sleep inside the house until they feather out (which takes a month or so) so we'll be converting the front porch to a seedling and chick nursery.
CG: I HATE TSC. Our big-box shoppe is local (Michigan only) so I don't mind shopping in it. I agree it seems early, but we got our other girls last year at this time. I feel bad you've gone without eggs. Since we lost the two birds, we can't share our eggs, because the remaining three provide us with just enough for our needs, but not enough if I am on a souffle kick.
Nada: I am still looking at a lot of snow, so I can just imagine what your garden smells like today. That's what I miss most about winter: no veg stink!
So many kinds of chicks in the store--ours get "I don't know--sex linked I think". Not all the varieties yours seems to have.
I too hate shopping (for clothes especially) but am more familiar with the hardware store and feed store than most "average" men. haha
Good luck with your chicks :-)
Veg stink is right! We've had more rain in the last two weeks than in the last 3-4 months and the plants are starting to rot before the fruits really ripen. Plus a wallaby (relative to the kangaroo) has been nibbling on the ripe -ish tomatoes. Argh! But the front garden - local plants- is kicking along, loving the rain.
Your talk of chickens has spurred me on to (finally) re-organise the garden to accomodate a portable ark thing and get some myself.
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