Spring Chickens

Last week I was cleaning some chicken leg quarters 

to make my Great Aunt Ina Heatwole’s 

most delicious Barbequed Chicken recipe. 

Standing there at the sink gave my brain some free time.  

The extra energy I’ve had lately (praising God!), 

combined with a little time for my mind to spin,

 equals who knows-what-will-happen. 

I started contemplating raising some

 chickens for meat. 

 Nathan noticed this week that Tractor Supply

 had some Cornish Rock chicks, 

and so yesterday to town we went.  

 The girls were tremendously excited.  

I gave them great warnings about

 the impending ends of these birds.  

They say they’ll help butcher them.  

(I’m just hoping they grow into really ugly critters. 

Right now they’re awfully cute!)

 We took a few little peeps outside this afternoon 

to take some pictures.

 Getting your picture taken 

sure makes you sleepy!

These little fellows fall asleep

 almost anywhere.

 And a now two pictures of just my girls 

on this beautiful spring afternoon.  

They make me happy!

"I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness

 and will sing praise to the name 

of the LORD Most High."

 Psalm 7:17

Shayla - One Year Photos

The Littlest Niece had her first birthday

in November.

This little girl with bits of blond fluff

and blue eyes is just a doll.

Shayla loves books... and dogs...

and toddling around just looking at things.

Sitting for pictures wasn’t her favorite thing,

but we did the best we could!

The little sleepyhead in her pjs

had just woken from a nap.

 I had to snap a few of our brother and sister-in-law’s 

chocolate lab, Chloe!  

She’s beautiful!

  

“Sing praises to God, sing praises; 

sing praises to our King, sing praises.”

Psalm 47:6

Thinking Ahead -- Sweet Potatoes

Today this is what things look like on the outside. 

But there’s no reason to sulk because the winter’s getting long.

I’m inside ordering seeds from my favorite seed catalog, Pinetree Garden Seeds,

a small company in Maine.  (You can order your own catalog here!)

And yesterday I opened the little plywood door

 to the crawlspace under our house

 where the sweet potatoes are stored,

and picked out two healthy looking ‘taters. 

 These two will go into jars of water to grow roots and sprouts. 

It’s what my mamma did and what her mamma did;

pop a ‘tater into water, wait for the sprouts to get about 4-6inches tall,

and then break them off right at the base where they join the sweet potato.

 These sprouts get stuck in their personal jar of water 

where they’ll sprout their own roots,

hopefully just about the time the weather stays nice and warm. 

Then they can be transplanted right out into the garden soil. 

Sweet potato plants are partial to very warm weather, just like some people are.

Here’s a sweet potato flower on a vine in last year’s garden.

 Last summer’s vines went crazy.

 Fifteen little starts made 160 pounds of ‘taters! 

I like thinking ahead to spring and summer.

The waiting and getting ready make it sweeter.

A lot of things are that way actually, if you think about it.

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,

 and death shall be no more,

neither shall there be mourning,

nor crying,

nor pain anymore,

for the former things have passed away.”

Revelation 21:4