The Studio Garden

Off Finnigans hallway, there is a door that goes into a very secluded backyard. You can only get to it thru that door and can only be viewed thru the kitchen window. You wouldn't know it was there otherwise. It has a small 8x10 shed that I am going to turn into my studio. Its not big enough for my furniture, but I can put all my arts and crafts supplies in there plus a little room left for crafting. It is a perfect place to let the little girls (chickies) out and roam in the sunshine. They love it out there. There used to be a huge tree out there that was chopped down and turned into mulch. It has been decomposing for about a year now and has made wonderful soil.

This is the only photo I have of the before

When we first moved in, we noticed we were having a problem with the drainage. Lots of gurgling and it was taking its time going down. Billy ended up tearing up the whole backyard, found the problem (pipes were going directly into the soil. Not into a tank or anything!!) He found the main line that went out to the septic, tapped back into it and voila, we havent had a problem since. Its very handy to have someone around who knows how to fix things! Mind you, this was all done on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Needless to say, Billy was not a happy Santa!!

After all that work and the dirt filled back in, he started to scatter some old grass seed he had laying around. We really didn't think it would grow with the combination of contaminated dirt, the 3 inches of mulch and the thousands of little birds eating the grass seed.

As you can see, the grass is growing nicely among the weeds :-).

I have purchased the Endless Bloom Perennial Garden from Michigan Bulb, which consists of 54 plants, and am going to plant it in the beds along the perimeter fence. The garden plan was suppose to come with a planting diagram, but for some reason they left it out. So I am on my own. I have never done one of these pre-planned gardens before, so consider this my test garden.

The Ladies Are Moving Out

After living their cute little chickie butts in our dining room for the last 5 weeks, they are now old enough to go to the coop. I have to admit, I'm gonna miss their little peep peep peeps. I will not, however, miss their ever so stinky poop!! Tomorrow I'm busting out the steam mop and scouring my floors.

Cindy Loo getting ready to pounce. 



SweetPea is such a princess. She is constantly preening herself.

And here she is smiling for the camera!

I have to admit, I could not see my husbands vision on this one. Considering he was doing all the work, what was I going to say. But, I actually like it now that I see it. It's nice and toasty during the winter and a couple panels can come off to cool it off in the summer. Kuddos hubby, kuddos.

Oh! And my Coopa Cabana sign looks pretty good hanging on the door too :-)

Hand Painted Signs

We have a bunch of old pallets laying around the property and I've been wanting to paint some signs. So I grabbed a crowbar and took one apart.Since Finnigans 3rd birthday is this Saturday, I painted a nice "Party Here" sign. And for my friends wedding, which I was not able to attend due to a sick child and a husband that is working 16 hour days, I made her a "Happily Ever After" sign. They were so easy to make, I am definately going to make some more.



The only thing I paid for was the paint. 5 years ago on the clearance rack for .99c!!

I also made a mini cake banner for Finn's birthday. I have a bunch of scrapbook paper that had been in storage for almost a year now.  I took 2 different size measuring spoons and made little circles, cut them out and glued them together. Put some sticker letters on top. Strung it up and voila! A cute and inexpensive cake decoration. 

Erin Go Bragh!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

For breakfast we whipped up some green eggs and ham (bacon). Along with some minty chocolat milk.

After a potato soup with soda bread lunch, we enjoyed our Celtic Cookies and Irish Milk. Mmmmm!!!!!

As we were making the cookies, Finnigan could not keep his little fingers out of it!! He loved licking the beaters when we were done. Note to self - need more green food dye! 

And for dinner....can you guess it? Yep, Corned Beef and cabbage (and potatoes and carrots and onions and garlic and....mmmm) We had a good day!!!

Slainte!!!

The Finished Product (Chicken Sign)



The Process



The Coopa Cabana

Since the chicken coop is in an area of the property that is a bit tropical, The Coopa Cabana just seemed to fit. Now I know there are quite a few coops out there with this name and even a chicken website, or maybe blog, with this name. But I couldn't resist. I have started the process of making a sign for it.

I think I'll do it in the same blue as the chicken fence.

Do you see Madilyn sitting up on the fence?  This is our neighbors albino peahen. She is gorgeous and tame. She even comes when called. She likes to come over and visit.

Our New Ameraucana Chicks

We got 2 more chickies on Friday.  Higby's was getting a bunch of Ameraucana (sp?) chicks and these were the breed I originally wanted because they lay the blue/green eggs.

The littlest one, Sweet Pea, looked like she wasn't going to make it.But she did and is now my favorite. She is the sweetest and is constantly on me. Literally.

The other, Hazel, is super fluffy and has rings around her eyes.

They are the cutest little things and make the 2 week olds look huge in comparison. I love their markings.

I am really enjoying these little girls. They are extremely messy and poop every 2 minutes ( I have now invested in Clorox wipes) but they are so funny, entertaining and when they get tired, snuggly.

Update on the Garden Plot

So after buying the tractor and tilling up the plot of land, I am now working on making the beds and paths. This is a 40x60 plot of land. Thats a whopping 2400 square feet of vegetables and herbs. HOLY COW!!! Good thing I'm a stay at home mom. This is going to be a lot of work!! Hmmmm.... digging in the dirt in the fresh air and sunshine or stuck inside an air circulated office behind a computer???

Can you see it?

Finn loves to help. Especially digging up worms to give to the chicks.

He is at the enterance to the garden. See the arch on the ground? Once I get some screws (because there were none in the box) I will put it together and up. Then put up a metal fence to keep the critters out. Since Billy has a fantastic gift at welding, he is going to make me a garden gate. Then onto PLANTING!!!!

I have to give my hubby a shout out for going to work everyday and allowing me the opportunity to raise our child in such a wonderful environment. I love you and appreciate everything you do for us!!  I am the happiest I have ever been!!

Updates on the Salad Garden

The salad bowls are ready to eat!!

It was so tasty!! Best thing is that it will keep coming back for more eating! 

I think I'm going to do a couple more bowls to have a continuous amount of salad coming.

This was so easy too.