Update #6

(As this happened a week ago tomorrow, I guess I'm not exactly on top of the chicken updates, am I?)

The Free-Range Adventure, Which Is Not As Terribly Exciting As It Sounds:

On Sunday evening we were dining al fresco (steak and green beans and chimichurri and chicken and cheesecake and berries and I'll shut up) with my sister's family, when Dad suggested opening the "free-range portal" and letting the chickens roam. I wasn't very excited at the prospect, and it seemed kind of silly in view of all the grass they had in the run still. I relented, however, and opened The Portal.

Only six came out in the end. These brave souls explored the hydrangea beds in back of the coop (hydrangea is toxic to chickens, but the girls didn't touch it), hung around the compost, and made a mess of their straw (it's in a box underneath the coop. We blocked up after that).

Not the best picture, but there you are.

Since then we've let them out twice. Not a big favorite, but they've been spending more time outside in their run, even if it is hot. Yay!

Summer is...

the smell of catkins on the chestnut tree.

hot outside and cool inside.

picking wineberries along the road.

watching the neighbor's fireworks from our own porch (free show!).

that summery feeling. Different for all, perhaps, but still The Summer Feel. 

the air conditioning coming on and off.

ice cream, watermelon, or popsicles on the porch.

grass stains and bug bites.

What can I add?

A new blog (sort of) and another recipe

When I started this blog, I imagined it to be full of recipes, encouraging and interesting posts, some chicken stuff, and maybe some family tidbits. In other words I imagined it to be like my sister's blog, which I (and I know other people) enjoy reading. It didn't really work the way I hoped, because (shocker!), I'm fourteen and she is twenty-six! That means I can't write like I've experienced all the stuff a college-graduated, husband-caring, baby-toting, adult has. Hey, Rebekah, don't you love my description? :)

So after a talk with Mom, I decided to stop trying to be more mature than I am or imagine my life as something different. I wanted to share about things I've experienced, and so I shall, but it'll be from who I actually am, a fourteen year-old, not what I might have wished I was. Now expect to see chickens, recipes, gardening, and a thoughtful post now and then. Because I can be serious. :)

To start off with a bang, here's a recipe for--bum ba da bum ba daaa--pesto! Of course, there are hundreds upon hundreds of pesto recipes out there. Like this. And this. And this. Feel free to check them out, I'm sticking with ours (which we had before the internet-blog stuff happened, as Mom has just informed me. So there.)

source

Pesto Recipe #six hundred eleventy five                                                          

2 c. basil, packed
1/4 c. olive oil
2-3 T. pine nuts (I usually just do two)
2 garlic cloves
2 T. Parmesan cheese
1/2 r. salt

Combine all but cheese and salt in blender. Add cheese and salt. Process until smooth. Makes for one pound of pasta

You can easily freeze this and it only takes a few hours to defrost. Delicious on top of pasta, steak, eggs, sourdough bread (tee hee), and salad.

Update #5

So it's been a while. I've been rather busy with various thing (and maybe a leetle lazy). Sometimes I feel like a chicken with its head cut off, running around and forgetting what I should be doing. Maybe this summer isn't going to be as relaxing as I thought.....

Anyway, here is an extremely late update on the girls. They went out for the first time about four or five days after we moved them. We were going to wait a week, but then I needed to clean the coop. I couldn't do that with eleven curious chicks crowding around me!

 

      

What's all this!

We had to forcibly remove some. It took them a few days to figure out the ladder, and it was just yesterday that they started to come out all at once. Usually there were two left in the coop.

As Dad said, "Hey, where's Betty going? I'm coming too!"

At half time during the Argentina-Bosnia and Herzegovina game (we are such wild soccer fans, don't ya know*) I thinned the kale and let the girls have a go at the seedlings. They loved it!

Sorry about the silence. I'm trying (note the word "trying") not to put too much pressure on myself to write a post. I have an idea for one, but don't expect anything till after this week. I'll be busy practicing for Honk!jr, which you should all come and see. Find details here.

Also, happy Father's Day to my wonderful Daddy! Thanks for letting me get chickens and for building the coop!

*not really. Mom just grew up in Argentina, so we had to cheer them on. Gooooo Messi!

And this our life, exempt from public haunt,

Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything. 
I would not change it.

-"As You Like It", act II, scene I

Yesterday (Sunday) my family took a little trip into Delaware. We visited Winterthur, a public garden and mansion-turned-museum. If I remember correctly, the Du Pont family (yes, related to the Du Ponts of Longwood) lived in the large mansion during the early 1900's. I like the history of that time period, and whenever I go to Winterthur I have this longing to be transported back to the days when the Du Ponts still lived there (in a swishy gown and long pearl necklace, of course).

The three photos below were taken last year, but it gives you an idea of how grand the house is.

The gardens are lovely, especially the Quarry Garden, which was an actual quarry at one point. When we visited, primroses carpeted the marshy floor in bright colors. 

There's a little stream that runs through the Quarry Garden. I loved watching the crisscrossed ripples it makes and the tiny waterfalls that trickle down from overhanging rocks. There's just something wonderful about streams, rivers, and even the ocean.

We also toured a lovely little peony garden. I love this kind of flower.

Hey! That's not a peony!

And we must always stop to pay a visit at the fish pond! 

Also, does anyone else feel themselves become strangely poetic when they're surrounded by beauty? I had some of the silliest and most random thoughts yesterday! Such as, This stagnant pool isn't the same as the stream. It is water, but it doesn't go anywhere like the stream. It was in much more poetic wording, though. :)

All in all it was a lovely day. Picnic in the car, beautiful scenery, and my family. Oh, and an elderly lady with an English accent at the end. ;)

Update #4: the Big Move!

The girls are out! We moved them on Saturday and they've settled in nicely. They were all pretty calm during the move, just hunching down in the cardboard box and cheeping quietly from time to time.

Not quite sure what to make of it.

Can you spot the smiley face?

They have to stay in there for a week (so they know it's home) before we can let them out into their fancy-pancy run. We'll see how long it takes for the grass to turn into dirt....

Up next: Adventures in beautiful Winterthur.