3 Weeks and Counting...

So we have had the chicks for 3 weeks now... I can't believe how fast they grow!!  Their little wings are starting to come in, and they are starting to have a whole lot of personality.  Marshall and I are having so much fun playing with them.  We go downstairs with them every day for at least a couple of hours.  We want to make sure that they feel like they are part of the family.  Marley is even starting to get along with them.  I was a little worried at first.  The little chicks look a bit like mice, and she likes to catch and eat mice.  The hardest part is that they peck at her, and she really, really doesn't like that at all.  I was keeping the chicks in the kennel and making Marley lay next to it with me and watch them.  But it wasn't until I started letting them out of the kennel and walking around the she finally figured out that they are alright.  That and they don't seem to be pecking at her quite as much now.  In the pics below they are 2 1/2 weeks old.  You can see their little wing and tail feathers coming in.

We decided today to bring them outside for their first trip, since it is 60+ outside today.  They were so cute, at first they didn't want to be anywhere except up in our hands and resting on our arms, but then I just made them go check out the grass.  After that, they were pretty keen on roaming around as long as they stuck together.  If one walked off a bit the other two would get upset and start really chirping.  I would say for their first outdoors adventure it was quite exciting.  


I started my veggie starts yesterday.  I have tomatillo, sugar snaps, candy carrots, and regular carrots, pickling cucumbers, radishes, green peppers, and jalapenos.  My mom has a ton of heirloom tomato seeds, so I will get those started this weekend.  I am also going to drive up to Greenbluff and buy a few year old raspberry bushes, and maybe a blackberry bush, and also another 6 strawberry plants.  I am just so excited to have a small garden this year.  We also have two apple trees(that we won't be getting any fruit off of for a couple of years), and two year old grape vines.  I think I am going to get another grape vine to have crawl up the coop, or maybe wisteria, I haven't decided yet.  Marshall should have the fence done after this weekend, or next.  Then the chicks will be able to head outside (that is if the coop is all done)  gotta have my dad come up and help us with that.  

Anyway, I am jut so excited for the spring weather, and to see everything wake up from our long cold winter... well just about everything, we have to spray the wasp nest, I saw a few of them flying around today.  I can deal with just about everything, but I really don't like to be stung!!

Bringing the babies home!

Well after a much anticipated wait, and almost a year of talking about it...  I am so happy to announce that our chicks are here!!!   

Jade, Lola, and Roxy

So there they are in all their glory!

Jade is an Araucana, Lola is a Silver Laced Wyandotte, and Roxy is a Barred Rock.  I picked them up from Aslin Finch today, they are a day old.  It is so crazy to me how fast they grow, that after only a day they already have feathers growing in.  I have had chickens before, but it is still just as amazing to feel like I am watching them literally grow right before my eyes.  Marley has been so cute, she doesn't quite know what to think, she goes and sits right next to the kennel that I have them in and watches them for hours.  If they make any noise at all she starts barking to get my attention.  Since she has been known to catch mice, I was a little worried that she would try to snack on the little ones.  Though a little skittish, she hasn't even nipped at them, even when they peck at her feet.  Little does she know that they may end up being bigger than she is, so she better be nice to them... haha!  We don't have the coop finished yet, but they will need to be in the house for a month, so it really just has put more pressure on Marshall to get the show on the road.  Man, I do love that guy!  We should get the little bit of fence up that needs to be done so that dogs can't get into our yard.  

We had decided to build a coop that was going to have a green roof on it, but have now changed 

our minds and picked out something a bit different.  It is going to look something like this, except a bit smaller since we only have 3 chickens.  I like the idea of having the vines growing up the sides, and we will put a nest box out the front door there.  The plans don't call for insulation, but we are going to do that, for our unbearable winter weather.  Gotta take care of the ladies!  Marshall and dad really like the look of this coop also.  I am just so excited to have the girls here now, it makes it all real, as opposed to it being this thing that I have been just talking about.  I could barely force myself to go to work today, because I was so excited to have them here... I'm such a dork!  

Well I have a few more pictures of the girls, thought I would just throw them in here so everyone could check them out.  It has been such an exciting day! 

                                                                                     

Here goes nothing...

I figured for my first ever blog, I would start out by talking about who I am, and some of my favorite things...

Marshall, the love of my life.

We first met almost 4 years ago now, he was just a boy in a band, one that I had no interest in, mostly because I never wanted to be knows as "one of those girls," but thanks to Frankie (my pseudo big brother) I was really left with no choice.  We chatted on the phone here and there for about a year, I would drive to Seattle if his band was playing up there, but we didn't see each other much.  One day he said he would like to come and visit, and the rest is history.  This photo is from a trip that I made up to Seattle, when the Warriors were playing a show with Trial.  It was a crazy show, with so many people.  I can't even begin to describe how great it is to see Marshall up on stage.  He has this energy that I have seen so few people be able to create.  I know it sounds cheesy, but it is true.  I fell in love with him because of his passion, but not just his passion for music but for his family and friends,

his love for cooking, and mostly his ability to make anyone around him feel like a million bucks.  I really lucked out with Marshall, because he also happens to have a really great family.  I have become especially fond of Janice and Kelly who have really opened up their doors to me, and made me feel like I am part of their family right from the start.  I just feel so blessed to have them in my life.  They have really opened up my eyes to wanting to make a change in how I live my life.  Especially Janice, who is always blowing me away with her forward thinking, and zest to try new things.

I also have this little dog, Marley, she consumes just about all the rest of my time.  She is a little tiny Miniature Pinscher, topping the scales at 4 pounds.  She is 4 years old, and just as stubborn as her mom.  It has taken her a little bit of time to grow accustom to having Marshall around, but now she thinks of him as being part of the family.  Little does she know that soon enough, we will be adding a few chickens, and maybe even another dog.  I'm not so sure she is going to be very happy about that, but I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Lets see the other players... My very supportive family, who really deserves their own blog.  Let me just say, I have this sister who is an awe inspiring figure skater, who will soon be off galavanting across the world as a professional skater, and a brother who will soon be a house hold name when it comes to hockey.  I really couldn't be any more proud of 

a sister.  I really hit the jackpot with them!  My parents, both hard working and loving have been the best of role models for me.  Always pushing me to become the woman that they know that I can be.  

So for me... I am an art student with dreams of becoming a college art teacher.  What is really crazy is that up until two years ago, I didn't even know that I was an artist.  The drawing to the left is the first still life I had ever drawn, in my first ever drawing class.  I was really lucky to end up 

with Cindy Williams as a drawing teacher, and she pushed me to find my inner artist.  I'm not sure she even knows this, but she is my mentor.  Without the encouragement that she gave me I don't know if I would have even taken another art class!  I work with many types of mediums, and am open to try everything once.  I am even giving ceramics a try, though I have this thing about getting dirty, lets just say I will be using a whole lot of latex gloves this quarter.  My mom is always telling stories about how even as a little girl, I was always the one who came home clean.  Funny considering I am awful

at keeping my room clean even now as an adult.

But all of this really is just the tip of the iceberg.  I started this blog because I am in the process of trying to learn how to live a more sustainably, it started with a little herb garden, and a couple of tomato plants, and has expanded into a dream of a full garden, grape vines, apple trees and all!  I even obsess over composting, till I am sure that I am driving Marshall insane!  Then last year while visiting Janice and Kelly in Seattle I saw that they were thinking about getting chickens.  I had chickens once, I hatched them for a science project.  Speaking of, after all of my researching I have come to realize... I sure didn't do much for that project other than hatch those eggs.  Thanks dad!  I couldn't have done any of it without you.  Back to the chickens, I have spent many hours looking at different styles of coops, what kind of chickens will do the best here in our Spokane weather.  I have most of my answers, I know I want a coop with a green roof, I know the kind of chickens I want, and I know where we are going to put it in the back yard.  Now all we need to do is get building!  Then I am sure I will have dozens of questions!

So Welcome to my little blog.  It seems that I have decided that this is where I am going to journal about all of my crazy adventures, art, boyfriend, chickens and what not.  This way my friends and family who don't have myspace or facebook will still be able to read about what I am doing.  

Talk soon,

Alicia Jane