Why we do what we do

This is actually a post that I've been meaning to write for a long time, but I just kept putting it off or couldn't find the right way to express my thoughts.  Since we moved here and started this life, the most common questions I get are, "You just finished your PhD, and you're farming? Why on earth would you do that?  Don't you want to use your degree? What about research, won't you miss it?"  I could go on.  Anna gets these questions as well, so it goes both ways.

The short answer is -- yes, I just spent 10 years (yes, 10 years!) in graduate school, and now I'm farming. We couldn't be happier with our decision.  One of the things we find to be the hardest about this decision is explaining it to other people, and for me, feeling like I have to justify our choice.

The short of it is this -- we wanted a slower paced life, a simpler life, a life where we could provide for ourselves as opposed to going to work all day to make money to pay people to do the things we couldn't do for ourselves because we were at work.  We fully recognize that we are totally fortunate to be able to let go of our full time jobs in order to make this life for ourselves. We are working towards being able to make enough income from our farm to stop relying on savings.

Our goal for the first year was to get some infrastructure in place -- build a chicken coop, make a garden, get some beehives, install a greenhouse, etc.  We've gotten a lot accomplished this year, but we still have so many basic infrastructure things on our horizon -- finishing the greenhouse (that is an entire blog post itself -- maybe more than one), building a root cellar, establishing a business plan (this is a biggie -- we have no business experience)….the list goes on.  

Gratuitous picture of Oliver being adorable.

As far as using our degrees, missing research, etc. -- I really don't feel like my time in graduate school was for not.  There are a lot of basic biological principles that we apply to our lives here daily.  Having Anna's vet degree comes in handy at least once a day.  She's acutely aware of things that I wouldn't even notice -- a puffy eye on a chicken, the way an animal's gait changes when they're in pain, etc.  We have some pretty big plans to expand our animals here in the next couple years (stand by for more info), and I know that her skills will be invaluable when that time comes.  And as far as research is concerned -- there are, indeed, agricultural journals, and I have a couple friends who have published in them regarding some experimental techniques, etc.  We aren't looking to do that in the near future, but I'm certain it will be something we do in time. Additionally, all the time we both spent in school instilled a great desire to always be learning.  While I believe that one can always be learning no matter what your profession, I feel this is especially true in what we've decided to do.  Neither of us grew up farming -- Anna has always had a garden, but so much of this is new to us.  The learning curve is steep…and sometimes unforgiving. The amount we've learned in the past year is mind boggling, and I know we have more to learn yet…and always.

…and gratuitous Olive to break up the long flow of text with her cuteness.

Going back to the why of it all -- I really love living more in tune with nature and the seasons. It just seems the more natural way to be. In the summer, we're full of energy and life -- things are growing, the days are long and warm, and we are just more energized.  In the winter, things have settled -- the growing has stopped (or at least slowed), the days are short, dark, and cold, and we find ourselves wanting more sleep and less chaos. You can easily see these trends in nature -- both plants and animals are more active in the summer and spend a lot of that time preparing for winter when things are slower and less abundant. Obviously, not all plants/animals fit into this mold, but you get the idea (the biologist in me required that caveat).

This aspect of our decision was a big one for me.  I truly believe that this cyclical pattern to life is essential instead of the go-go-go to which we've all become so accustomed. Clearly, you don't have to change your entire life to do this, but for us, it was the right thing.  We wanted a life that was more centered on living.  Ironically, or maybe not, it is just this thing that has been the hardest for me lately.  I have become totally unable to happily have a slower winter.  It's like I have ants in my pants.  We have quite the winter projects list, and yet, I feel like I'm not doing anything….and it is driving me CRAZY!

This is something I've really been working on since moving up here -- learning how to chill out.  I blame my 10 years of graduate school for this one. Even after we've spent the day doing a ton of stuff around here, I often have the feeling that I didn't do any 'work' that day.  It is hard for me to grasp that what we used to do on the weekends is now what we do all the time….and on a grander scale.

One of the things that a lot of people who ask us the 'why' question think is that we're not doing anything with ourselves, that we've basically stopped working just because we haven't followed the traditional paths after graduate school. I find, for me, that even I'm struggling with the valuation of the work that we're doing here, so I have to understand when other people think we've lost it.  In my heart, I know we're doing a lot of work, and we're doing good work. I'm still working on getting my mind to agree, and that's ok.

So, in short (or not so short), this is why we do what we do.  And with that….

…gratuitous Baxter, looking adorable as always.

Our newest addition.

If you've been following our blog, then you know that our family seems to be ever expanding as of late.  We started with 2 dogs, 1 tortoise, and 1 axolotl.  We soon expanded to include 8 ducks, 9 chickens, and 1 more tortoise. Well, we've expanded once again…

Welcome, Baxter!  

We weren't even thinking of getting another dog, but Baxter just seemed to seamlessly fall into our family.  A coworker of Anna's from the clinic in Kittery sent Anna a picture of this guy with the caption, "Look who we have as a stray, available for adoption TODAY!"  Anna said when she saw the picture of him, her immediate thought was, "This could work and could be really good for our family." This is not the gut reaction one would expect her to have as we already have two dogs including one who doesn't get along very well with other dogs.  That being said, when she sent me the picture, I responded with, "OMG! It's our new family member!"  In all fairness, I was half joking, but I had a sneaking suspicion she wasn't.

I happened to be passing through Kittery the very next day (See?  Seamless.), so I stopped in to check him out.  It was my job to report back if he was family material or not.  Well, he won me over instantly.  He is a pretty typical 1-ish yr old Australian Cattle Dog -- in other words, he's kind of a crazy man.  In his defense, however, he had been in a kennel for the past 10 days.  Even Oliver would be wound after that much time in a kennel! Baxter had obviously been worked with before because he knows some basic commands.  His biggest challenge is keeping himself under control.  He has a LOT of energy and very little body awareness (read: bull in a china shop).

At any rate, he's been home with us since Thursday evening, and he has made some SERIOUS strides since his arrival.  Simply taking him for long walks (a couple hours in the morning and about an hour in the evening) is enough to keep his energy at a reasonable level. One of the main reasons we decided to adopt him was that we know we have the time and space, right now, to really give him what he needs.  Cattle dogs (and most herding breeds) need a TON of exercise and they need structure and someone to really commit to working with them.  Our guess is that his previous owners thought he was a cute puppy but didn't know what they were getting into with an adult cattle dog.  Breed research is SO important, but it is a step people often skip.  We know what we're getting into, we are ready for it, and working with him is so rewarding.

And now -- a photo montage of our walk today.

Oliver -- a.k.a., Farm Manager, Yard Boss, Teddy.  I'm pretty sure that he's enjoying the new addition as much as anyone because he gets a LOT more treats with all this training going on.  Baxter really wants to play with Teddy, and they have played some fetch together, but Teddy's not really down for the wrestling that Baxter's interested in doing.

Olive -- a.k.a. Weetus, Farm Manager. We are really hoping that Baxter and Olive can become good friends and that Baxter will become a good playmate for her.  Olive doesn't like change in her routine, so the addition of a high energy young dog is going to take some time.  So far, their interactions have been really positive.  Olive has been off leash on walks while Baxter is on leash because we want it to be her choice when they interact.  So far, so good, and there have been some good butt sniffs in both directions. We've been keeping them separate in the house, but this morning Olive voluntarily came downstairs to hang out for a while.  Baxter was on leash, but the entire interaction was good, and we made sure to end it on a positive note. 

On day 1, walking on a leash was REALLY hard! Three days later, he's walking right next to us, loose leash, and focused.  He still has a lot to learn, but the progress we've made in the past three days is pretty amazing.  Even though he would be totally worn out by a lot of running, trying to walk like a gentleman is really mentally exhausting. We're alternating between heeling and free time, and he really seems to be getting it. :)

We're also working on focusing on us and looking to us for instruction.  Olive and Oliver already have this down, but it is good practice for everyone and provides positive close encounters for all dogs. 

Staying with me can be REALLY hard when your siblings are running around like crazy people!  Positive interactions all around!

When he's not walking with us, he has 'free time' on the leash.  He's allowed to roam and sniff all he wants.  What usually ends up happening at some point is free time turns into snuggle time.  This guy is a serious love bug, and all he wants to do is snuggle.  We do need to work on petting him and giving him affection without it turning into crazy dog time.  And now, a snuggle-fest montage in which Teddy is totally positive that Baxter missed a treat somewhere…..

YAY! You're petting me!

This is my best day EVER! 

I can get closer to you, I know I can!

YAY! I love this SO much!

I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna kiss ya!

Look out!

And if a two hour walk through the forest wasn't enough, our morning walks end with some long line fetch and working on recall. :)

He's fast!  And, again, Teddy is looking for dropped treats.

We're working on getting the ball back.  We've made some progress, but there's always more to do. 

So, there you have it.  We couldn't be happier with his progress, and we're positive he'll fit in perfectly to our family.  It is possible that the cumulative days of exercise are starting to catch up with him.  After our morning walk, he is lying quietly in his crate (which he has taken to like a CHAMP!) and struggling to keep his eyes open.

Cutting, bucking, splitting, and stacking

One of the things we've been working on the most this year is preparing our wood storage for the winter.  Ideally, we cut all the trees down in the winter and have the spring, summer, fall to buck (cut into small rounds), split, and stack the wood.  Because we only moved here in October then were traveling most of time until March, we were on a bit of a protracted time schedule for wood preparations.  While our house has radiant floor heating on the main floor, the upstairs is passively heated from the rest of the house, and we would like to heat as much with our wood stoves as we can.  Yep, that was intentionally plural.  We are fortunate enough to have not 1, but 3 wood stoves in our house.

This is the stove we affectionately call 'microstove.'  Don't tell her, though -- even though she's tiny she sure packs a punch.  It took us a while to figure this one out, but a few logs go a long way. 

This is our cookstove in our kitchen, we call him Stanley since it is a Waterford Stanley stove.  We do have a gas stove/range, but we're experimenting with cooking more and more on this.

Last, but certainly not least, may we introduce MEGASTOVE!  This thing is a BEAST.  This huge behemoth is in our basement and can handle logs that are almost 3 ft long.  This baby cranks the heat.  We use it on really cold days and it warms the entire house from below.  There is also a vent from the basement to the second floor which is only passively heated from the rest of the house.

Last year, we kept the thermostat at about 58 (much to my mother's chagrin) and tried to heat the house to a reasonable temperature (with mediocre success) using the stove in the kitchen and occasionally megastove.  Initially, the goal for this year was to use megastove as much as we can as it really helps to heat the house from the bottom up; however, the past week has shifted that a bit.  We decided we were going to try to bake something in the cookstove, so I did a little research on the best way to easily heat the oven.  What I learned was upsetting but I'm glad we learned it now -- last winter, we did a really good job heating the chimney.  :(  What we thought was the flue on the stove was actually a damper.  By closing it after the fire is lit, the heat stays in the stove and doesn't go up the chimney (as much).  This has totally revolutionized our cookstove.  Since that day, we've been cooking on it whenever it's lit, we've baked a quiche in it, and we're using MUCH less wood to do all these things.  I think we're going to use the cookstove a lot and save megastove for really cold days.

We also want to really cultivate the use of microstove.  Microstove has been infamously finicky and is prone to smoking us out.  We finally figured out that you have to treat microstove like a mini-campfire to get it to work -- there's no building a giant fire and tossing in a match.  That being said, microstove is in a room that is sealed from the rest of the house so we figure we can have dinner and/or watch a movie enjoying the warmth of microstove in the evening, shut the door over night, and enjoy our coffee in the morning in the residual warmth from the previous night's fire.  This is great because I think we went through a lot of wood last year building fires to warm us in the morning only to leave said fires to go work outside.  If we can avoid building the morning fire but still be comfortable with our breakfast/coffee, I think we can save a lot of wood. So far, we've used microstove a few times this fall.  We had a friend staying with us, and he was working in the room with microstove all day -- a few logs in the morning was all it took to keep him warm until late afternoon.  Score.

That being said, this summer, we're attempting to put up enough wood that we'll have plenty of leftover at the end of the winter.  Ideally, the wood we split/stack next summer will be for the following winter (i.e., a year later).  Burning really dry wood is better for the environment (it burns cleaner), and it burns hotter making it just a more efficient fuel.  So -- we're hoping we can put up enough wood this year that we can leave some for the following winter and then do the same thing next year.  After that, we're hoping we can be a year ahead of schedule every year.  We have what seems like a lot of wood stacked for the winter, but I'm still nervous about running out (we ran out last year, but we have WAY more than double what we had last year).  Cutting firewood is extremely exhausting, but really rewarding work.  I really feel like my splitting skills have gotten much better just this summer....if only we could keep our wood piles from falling over....

So far, our thermostat has stayed comfortably at 55 (sorry, Mom), but the house is MUCH warmer and more comfortable than last year.....let's see how it goes when it is actually cold.

Farm mishap strikes again...

It seems that when we set out to do something, it often doesn't go as smoothly as we envisioned.  For this reason, a dear friend of ours has deemed our farm, "Farm Mishap."  Farm mishap was in full swing yesterday.

One of the easy cosmetic things we've done to our house since moving in is painting.  It is amazing how a fresh coat of paint can brighten up a room and make it really feel like home.  We have done the main part of the inside of the house but not the exterior.  There is a breezeway room in our house that we affectionately call, 'the smoking room.'  It is where most of our friends/family who smoke go to do so.  It is a breezeway with two big barn doors overlooking the field behind our house, and it has a fireplace in it.  It is a pretty amazing spot favored by many.  Most of the smoking room is wood, but there is one wall that is painted.  

Here's the before picture.  The wall wasn't as pink as it looks in this picture, but the pink hue of the red made us want to redo it so the extra pink is appropriate for our justifications. :)

We decided we wanted to paint the smoking room so that the wall wasn't so pink and also just to spice it up a bit.  We chose another red color because I've always wanted to paint a room red.  I was so excited for this project!  The color we chose was called Hot Tamale, and it isn't as fire engine red as you're thinking based on that name.  Quick plug, here -- we have been using C2 paint, and if you don't know about it, you should.  They have amazing colors, and it is great paint.  The colors are really saturated, and it makes for much more dynamic colors.  

OK -- here goes the project completion in picture form -- get ready.

Step 2 -- Taping.  We're no professionals here, so we rely on good old fashioned paint tape.  And, yes, I skipped Step 1 (sanding and washing the walls) -- turns out we didn't take too many pictures before....we'll call it the incident.  Keep reading...

Nothing like relaxing in the sun on a gorgeous fall day after putting on one coat of paint.  Like I said, we lack pictures from Day 1. No fiascoes yet...

Everything seems so benign at this point, right?  Well, day 1 went really smoothly, and we were really happy with our color choice.  Too bad we didn't photograph it at that point.  After a couple days of drying, we decided to add a second and final coat.

All was going really well, we were about half way done when I grabbed onto the ladder to step off my step stool back onto the ground.  Yeah, I grabbed the wrong side of the paint can shelf...

I felt the ladder shelf move, turned and saw in slow motion as a giant plume of red paint cascaded across the room.  I screamed and then stood there paralyzed by disbelief as the remaining contents of the can poured onto the floor.  Choice words were uttered.

And then this happened.  We may have left a few paw prints on the stones around the house since they're cute. 

Our friend Michael was about to go for a run when he heard me shriek.  Luckily, he's really good at cleaning, and scrubbing floors is almost as good a workout as running....almost.

The smoking room floor has never looked so good!  We scrapped the rug that was in the room -- it was old and we weren't attached.  Somehow the paint missed our squashes entirely, and only a little bit got on the couch.  Hey, it's the smoking room, a little paint only adds character, right? PS - note the source of the painty paw prints in resting innocently in the doorway.

The finished product -- painting friends, cover your eyes -- we may have harvested some paint from the rug to get the second coat hastily painted on while cleaning was happening.  There was a bit left in the can, so I used what I could.  It actually doesn't look half bad -- you'd almost never know I did it in 25 minutes.  This picture makes the color look a bit more fire engine red than it actually is -- you'll have to visit to experience a cocktail in the smoking room with a fire and a great view.  

Being Farm Mishap has taught us many things. With each failure, we learn something new....like don't lean on the paint can shelf....on the part that goes down.  In all honesty, though, we wouldn't have it any other way -- we have learned so much in the past year.  I can't believe a year has gone by already.  We have a ton of projects still going on, so look forward to more posts all fall and winter long.

New name, same farm...and the fair

When we started this blog, we were trying to decide what to call our farm.  We often refer to our dogs as 'salty dogs' after they go swimming in our salty river (all the time!) so we settled on the Salty Dog Farm.  I set out to start the blog and found that there was another Salty Dog Farm....and they were in Maine!  I noticed that they hadn't posted anything in a while, and so we decided to stick with the name anyway.  I did know that just because they weren't blogging didn't mean they weren't still farming -- I just figured our paths wouldn't cross.

Well -- this weekend was the Maine Organic Farm and Garden Association Common Ground Country Fair.  This event is HUGE -- about 20,000 people visit each day, and it lasts for 3 days.

When we were looking through the program ahead of time to figure out what talks to go see, we noticed....Salty Dog Farm.  They were at the farmer's market at the fair.  So, we're changing our tune.

We are now Reachwood Farm.  Really, it should have been this way from the start.  The land we're living on is called Reachwood Forest so it seems fitting we should be Reachwood Farm.  We are new to the farming thing, and we don't want to ruffle any feathers along the way.

With regard to the fair -- whoa.  It was so nice to visit the fair with a new focus on things.  We talked to experienced beekeepers, root cellar builders, farmers, and many more folks that have information to pass along and share.  I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I'm really looking forward to winter.  We have one season under our belts, we have learned a TON, and we have so many plans that we want to research and flesh out over the winter.  We've already started our winter projects list, and it is way more than we can possibly do in the winter, but at least we won't get bored. :)

A momentous occasion

We've been working with our chainsaws for some time now, and we've been trying to accomplish the drop start since day 1.

This happened today. These videos speak for themselves. :)

Our badass ranking just went up a couple levels.

PS -- could my wife be cuter in her suspenders!??! :)

A post about veggies....finally!

Given that growing food is one of the purposes of us moving up here and doing all of this farming, we should probably have a post about said food at some point.  No time like the present.  

We were itching to get things going this spring, and we started a bunch of seedlings inside....way too early.  We planted some things in the ground as soon as we thought we were out of the frost danger -- we were wrong.  We lost a lot of our seedlings to a late frost, but now we know.  Luckily, we had a lot of extra seeds, so we were able to start over.  Tragically, we lost all our melons, and we had already given away our extras at a seedling swap.  This means no melons for us this year. :(  

In early/mid/late/all of June, we were beginning to get really discouraged.  All of our seedlings in the ground were a couple inches tall, and then they just stopped growing.  We were beginning to wonder if we were going to get any food this year.  I mean, it was practically July, and we weren't even really eating greens out of our garden.  We were getting more and more frustrated as all our friends from the Seacoast were struggling to keep up with their early crops -- turns out being two hours north makes a difference....go figure.  

Needless to say, things have changed, and now we're struggling to keep up.  

This is how things looked on July 22 -- things are getting bigger!

Also July 22 -- turnips planted around salad greens.  The greens have since bolted, and turnips are enormous.  We're trying to get them all before it's too late.

This is a medium sized turnip -- luckily, the variety we have is still really good when they're huge.  We're trying to get to them before they get huge, but it is hard.  Any tips for preserving turnips?

This is Aug. 7 -- perhaps the most amazingly noticeable thing is the bean teepee.  It is great!  We are going to plant many more of them next year just because they're so beautiful...and we like beans a lot.

Beets are one of my favorite veggies, and Anna waited to pick any while I was away in Ann Arbor.  I was totally expecting a mediocre beet since it was so big, but this thing was DELICIOUS! Like with the turnips, it has been hard to get to them before they're huge.  A root cellar is in our plan for the fall/winter.

Our cukes are totally out of control, it is amazing.  The ones on the right are silver slicers, and they are so so so so good.  The skin is not tough at all, and they are sweet and delicious...even when oversized.  The ones on the left are pickling cukes....and the dill tells you that's exactly what's about to happen to these cukes.

We're trying brining for the first time this year.  We have a 3 gallon crock, and we're a little over a week into it at this point.  We added dill, garlic, and some horseradish leaves as we read that is supposed to help keep them crunchy.  We grew everything going into this crock. :)

When brining pickles, you just add a brine solution (salt water) to the cukes and let it sit for a few weeks.  This is a real fermentation of cukes rather than pickling them with vinegar.  

Cukes in brine -- they float.

So we weighted them with this handy weight.  You can use a plate with a bottle on top, but I like the ease of getting the weight out of the crock since it has the hole in the middle.  Now, we watch and wait...and skim the scum off the top.  Brining produces yeast on the surface of the solution since it is exposed to the air.  The pickles aren't exposed, so there's no yeast on them.

That glorious bean teepee has us swimming in beans.  So, we're making dilly beans.  Aren't they so gorgeous?

Dilly beans -- ready for consumption!

These next few pics are all from today's harvest.  It is so rewarding and wonderful to go out to the garden and pick dinner.  It does make for some interesting meals as we figure out what to do with what we've got.  Today, we're stuffing oversized zucchinis with tomatoes, onions, garlic, kale, chard, and quinoa.  We're saving the beets and turnips for something else.

Have I mentioned I love beets?  They are so beautiful. There's a turnip in there, too. :)

And, yes, we finally have tomatoes!  We have a critter partaking in a lot of our heirlooms, but we still have plenty ourselves.  They are so tasty and a good reward for the person who goes out for the night's harvest.

Zukes and cukes!  Yeah, we have a lot of these.  I think we each eat about 5 cukes a day, not to mention the pickles, not to mention the dogs eating a lot of cukes too.

Totally unrelated to things we've grown (except we did grow the horseradish on the left), but we dove for these by our house.  I'd never had an oyster before, and they weren't too bad.  We'll only be having them when the ducks/chickens need the calcium from the shells.  It's a service we're willing to do for them.

Life is good, and things are growing.  We have a lot more preserving to do, and it is going to be great. Love the summer, love the bounty.

The coop is finally finished inside and out!

It's been a while since our last post, but that's not for lack of things going on at the SDF. We've been so busy with the summer season upon us, and we love it!  We have many blog posts in the works, so stay tuned.  For today....more updates to the Flocktagon -- formerly known as the Chicktagon.  As in the past, I'll keep this post mostly pictures since they tell more, and are easier for you all to get through.

While we've had the Flocktagon built for a while now, there have been a couple things that needed to be done on the inside that have just been hanging over our heads -- namely, insulating the ceiling, adding a more permanent roost for the chickens, and installing nest boxes for our ladies. We purposely left nest boxes out for a while since this is supposed to keep them from thinking the nest boxes are a good spot for sleeping.

We'll start with the insulating.  We didn't think this was such an urgent thing since we were a ways off from winter, but while doing the insulation, we were amazed at how much cooler the insulated panels were than the non-insulated panels (well, duh...).....and I was getting really tired of the insulation/wood pile under the cedar tree.

Insulation/scrap wood pile under the cedar tree (most of the wood is behind the insulation).  Olive isn't part of the supply pile, but she's often found under the cedar tree keeping tabs on the local red squirrel population.

Here's the uninsulated ceiling.  We really like the way this looks, so maybe that has something to do with our lack of motivation to insulate it as well....but the comfort of our ladies won out in the end.

When we went in to start working, we found this pile up happening.  That's our little girl, Sheila on the left, then Freckles (she's ridiculously friendly), and Nina is stretching it out. 

We've been trying to handle them as much as we can so that if we need to for injury or illness sake, they won't be difficult to work with.  It's a rough job, but someone's got to do it.

I can't believe I'm even showing this disaster.  This was our first attempt -- craptastical.  We learned a lot, and we were able to reuse a lot of the boards on the future attempts.

Looking much better -- still not perfect, but we're still in serious training here.  This was the end of day 2 -- after the first day's attempt (see above), we had to call it quits and recover with a cocktail on the deck.

The chop-saw sometimes becomes your makeshift DJ booth while rocking out.  This was the final day, on the final panel -- morale was much higher this day.  Side note -- much of that scrap wood will be our kindling for our wood stoves this year. Stacking functions.

While I was busy rocking out on the chop saw, Anna had the joyful job of cutting up and installing the insulation.  We went with a rock based insulation -- no fiberglass to contend with, and it isn't ruined if it gets wet (not that it would in our fortress of a coop).

Insulation installation station.  Like a boss.  

Lookin' good!  This is our last panel, and we couldn't be more pleased.  Pretty sure the flock was pleased as well -- they were tired of being forced to be outside.  They're just like children...you tell them they can't come inside, and all they want to do is come inside...typical.

Like a glove!  It may not be professional grade, but we're pretty happy with the outcome

YAY! We're almost done!

The finished ceiling.  Mighty fine if I do say so myself.  

Next, we wanted to add a more permanent roost.  We had a temporary roost for the chickens but they have been quickly outgrowing that makeshift roost....and one may have fallen over in the middle of the night.  Whether or not chickens were involved in the roost collapse remains a mystery, but let's just say that no one wants anything to do with that roost anymore...despite our repairs.

The new and improved roost -- it is easier for them to roost on round surfaces, so why not use a log?
Stacking functions.

The ladies enjoying their new roost.  It has been fun to watch them figure out how to get up there.  As they get bigger, it will get easier, but for now sometimes they make it just by one little toe.  PS -- check out Sheila's pantaloons...amazing and adorable (she's on the far left showing you her booty).

The ducks are pretty pleased with the new roost as well.  You can clearly see who's male and who's female here....they're all getting along fairly well so far.  Keep your fingers crossed. Here, I think they're watching the chickens on the roost to see if they're going to fall on them in the middle of the night.

The next big task for the inside of the coop is to install nest boxes and hang the feeders/waterers.  We needed nest boxes on the floor for the ducks, and raised up for the chickens.  I'm thinking nest box apartment complex. Done and done.

We were all business this day, so the only photo we have is of the end product.  It took us a couple hours, so we can't complain.  The bedding will get trampled down as the ladies come and go.

Last task -- hanging the feeders lessens the chances that the birds will perch on them and poop in them. The nest boxes double as a platform for holding the chicken watering receptacle.  Stacking functions. The ducks make a REALLY big mess of their water, and we don't want the sensitive chickens to get sick from it....unlikely, but better safe than sorry.  The orange bucket is the duck waterer -- they like to stick their entire bill in the water to clean our their noses, and the chickens don't like this waterer, so it is an easy way to separate the two waterers.

Last but certainly not least -- it is a really good thing we were about to install nest boxes.  The day before we did it...this happened.  Go Fern!  She's our only mature female, and she's a duck (on the left in the picture 3 above -- the duck without the green head).

Go Fern, go!  We are so excited.  We have fresh eggs...er, egg.  I also love that the shell is slightly green tinted. It was delicious and nutritious...the yolk was a beautiful deep yellow.  Hopefully she'll find the nest boxes for her future egg laying endeavors.