Best egg barter yet!

My buddy Dan from work is a skilled woodsman and forager. He has serious mushroom finding skillz and managed to fond some (rare this season) locally grown morel mushroom.  We traded about 6oz of mushrooms and a stick of morel butter for a half dozen of our farm fresh eggs and a container full of our home made cold packed dill pickles. Bartering the fruits of our labor is really satisfying, and we look forward to trading more with Dan, as He is also a beer brewer I think we have a bright future together to look forward to!

A couple of pics of the babies, and some NEW Babies at Bluebird!

I'm going to try to continue to improve my terrible photography for you guys, so please bear with me.  I use the iphone a lot because it's usually in my pocket at all times, but it's no replacement for a real digital camera of any quality.  Anyway, disclaimer over, here's a couple of photos of the baby chickens from this weekend, exploring some new perches, as well as Switchblade lounging in the chicken coop.  The final pic is of a clutch of baby spiders hatching in our back patio area, on our Health-O-Meter scale!  Natural insect control FTW!

Meet Flint, Lilly and Switchblade- The Quadrupeds

Thank-you to all who shared our blog yesterday and especially to those of you who decided to follow us!  We are glad to have you here with us!

  

This is our new Collie pup, Flint Eastwood! We got him back in January from Liz Tilton's Symphony Kennels and he's been a perfect addition to our family, and is proving quite capable of making friends with just about anything alive!  We love this little guy! We love shelter pups too, but Flint was destined to be the BDOC (Big Dog On Campus) at Bluebird.  Liz is a top notch breeder, and if you have young children, other pets, or even older folks who appreciate a gentle and beautiful dog who still has enough backbone to take to a hike in the woods or play frisbee until your arm drops off, a Collie just might be for you!  Visit Symphony Kennels

Flint and Lilly, our 6 year old Maltese-Poodle.  She's a wonderful and tolerant big sister, even if it did take her a little while to warm up to our own not so little Dennis the Menace.

Switchblade is our Orange Tabby, rescued from the Renton Veterinary Hospital by way of Maple Valley through a funny coincidence of timing on our part that had Nicole scrambling to get her Kitty before he was snatched up by someone else!  Swtich-man, Switch-Ball, Switcher, whatever you want to call him, he's one loveable feller and lives side by side with the dogs (and Chickens!) in perfect harmony.

Bluebird Farmscapes RELOADED

Hey all, we are re-launching the Bluebird Farmscapes Blog and going to make an effort to put a little new content on here weekly, at least.  Nothing long, or too fancy, and we will try to keep things light and easy, so you can stop by, check in on the Bluebird Menagerie, and get on with your busy and important lives.  We hope you'll follow our blog and the adventures of our beautiful Chickens, friendly Bunny Rabbits, Swtichblade the Tabby Cat, and Flint and Lilly, the supervisors of the Bluebird Flock.

We'll share pics, videos, and short stories about the above named stars of the show, the produce of our Organic Garden and recipes cooked with the same. Friends will also see some of Nicole's (hereafter known by her Farm Name, Petunia) amazing craft projects, and whatever else we find that we feel may educate or entertain other new Urban Homesteaders like us!  We welcome your emails, comments, smoke signals, telepathic messages, and astral projections with suggestions for recipes to try, projects to tackle, resources (articles, blogs, films, podcasts, forums, etc.) to know about- anything!  We'd love to get your help in keeping fresh content coming for the blog.  After all, Bluebird Farmscapes is not just Nicole and I and our little army of animal pals- it's all of you who share it with us!  That's the part that makes what is already pretty cool and fun, into something really special. 

(Click on image for full pic!)
 Above, Lilly sitting for the spring chickens on one of their first outings.  These loveable little guys have already adopted the adult flock and are happily finding their place in the group.  They are a happy little foursome, seemingly fearless, who interact with absolutely everyone with a friendly curiosity that you can't help but love to watch.  

 The chicks have no fear of the dogs or Switchblade (kitty), despite his "assistance" with the hatching. (Story to follow!)

 A rare sunnny spring afternoon here in Seattle, perfect for a first outing to the yard.

 
Are you lookin' at me?  (couldn't resist, sorry!)

Welcome back to Bluebird Farmscapes!