Feathering Our Nest - With Chickens

One of my daydreams, once I had a yard, was to get chickens and have fresh eggs. If you have researched anything about homesteading, then you know that almost everyone has chickens (if not goats, sheep, cows, pigs, ducks, geese, etc.). So we jumped on the urban-backyard-farmer/homesteader bandwagon and started building a chicken coop. 

Luckily, we have awesome friends! Josh and Bernice pitched in to help us build our ambitious coop and run, which turned out being a lot more expensive and labor intensive than we realized. But it was a great lesson in construction. We situated it in our side yard, in between the compost bin and the pear tree.

Building the frame - after a whole day of digging the foundation.

Working on the floor of the coop

Harvesting pears while the guys are working on the coop

In case you're wondering how we figured out how to build a coop, we solved that as we solve all our problems - by Googling it. I researched the hell out of coops and chickens, learning as much as I could about their needs, health problems, climates, etc. After hours upon hours of staring at the computer screen, I concluded that it was well worth the $30 to pay for plans - so we bought the "Garden Coop," which you can find online. It's very well designed and super easy to alter, customize, and make to suit your space and budget. 

Mike made it all pretty with cedar siding, to match the fence.

Part of the roof and wire up, and Bernice staining the wood

We got all fancy on the inside - painted the walls a cheerful yellow and insulated them with styrofoam packing stuff (so proud of repurposing the styrofoam from all our boxes!). We also cut way bigger doors than they proposed, and laid vinyl parquet tile floors, for ease of cleaning. Turns out this was great foresight, because I clean the coop every day. I can't stand poop.

The inside of the coop after we laid the vinyl tiles and painted

Almost done! We got a proper lock for the human door and finished the roof
and the siding on the coop wall that faces the run. The chickens also get
to forage around the side yard, pear tree, and compost bins every day.

Learning about chickens has been fun and life-changing. Chickens can be nasty. The term, "pecking order" really has meaning now. Their hierarchy isn't a pyramid; it's a linear line. There is one top chicken, and everyone else falls in line below, and there truly is a bottom chicken on the totem pole. It took us a little bit of time (and some re-homing of a little tiny fluffball chicken we named "Death Metal" because she was so mean) to get the balance just right. We still have one "bully" chicken (the 2nd to last on the hierarchy), but no one is bleeding and for the most part, they like each other.

Upper left is our best layer - about 5 eggs/week. The white is the sweetest,
the silver (lower left) is the mean one, and the littlest one (lower right) is the smartest!

I'm not sure if we'll end up naming them. Chickens are weird little creatures - pretty closely related to dinosaurs, actually - and although ours are all friendly and you can pet them and pick them up, there is something really primitive and savage about them. Did you know they can cannibalize each other and their eggs? 

Regardless, we do nothing but the best for them. I clean their coop and run every single day, we spend hours playing with them in the backyard, and we sprout and ferment all their food. Everything they eat is organic, whole grains or veggies, non-soy, non-corn, and real (I don't believe in those pellets, crumbles or "feed" you buy in the store - it looks too much like kitty litter). 

Fermented grains in the jars, and sprouting mung beans, lentils and wheat.

Despite all this, Mike is still weirded out by the fact that the egg comes out of a chicken's butt. The first egg tasted like tuna fish because I had been feeding them tuna (high protein) to help them through molting season. After that, we switched to an all vegetarian (plus bugs) diet, and they get greek yogurt, peas, lentils and sprouted beans for protein, plus these disgusting mealworms that I've been raising in a bin - I won't gross you out with a picture of that. The eggs taste MUCH better now. But Mike still isn't a fan because now we know how dirty chickens can be, and we see how eggs are produced. I'm slightly weirded out but less so (I've eaten some pretty crazy stuff in my life), and even though I think bugs are THE WORST, chickens can turn earwigs, spiders, and mealworms into some pretty yummy eggs!

Seeing where our food comes from makes me believe that if we got more involved, like raising a pig, goat, sheep, cow, etc, it'd be pretty easy to go vegetarian or even vegan. It's so easy to eat something that's packaged pristinely in the grocery store. You never see the poop and the blood and the feathers and the fur. There's a lot of labor, and life, and sweat and dirt that goes into making a meal. If it's this disgusting on an organic-free range-happy life level, imagine how gross it is on an industrial-battery cage-stockyard level.

We've had the chickens about one month now, and our conclusion...

It's been super educational, in terms of getting to know your food and learning about the care of another animal. We'll have to have chickens for at least a year or two to "re-coop" expenses (see what I did there?), but they're relatively inexpensive to maintain, even doing all organic, non-soy, non-corn, *true* free range. I'd say that our 4 chickens probably cost about $20/month. This just about breaks even for what I'd pay in the store for free-range organic eggs ($4.50-$5.00/dozen large), but I have peace of mind knowing exactly what is in my eggs, I can control the nutritional content of the eggs through what I'm feeding the chickens, I know the chickens are truly happy, safe, and loved, and they are really fun to have. We'll see how we feel after a year! 

A New Tradition

On April 10th, we were reminded that it had been one year since we first set foot in Bend. I was so excited about our new hometown that I took this picture and posted it:

April 10, 2014

We decided to start a new tradition for our new town, and we went back down to Drake Park and took the exact same picture:

April 10, 2015

While it was a bit overcast, and the pond looks a little murky without all that gorgeous blue sky reflected in it, it was still a crisp spring day, and a great way to mark the passage of one sporadically frenzied, life-changing year. And thus, a new tradition is born!

We've definitely been doing a lot more wandering since it's been warm lately. It's just so refreshing and beautiful outside. Everyone seems to have fruit trees, and the streets are popping with color.

our plum tree in full bloom

We took Morty out for a little spin, down some farm roads, with no particular destination in mind. The sun was shining, we passed sheep and cows, horses and goats, a few llamas, and finally ended up at Tumalo Reservoir. You can just barely see the Cascade mountains peeking out in the background. They're still completely snow covered, but this year our snow pack was only about 30% as deep as normal. This means it will melt off too quickly - the trout and salmon will suffer, because the rivers won't be as cold, which equals less oxygen. A hot, dry summer is in the forecast.

Morty at Tumalo Reservoir

Note to self - shooting into the sun sucks.

It's getting harder and harder to stay inside and finish fixing up the house, but like homework, it hangs over our heads every day. Some days, I just unpack a box or two (we're close to done, only about 10 boxes left) and consider that "remodeling." It does help, though! This day, we got two art boxes unpacked and hung up some of our Audrey Kawasaki favorites on the living room wall.

maybe the art will distract from the fact the trim's not done...

And while the kitchen cabinets are still a pain to open since I didn't put the handles on yet, the kitchen is fully functional and I've been cooking up a storm! I made butter poached, local wild caught rockfish with saffron sauce, a deconstructed pastichio (it's sort of a Greek eggplant lasagna), consommé, and completely-from-scratch-pierogis. I also made stuff Mike could eat, like chili. Ha! 

not all cooking goes right! eggplant explosion on the grill.

Life has been quieter these last couple weeks, as we've gotten into a groove of just living here in Bend. It's a nice thing to enjoy, since looking down the summer pipeline, we've got a lot of plans. Time to get motivated to finish our list! While there's tons more to do, if we could only get this stuff done, we could relax for a bit. Let's see if writing it here helps us get it done before the next post (wishful thinking...).

Things to Do:

finish replacing all electric receptacles

finish trim

hook up kitchen and bathroom exhaust fans

reframe all windows and kitchen sliding glass door

hook up hallway pendant light

hook up office light

install bathroom door

paint office

finish unpacking/storing away all boxes

Our First Visitor!

Having a visitor was one of the best things to happen to our house, because we now have a mostly completed guest...bed. I hesitate to say the bedroom itself is done, because it's still pretty bare. We didn't get to put up any art or decor yet, and we still need window treatments. But the window is framed out, and believe me, that was a pretty big accomplishment.

we did gouge the paint a bit while putting up that window...add that to the punch list.

The first day in town, it was too warm to go snowboarding, so we took a walk along the river, and saw a group of deer having breakfast! This is one thing that Mike and I miss from our old rental. There are a lot more deer on the west side of town, because there's less fencing between properties. Fences suck!

We christened the new kitchen and I taught Mike's niece to cook a few things. We made steak, teriyaki salmon, baked potatoes, brussels sprouts with pancetta, and a creamy mushroom sauce (with our foraged chanterelles from last fall).

cooking in the new kitchen!

caramelizing the brussels sprouts with pancetta

It got up to 73 degrees here in Bend! So the next day, we headed to Tumalo Falls, where we discovered that the road was closed. What would normally be a half mile hike to the falls, ended up being an 8 mile hike, but at least it was a gorgeous day. 

Still a tiny bit of snow on the ground.

Since we weren't planning on a long hike, we didn't bring water or snacks with us. But we made it there and back without too much trouble, and it was nice to know that we're not entirely out of shape - we weren't even sore the next day.

Tumalo Falls

After our visitor left, we got sort of lazy around the house. I mean, it's livable, although a little chaotic and haphazard. So after about 10 days of not remodeling a thing, we got back into the groove. 

Our new resolution is to do one remodel activity every day, even if it's a small thing. This way, we'll keep moving forward, even if it's sloooowly.

Got a door handle put on...still need to fill those nail holes in the trim, though!

Mike putting on the kitchen receptacle covers. No chore is too small!

Sometimes it seems endless, but we're just going to keep chugging along, and little by little, we'll get it done! 

Chicago, LA, and Home Again

We wrapped up our super busy February with a move into our not-quite-completed home:

we hired professional movers this time to save our backs!

It's a little awkward to live in a home with no stove/kitchen sink/dishwasher/master bedroom/washer-dryer. We can't actually unpack things, because some walls still need to be painted, we don't have interior doors or trim, we're still missing light fixtures, closet doors/systems, and the kitchen is still under construction (counters need grinding, walls need tile). But it's such a relief to be in a home we own, with no worries about the landlord finding out about our (four!) cats, and knowing we can change anything we want.

the current state of the living room

Our current "kitchen" - toaster oven, coffee pot, and hot water dispenser.

It's not all under construction...the flooring is in, and our toilet is awesome.

Princess approves of the new floors!

our fancy toilet, with the heated seat and "nightlight."

We moved the kitties into the home, then 4 days later, took off for Chicago for Wedding Reception Round 2. It was actually really nice to see people I hadn't seen in a long while, and catch up with old friends. I was so busy with friends and family, I didn't even take any pictures!

And then we were off to LA, where we ate our way through the first few days. We had been daydreaming about the food - so we cruised around, alternating running into restaurants and eating in the car. 

Cook's tortas! It's on Atlantic and you should really go.

Donut Friend in Highland Park - I got mine with dulce de leche, bananas and whipped cream.

Ceviche at Guisado's in Echo Park.

Mole tacos and Bistek en salsa roja at Guisado's.

the charcuterie platter at Bestia, where we also saw Gordon Ramsay!

We stayed in a super creepy mansion in Echo Park's historical Victorian neighborhood. The homes are all from the late 1800s and are very well restored and maintained. However, that doesn't detract from the scary factor. This is a pic of the home from the outside:

I was pretty nervous every time we came home late, convinced I'd see a ghostly apparition standing at the top of the stairs, or around the corner....or at the side of my bed. But it did have a nice view:

  

The view from the 3rd story balcony

Honestly the location was ideal for our jaunts around town. We could be back in our old 'hood in 10 minutes. In fact, it was so close to downtown, that one morning Mike ran out and brought me back breakfast in bed!

the coddled egg from Eggslut in Grand Central Market - breakfast is served!

Our LA Wedding Reception Round 3 was just as wonderful as the Chicago one - but imagine having everyone you love in one room, with like 45 seconds to talk to each one. It's overwhelming! I wish I could spend a whole day with each one of our friends and family...and even that wouldn't be enough. I think another trip to Chicago and LA is in order for this year.

But while we're home, we're chipping away at the house projects, one by one. Today, we finally got the carpet installed in the master bedroom, and I'm finishing up the paint so we can move in. Completed "after" pic of the master bedroom coming up soon!

Adding a little drama to the master bedroom with the dark accent wall!

Iceland

While parts of the US have been getting pummeled with winter storms, we spent the week in.... Iceland! Our weather there was actually nicer than the east coast.

Iceland is very stark and beautiful, and the culture is fascinating. They were discovered by the Vikings, colonized by the Norwegians and the Danish, used as a strategic military outpost by the British and the Americans, and finally, given their true independence. The US Navy base closed recently, in 2006, and was turned into what is now their international airport and a university. 

outside the town of Fludir

We did our best to eat local Icelandic food for every single meal. They eat a variety of things that come from the sea, like whale, shellfish (especially langoustine), various local fish such as trout, arctic char, salmon, spotted catfish, and ling cod, and meat, in the form of sea birds (puffin, cormorant, goose, duck), lamb and horse. 

Arctic Char, a local fish. Similar to salmon, but lighter and creamier!

smoked salmon and hardboiled egg on a croissant - ate salmon every day!

minke whale. it tastes just like tender, delicious beef.

The Icelandic horse is one of the cutest horses I've ever seen. They're super friendly, fuzzy,  and come in so many different colors. Once an Icelandic horse leaves Iceland, it can never come back. They are one of the purest breeds in the world. 

Icelandic horses

Mike and I had one day to ourselves where we drove around the island a bit. I got to go to a wool factory and get some yarn and raw wool to bring home for felting and crocheting. 

The wool factory!

We also stopped at this beautiful natural swimming pool - Iceland's first, from 1891. It is filled from a hot spring right next to the pool, so it was extremely warm, like 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The whole place was quiet, steamy, misty, surrounded by snow, and completely surreal. We got there before it opened and had the whole place to ourselves. It is probably the most romantic thing Mike and I have ever done together. 

The Secret Lagoon

Secret Lagoon GoPro selfie!

We also got married! Our friends and family flew in and spent 5-6 days with us, touring Reykjavik, the Golden Circle, and the Blue Lagoon. It was a little stressful, but thanks to Pink Iceland, and Hannes, our wedding planner, everything ran smoothly and we had a memorable wedding. I am excited to see our Icelandic wedding certificate. We also have my wonderful cousin, Dennis Kwan, to thank for the following pictures documenting our trip!

The Harpa Concert Hall - it is gorgeous!

Me in a vintage 70s Icelandic cape, and Mike in an Icelandic wool handknit sweater.

the cold, windy ceremony. we had all the elements - earth, fire, water, and wind.

toasting!

after the ceremony, under the stars

at Gulfoss waterfall

the Blue Lagoon - like an enormous milky hot tub.

getting in-water massage treatments at the Blue Lagoon.

at Thingvellir National Park, walking between the Eurasian and North American plates.

Hallgrimskirkja church, and that's us, the tiny couple!

Since we've been together so long, we thought the wedding would be sort of anti-climactic, but it was really special. We feel like we've renewed our commitment to each other, and it was really nice to have that break in the middle of the renovation stress.

And now we are back in Bend, refreshed and busy at work on the house again. We'd like to move within the next week or so...it's a rush to the finish! Updates in the next post!