Nap Time

I looked out the window this afternoon and caught my little pretties getting into some trouble... as usual. After they scratched up all the mulch out of my side garden, they were completely exhausted and had to take a rest. Best place? In the sunshine, in my potato bag!

Our Grand-Egg!

I would like to introduce the world to our first grand-egg! We're so proud!!

My girls

My little family has a routine. Every morning mumsie rises between 6 and 6:30 - very active internal clock/very sunny bedroom. I am hurried downstairs by Violet - noisily doing laps in her cage... I let her out and we sit on the rug in front of the kitchen sink together - scratching here and there, and if I quit, she bites me. Grab a quick bite to eat and kick V back in her cage.



She does like to kiss me!




I head outside to a begging choir of peeps. Let us out! Let us out!!!! The girls all scurry out in single file, India is always the last. They begin their morning bug patrol and weed taming while I start my coffee. Usually by the time I get back out with my book and coffee, they are all lined up beneath the grill, where it's shady, taking their morning break. Here we sit, reading and resting, until the sun gets too warm to stand - which is quick these days.

And since dad works nights, he joins us in the late afternoon for musical chickens and playing in the sprinkler.

City Chicks!

Living in a two bedroom apartment, in sweltering west Texas, all I could dream about was farming - stretching my legs out between the rows of tomatoes in the garden as I weeded, dirt under my fingernails, sun burning through the t-shirt on my back. I knew the next place we lived I had to have a garden! As we neared our moving time, I became acquainted with a new friend and love - Urban Farm Magazine!

http://www.hobbyfarms.com/urban-farm/urban-farm.aspx

This fantastic magazine helped to expand my little dream of a simple garden into something...well, larger.

I started to imagine having a miniature version of a farm - a farming system, a huge compost pile, tons and tons of food to enjoy and to preserve, and a flock of hens. Well, I'm here tonight to announce that my dream has been realized! A few days ago my husband completed our top secret, undercover chicken coop and a day later we brought home four bouncing bundles of feathers and joy!

a day at the gardens

Spring!

After five months of below freezing temperatures, snow covered vehicles, turtle-neck sweaters, and hauling firewood in, it is time for spring. Spring time is loaded with anticipation - not just for humans, but for all northern Michigan creatures. It feels a necessity to wear a t-shirt the first day that rises above forty degrees. Forty degrees during the other seven months of the year would require an extra layer but the excitement of spring feels fresh on bare skin. Very fresh.

The birds would agree as they twit around chirping and calling a mate. It's as though they get a little high from the warmer air and buds breaking. Sometimes they get so crazy I fear their heads may pop off in excitement. They tend to settle down a little more as they lay eggs and prepare for a life that revolves around the nest. Their focus becomes feeding and protecting their ugly little babies.

It sometimes seems as though plants can't wait for spring to hit either. Crocuses and daffodils are busting out of the soil trying to catch a glimpse of the warm sunshine. Forsythia threatens to show it's delicate yellow flowers a bit too early. The lilac buds are bursting at their seams. Pussy willows still have a little feel of winter however. They remind me of a grandmother donning her finest mink coat. I guess magnolias seem even more that way to me. They are such a grand flower with a breath-stopping scent. That might be a little more like a granny in a fur coat - perfume almost too heavy, but wonderful. And beautiful.

Trees tend to get a little excited in the first few warm days of spring. In all their liveliness starts to flow spring's finest beverage - maple sap. God's gift to the season's early birds. With nights still below freezing and days nearing comfortable t-shirt weather, sap starts flowing and can't be stopped. So, what does one do? Grab a cup, pull up a lawn chair, and enjoy. I'm pretty sure that was His purpose in making maple sap - to satisfy the taste buds.

the guppy.

Mark 6 - the story of Jesus feeding five thousand people. It's always been pretty close to just a story to me until this week. I heard it differently this week, yeah, it was certainly the presentation, but also the situation in my life I find myself in.

So Jesus has been teaching in some random, rural place for what sounds like all day long. I'm sure it was sunny and hot and the crowd sure didn't have LazyBoys to sit on. They probably were getting a little cranky since they hadn't eaten since morning - you know how that is. The disciples tried to convince Jesus to dismiss them to go eat.

Jesus said to the disciples "You feed them!". And the disciples basically said, "Are you mad? That's a crap load of food and money!"

So Jesus says, "What do you have?"
The disciples reply, "Not much. Two fish and five loaves of bread".
They gave their small amount of food to Jesus, He thanked the Lord for it, and multiplied it. He multiplied it enough to feed five thousand men.

This is a simple picture of what He asks of us. No, we don't have ability to feed all of the hungry people of the world, free all of the slaves, love on all the orphans, or even put up with someone annoying. But just that tiny bit of faith and willingness, that's what we do have. And if we give that to Him - watch out. He wants to multiply it and do crazy, wild, God-size (in other words, unfathomable to us) things! It just takes us being willing to give Him the little that we do have.