Gains, Loss, The Future

ah, the beginning of fall.  when the temperatures drift down into the balmy mid-nineties, and there is a chance of rain sometimes.  actually, all facetiousness aside, the mornings and evenings have been beautiful!  and enough rain has fallen that the back yard is full of chickweed and egg production is ramping up again. i'm excited about the change of seasons, and fall air is some of the best air.

sadly, we have lost another chicken.  this time there was no disease or predation involved...earlier this week bolo vanished without a trace! there she is to the left, the big black one, having a roll in the dust with pearl last sunday.  by tuesday, however, she was gone. just gone!  no feathers, no yard kerfuffle, everyone had been in the run all day.  all other fowl were fine and normal. but when i went out to the yard after work to give the ladies and gentleman their yard time, she simply was nowhere to be found.

i keep hoping she might come back, but i think it's been long enough that such hope is lost.  my best thought is that she's been bodily assumed into heaven, rapture-style.  at least that's my favorite theory...several others make perhaps more sense but are far more depressing.  she was a non-flyer, but had accidentally hopped out of the run once a long time ago--she was never one for adventure.  

needless to say, all remaining chickens now have flight feathers 1-8 clipped on their right wing, like i did sammo a couple months ago, to prevent further chicken raptures.

i wonder if she accidentally hopped out again, went for a mosey, got lost....and then was bodily assumed.  at any rate, wherever she is, i hope she enjoyed her life here and is enjoying her next life.  if not, i'd like it if she would come back.

in other, better news, we recently acquired two new girls to bump up egg production and add some new feathers to the flock.  introducing tony parker and scotty pippen!

tony parker

tony parker is a lovely young barred rock hen, a classic breed. true to her name, she is especially quick and agile, and does not seem to like to get picked up yet.  however, once caught, she will happily sit on the available lap for pets and chicken talk.  she should start laying big brown eggs any minute!

scotty pippen

scotty pippen is a beautiful red star chicken who, unlike her new sister thus far, is quite friendly. she seems to enjoy being picked up and cuddled, and even hangs around waiting for such attention.  her breed is also an egg-laying machine, and so we are much anticipating her egg scene debut.  in fact, she was destined to go to an _actual_ egg laying machine--a big production chicken house--which explains why her beak was cut.  but here on the TUF, her beak can grow back in all its glory and she can party in the run and yard all day.  i look forward to seeing her beak back!

all chickens have made the adjustment seamlessly, both to the new additions and the loss of dear old bolo.  the flock numbers six once again--tumblr (the rooster), sammo (easter egger), pearl and ninja (original silkies), scotty pippen and tony parker.  we pause to remember the TUFlock chickens who have gone on to the great free-range in the sky: soft grey twitter, baby lil' bitz (we barely new ye!), and big black ol' bolo.  thanks for all the eggs and fun.

milk snail enjoying a fall morning

and finally, a bit about the future: dan and i are pleased to be expecting a new HUMAN addition to the TUF to join us in early march 2013!  all is well so far, and of course we will appreciate another TUF hand around to help care for all these crazy creatures. that's why people originally starting having kids anyway, right? more help around the farm?  maybe we can actually start that garden i've been screaming about since the beginning of this whole experiment!

speaking of experiment, and as a final note, here is a picture of the fantastic carrot soup i concocted the other day.  i had also (true to TUF philosophy) used a bunch of farmer's market vegetable odds and ends, and the frozen carcasses of a roasted local duck and chicken, to make a killer-awesome no-waste stock as the base for this soup.  i basically used this recipe, with lemon juice but no zest, a zillion cloves of garlic, and only 1/4 cup of cream, and it came out pretty dang delightful.  and healthy! mostly!

anyway, there is much coming up to discuss, what with the changing seasons, new girls, new food, new future prospects and all.  thank you for reading, Dear Reader, and though i'm clearly not the best at it, i'll renew my efforts to keep y'all posted and document the process!

October!

i walked out this morning and felt fall.  seriously!  i had gotten so used to the ridiculous heat that i forgot there was any season other than broiling summertime.  i have been so consumed with the gentle lifetasks of job and chores and pets and home that i haven't been paying as much attention to the weather and the progression of days.  but the progression of days happens so quickly, and suddenly it's going to be 56 tonight, the first 6-weeks is over, the chicks are huge, and it's october.  yesterday i had a moment when i realized that it's getting dark before 8pm, and the chickens had put themselves away before we went out to dinner.  the earth is tilting away from the sun!  there are cold fronts coming!  perhaps merciful fall begins to cast her gaze toward texas!

so i scored a ball python off craigslist as a class pet.  he is a beautiful snake, about 2 feet long, and has resided in my classroom for about 1.5 weeks now.  i had a wonderful moment with nearly 30 7th graders, silent to the point of reverence, as they watched the snake stalk a (frozen/thawed, humanely killed, locally raised) mouse.  the deathlyquick strike of the snake as he captured his weekly lunch elicited a collective gasp of awe from the class.  this is funny, but i really think i can _feel_ the sense of total collective focus from students, and this event was a prime example.  it gives me the goosebumps.  it's the reason i'm a teacher.

unfortunately, this same snake felt the need to BITE me on my thumb the day after i brought him home about 2 weeks ago. it was entirely my fault--snake in strange and new environment that smells of rodents, me sticking my hand in there willy-nilly.  it was reminiscent of what could have happened on a far worse scale once, but really it wasn't that big a deal....a little blood, a little drama, hardly anything really.  and the toothmarks went away immediately.....until they reappeared recently as red itchy bumps EXACTLY in the shape of a snake bite mark on the meat of my thumb.  at the behest of my husband, aunt, uncle, cousin, and cousin's friend, and what i imagined my parents would say if i told them i WASN'T doing anything about it, i went to the doctor today.  the doc visit resulted in ganesh getting a tetanus shot right in the trunk, and the assurance that the chompsite wasn't infected or otherwise going to result in the amputation of my hand.  of course, extreme caution is warranted in the handling of our cherished class pet.  but he has been a perfect gentleman since this unusual occurance two weeks ago.  whew!

anyway, now it's saturday evening, that most sacred weekly holiday.  we are going to cook a (locally, humanely raised, organic) chicken in the rotisserie.  (don't tell the flock!) you, Dear Reader, will probably hear about that sooner than later, as well as other developments around the TUF...i have been most delinquent lately.  but, as always, stay tuned!  more soon!

Double Digits

my loves, it's been HOT.  so hot.  100+ degrees for months hot. fan-broiler setting on toaster oven hot.  worry about your lungs cooking inside you with each breath hot.  we here at the TUF are not ones to complain, but i've been feeling as though Seasonal Affective Disorder in REVERSE has been eating my lunch.  can we go on? can we continue TUFing it out through this chicken panting/face melting/air-conditioner frying/global warming heat wa....



wait!

i walked out this morning for dog and chicken duty, and i noticed that the air had changed.  it was subtle, but it definitely felt....lighter.  like i weighed a tiny bit less, like a barometric pressure change had ruffled my cells.  the chickens seemed particularly buoyant as well, cascading out of the coop noisily.  it felt good to be outside!

i had been cooped up myself for the past few days, fighting off a brief but blustery cold.  i was glad for the long weekend to work through it, and today i feel way better.  after living on the couch for a few days, this breezy double digit day was perfect to help me back into the swing of things.

in the middle of the day we took to the yard to enjoy the air.  not a chicken was panting!  and some bananas had flown in from the neighbor's yard!  cue impromptu chicken party!

sammo surprised us by having a double lay day...TWO beautiful green eggs were waiting for us in the nest box.  double digits=double eggin'!

to cap off this labor day holiday from the heat, we decided to grill some ribs and corn, accompanied by sauteed swiss chard.  for the first time in a very long time, we enjoyed our meal al fresco, balancing our plates on our knees and surveying the Totally Urban Farm from our stairless porch-turned-balcony.  welcome fall!  here's to lower temperatures and more TUFventures!

Summer TUFavorites

ah, the bittersweet end of summer.  the joy and sorrow of a public school teacher.  it's the moment i know is inevitable, but that seems astronomically far away--until it is upon me.  i look forward to it eagerly whilst wistfully clinging to the last wisps of summer vacation.  these wonderful wistful wispy last wisps. whoa.

anyway, what a summer of TUF it has been!  new adventures, old comforts, expansive activity juxtaposed with blissful time-whiling.  as an ode to this summer, it seems appropriate to pause and honor those events, items and places that contributed to the TUF increase in awesome we have witnessed over the past few months.  i give you, in the order of how they occur to me right now...the TUFaves:

1) New Tattoos by Bart Willis at South Side Tattoos.  bart is probably THE best tattoo artist you'll ever encounter, and also one of the kindest and funniest guys you'll probably ever meet in your life as well.  i sent him a digital picture of my favorite Remedios Varo painting (Still Life Reviving, 1963), and he fit me into his busy schedule the following week.  as he tattooed a beautifully faithful reproduction of this painting on my right shoulder, we discussed the ins and outs of chicken keeping, air conditioners and being grown ups.  he's just the best, all around.  if you want a tattoo and live in austin, go to bart!

2) Toobin' the Comal River in New Braunfels.  for whatever reason, i had never toobed before.  i think i may have been one of the very few in austin to never have experienced this leisurely rite of passage. so last wednesday, i took my maiden voyage with dan and three other dear darling friends.  someone should have broken a champagne bottle on my butt.

it was a brilliant time!  since the drought has gone on for so long, the 'normal' tubing river (the guadalupe) had very little water in it.  however, the beautiful (if short) comal river is spring-fed, so it stays refreshingly 72 degree-ly full!  i had the great good fortune to go with experienced toobers, and there was no shortage of beer or hilarity as we floated away the afternoon.  we got rock-star parking, and had excellent toob service from Corner Tubes.  several world crises were solved, hunger and racism were eliminated from civilization, dogs and ducklings were cooed over, and emergency broadcast systems were tested over the course of our double float.  we all got lightly broiled and sundrench-delerious.

3) Air Conditioner Repair by Autumn Heating and Cooling.  okay this one is boring.  remember how i mentioned that bart and i discussed air conditioning? well.  the reason was because ours went out, and this is a summer not only of TUFun, but also excruciating, record-breaking heat.  we here on the Totally Urban Farm usually do a really good job about staying positive, but when the condenser goes out, you get the run-around from several other AC companies, and it's 96 degrees in the middle of the night one night, positivity starts to fade a bit.  however, autumn ended up being quick and professional, and installed a new outside unit and inside coil for half of what we might have paid.  so yay for them! and yay for a liveable indoor environment!

4) TUFriends Who Have Chickens. I am so honored to know people who are paving the TUF way already, having gorgeous chicken coops and gardens and compost piles and whatnot.  this beautiful set up was built from scratch by our friend Cliff, who has designed a coop that opens every which way but loose.  see the little chicken size door?  is that not adorb?  they have five ladies at the moment in different stages of maturity, all of whom are lucky to be living in backyard chicken heaven.  also: they have a really cute schnauzer whose derrier is apperrier in this shot.

5) TUFriends Who Give Us Chickens.  at the very beginning of the summer, we had just the two Original Chickens, pearl and ninja.  they came from a good friend who had to move away, and we were so happy to receive them.  then in mid-june we acquired twitter and tumblr from Callahan's (another TUFave!) for $12 and $4, respectively.  THEN, just last week, another friend needed to move and hooked us up with sammo and bolo, the two beautiful new girls.  so, we build the coop, and suddenly we have 6 chickens, 4 of whom were free, lowering the average cost-per-chicken to $2.67 each.  we have even had the great fortune to have a TON of organic chicken feed and a bag of hay donated to us from our other dear friends, who lost their two dearies in a tragic accident but who would like to enter into an eggs-for-feed arrangement with us--so TUF!  the lesson from all this chicken acquisition?  if you build it, they will (keep) come(ing).  so get building!
p.s. i'm just kidding about the 'keep coming' part.  6 chickens is ALL we need!

now these TUFaves are specific, recent and still fresh on my mind. but there have been many TUFventures from june and july that remind me what an eventful summer it has been!  so, as i soak up these last few days of TUFsummer 2011, i also want to deeply appreciate you, Dear Reader, who cares enough to slog through all my blither and participate in creating my TUF memory and inspiration.  thanks.

a whole new level of TUFness cometh...being a science teacher, increased egg production, fall gardens, pickle attempts, life...so, as always: more soon!

Onward Through the Fog!

Life, the Universe, and Everything have all kept me from posting for a bit, but life is good and i'm excited about developments lately.   the coop and run are finished save for a couple latches, roosting poles, and bedding/feeders/chickens.  as for the latter, a friend from work who sadly must give up her darling silkies due to a move has decided that we should be the proud adoptive parents!  those fine fowl will probably come to roost on sunday after the weekend's family events.  we are looking forward to meeting Pearl and Ninja, the white and black silkie hens.  and then......maybe chicks?  am i that nutzo? probably......

anyway, here are some pictures of the latest developments.

 here is how our yard looks right now, with the coop in the northeastern corner. not exactly panoramic, but you get the idea...

 

here is the window we cut in the back (north) side and covered with chicken wire for more ventilation (and a view of the golf course!) and there's the west side of the coop with our people gate.  we lined the fence in the coop with chicken wire as well, to keep out predators and keep in exploratory chickens!

 

 here we are trying out being chickens in the coop.  oh, and a gratuitous picture of me with the circular saw.  yes, i did actually use it.  i am getting less afraid of power tools.  i have a great mentor!

this is how the coop/run corner looked just this morning.  also here is the collection of beer bottles we've started on the porch as a result of our backyard exploits.  I am pleased to report we finally got some rain yesterday, a big rain in fact, which we desperately needed.  this cloud below is from a few weeks ago, but it's a beautiful thunderhead. i put it here in hopes we get some more rain soon!