New Digs

Well the natives (chicks) were getting restless so Scott came up with yet another one of his good ideas to build them their own playpen. Using the pallets, we made them a larger space to roam around in and so we can have easier access to play with them. We liked the area so much we decided to make it their new home.




We can both sit in it with them and play with them and get them used to us. Here we are just kickin it with the chicks...












Yes of course that's my little Stewie...photogenic as ever...

They are growing up so fast! They are getting their feathers and losing their fluffiness...

Gopher Assault and Conquering of the Squirrel

Well our gardens and doing very well, so well that the earwigs and the gophers want their piece of the "pie"! The squirrels, however, have not had so good a fate at the Lindquist Family Farm...Scott purchased the SQUIRRELINATOR which has definitely lived up to its name! Now on to the Gopheranator!

The little chicks are growing FAST and are getting their feathers.

The Little Brahmas are definitely big girls...

and my little Stewie practically comes when SHE is called...

Ah kids...they grow up so fast...

The Goings On...

Well, we had a pretty low-key weekend, but celebrated Mother's Day with Marcy by visiting the Farmer's Market Sunday morning and getting some fresh strawberries, more yummy hummus and pita bread, some peppermint and spearmint to add to our garden, and other fresh veggies and fruits. Marcy decided she wanted to cook a roast chicken (no, not one of ours yet, they live on....although, if those Americana's don't start popping out some eggs, we may have to roast one of them!), so we stuffed ourselves with chicken and stuffing as well as lettuce cut from our garden, and Scott made some biscuits from scratch! Cal was Top Chef Desserts and made us strawberry shortcake topped with farmers market fresh strawberries, ice cream and dripping with chocolate sauce! I won't need to eat for a week! I felt like I was the one who was stuffed, not the chicken! What a wonderful meal...

The little chicks are getting bigger every day. They are growing out of their cute fuzzy stage and getting lankier and now are starting to get their feathers. The Little Brahma's even have tail feathers already, and boy do they live up to their name, they stand head and shoulders (do chickens have shoulders??) above the rest, even though they are actually slightly younger...We pick them all up daily and they are getting braver. So, they may be the next to be roosting on Scott's head when they get to get out in the Chicken Palace Gardens..!

Sedonia and Mocha are comfy in their humble abode, and apparently we have foiled Sedonia's escape plans for the time being, but we have seen Shawshank Redemption, we know...she's probably just biding her time to make her great escape!

The Three Amigas (Jewel, Rosie and Ginger) thanked Cal for dragging the arena so they could have a nice and smooth napping area...Saturday Ginger was in the middle of the arena just lounging away. But don't worry Cal, Ben and I rode in it and enjoyed it as well, adding our footprints as well.

Little DP is at the vet's, its his time to "lose his masculinity"...we are keeping our fingers crossed all goes well and he can be back with his old friend Rio in no time...Rio, you better eat up now! Champ and Ben have become good buddies too, I think it's the first time I have seen Champ give up controlling interest of the hay! He and Ben have a mutual understanding I guess, which makes me happy...as long as I don't see any new bite marks, we are happy campers!

Renovations Continued

Well the painting continued and the Palace is completed...

What chicken wouldn't want to live in this the finely colored establishment? Rooster Bob does...see him peeking out of the doorway...? He gives his "cockadoodledoo" of approval!!

And for the up and coming chicks, they have their matching apartment in progress...

And, as Scott the Painter transformed back to Farmer and then again to Baker...he made some delicious home-made chocolate chip cookies out of our farm fresh eggs....!!

What a talented guy! How lucky am I?

And there is some bad news...at least for the peach tree....Sedonia the little escape artist broke into the chicken pen and took the peach tree down...at least we know it tasted good to somebody! Silly Sedonia, we think we have her foiled for now at least on getting back in, but haven't decided what kind of tree to put in to replace the poor peach tree...Carpenter Scott is working on a solution to our little Houdini's escape plans from her pen too...we will see who outsmarts who!

Blooming Gardens and Painting Palaces

Well apparently the Farmer Team Lindquist of Scott, Cal & Marcy have quite the Green Thumb..the gardens are blooming well and look taller and greener than ever...And they are multiplying!! We have little planters and gardens everywhere! I didn't know gardens could be like rabbits! They grow up so fast...

Garden Spawn...

And, the chickens thought that their home could use some pizazz, so Cal and the gang played Tom Sawyer and started painting the fence...errr.....Chicken Palace...

Here is Tom...I mean Cal...

Or is Tom the one taking the picture...watching the others paint the fence??? Hmmmm

These are the Days of our Farmer Lives...

Wow! Where to begin..?

Friday night on the way home from work, I braved the traffic and headed over to Norco to get some friends for our little hatchling, so she/he could have some friends to play with. I brought home a couple new breeds that were with in 1-2 days of our little chicks birthday...2 Dominiques anad 2 Little Brahmas (yes, I know they sound like cows, but they are chickens). Introductions went pretty well, considering the only other thing our little chick had seen was our hands! Imagine what a surprise when suddenly there were others like it!

Little "Stewart" was not camera shy either...

Saturday morning started off a little rocky, or more "watery", when I went out to feed the horses and the pastures were full of water. Apparently the horses felt they wanted to add a lake to their landscaping, so they decided to reach through the fencing and pull the hose bib hard enough to break the pipe at the base which flooded the pastures. So, Farmer Scott and Cal put on their plumbing hats and fixed the line (and moved it a little ways away from the pasture so as not to duplicate this lake building endeavor). So THAT wasn't the best way to start a morning!
The evening went a little smoother...we all got some chores done and while feeding the horses that evening, I heard Scott call for me, so I ran over to the chicken area and this is what I found...

The Spice Girls found a new roosting area!! Scott! They also hopped on me a bit, but preferred the safety of that comfy noggin...

He is now a.k.a. "Chicken Man"!!

Sunday Scott and I  went to the Farmers Market at the Tyler Mall and bought some yummy hummus and pita bread and some fresh blueberries. When we got home, we took the horses out for a trail ride, checked out Lisa & Nick's great fence work at their new place and out to the park. It was a beautiful day for a ride!

Then Scott changed his cowboy hat for his baker's hat and made Blueberry muffins from scratch with our farm fresh eggs and the blueberries from the Farmer's market...

MMMM....DEEEEElicious...!! Now THAT is what a Blueberry Muffin should look like! Chock full of blueberries!!

Goat milking in style

Farmer Scott, with his new overalls and cowboy hat from the Lindquist trip to Bass Pro Shop, set to building the goats their own milking station. Check it out!!

Looks like he's making good use of the pallets! There may be some goat breeding in order... Oh, and maybe some goat training?? That's quite a ramp and step up! I think he could get Sedona to do it now...Mocha may need a bit of coaxing (or lifting, haha)!!

Further farm renovations

Farmer Team Lindquist (Scott, Cal and Marcy) got the roof on the Chicken Palace yesterday, so its officially a palace now. The chickens are accepting their roosting bars for sleeping purposes and staying off of the nesting boxes. Of course, we will keep blocking them off for a while to make sure. The pullets are looking out longingly from their coop at the expansive landscaping longing for the day that they get to roam free. Grow little ladies, grow and soon you shall be out! The little hatchling is still as cute as ever, gave her a "bird bath" last night to try to get all of her fuzziness going. She has really got her sea legs now, she runs pretty darn fast!! She still likes her chest petted though, and I think she likes the attention. I think she might have a few black dots on her too...how cute is that?? The cows and goats are accepting their surroundings and all have benefited from the neighbors giving us a big box of carrots. Ginger doesn't quite understand the value of the carrot, but Rosie and Jewel sure do! And of course, the horses pretty much fall all over each other trying to get their carrot treats! We had quite a meal with some farm fresh eggs last night and pigs in a blanket with O'brien potatoes thanks to Chef Scott (his other hat)...soon we will be able to make all of it with our own home grown ingredients!