this place belongs to a friend of lena corwin,

more info on her blog here.

lovely backyard space, no?  lately i've been missing keeping chickens.  i gave my last group to a friend when i moved in april.  last night as i was trying to fall asleep i was thinking about them.  it was a real cold night and i was wondering if they were ok.  especially i was thinking about the hen i called B.  she was the one born with the crooked beak, remember?  it gave her this look of perpetual questioning, of "you said what??"  and her little deformity endeared her to me and made me feel protective.

someday i bet i will have more layer hens but probably never another B.

halllloooooo

as i type ethan is out back in the snow and wind painting.  crazy dedicated.  the chicken pictures are from the first snowfall several days ago.  they had no idea what to make of the snow.  one flew over to a planter and perched there until i rescued her.  right up above you can see one of the araucanas just sitting in the snow.  i swear she was too dumbfounded to move until i picked her up and brought her back to the coop door.

and i was just thinking about a couple things i wanted to tell you. 

first is that my husband, peter, has been busy turning wooden bowls in his workshop this past vacation week.  it's a new craft for him and seriously, he's darn good at it.  he's finishing them real simple with beeswax.  i want to put a few in the shop at some point and see what you think.

also, i'm having some weeee-ird dreams lately.  so it's making me wonder what your dreams are like.  share if you feel like it.  my latest involved a swampy pond and dozens of white snakes.  hmmm....yah, don't try to analyze it.

last, i am having my biggest sale ever this week at enhabiten.  everything is 25% off with the coupon code "HAPPYNEWYEAR".  and then next week i will be rolling out the new stuff i've been working on.

k, that's it.  see you tomorrow chums,

liane

house of woe

no kidding.  that's how i feel lately.  but i think i'm the classic weeble-wobble or one of those big blow up toys with the weigh at the bottom...you know, you punch it and it leans and then rights itself.  NO MATTER WHAT.  (well, until it pops.)  man, do they still sell those?  if not, they should. 

my car is in the shop (see deer accident) and i'm driving a rental corolla with louisiana plates.  it's making me talk with a southern drawl.  no kidding.  ok, not in public but once in awhile while i'm driving i think in my head in a slight lilt.  i'm very impressionable.

latest: i'm down to 8 hens.  if you didn't catch my tweets of late something, maybe a racoon, got into the henhouse 2 nights ago and killed 3 hens and my rooster.  boo.  my dog started freaking out, about 5 AM, and i ran outside to find something killing the rooster.  it was dark and i couldn't see what it was.  ran in and got a flashlight and by the time i got back the killer was gone.  but the back yard looked all armageddon.  feathers EVERYWHERE.   and not to gross you out (well, yes, to gross you out) the dead hens were strewn about and headless.  but that's it.  the d$@# racoon didn't even eat them or anything.  pisses me off most, really.

you should have seen me when i first realized what was happening.  i was all like screaming and running around like a crazy lady.  no, not really.  i was very calm and collected.  kind of like when i hit the deer and had to make sure not to get myself and passenger smooshed and get the car to stop without landing upside down or something.  so there's that.  i'm good in a crisis.

......

moving along, the pictures here are from the shelburne museum doll collection.  doll houses.  duh.  some of my favorite images from the trip.

and also, i just wanted to let you know that remodelista says i'm hip.  so it must be true.

stop laughing.

xx

me

interiors

i saw this the other day via 16 house.  it's made the rounds a bit but i couldn't resist posting my favorite shots. originally via lavish locations.

ps- my chickens got out of the enclosed backyard this morning and were wandering all over the road in front of our house.  stinkers.  clearly i need to have a more secure enclosure for them.  in the past my chickens (other flocks) have had free range of the front and back yards with no fence and they naturally stayed out of the street.  but not these biddies.

first eggs!

my sweet ole chickies just started laying their first eggs!  these are the buff orpingtons.  the first ones start out small but get bigger as they get used to laying.  it's always real exciting when they lay their first egg.  the araucanas should be laying soon, too.

momma's so proud.

thanks girlz!

small moments

crooked beak is the least skittish of my bunch of hens.  here she is:

i'm thinking i should call her something else though.  i don't want her to feel defined by her weird deformity. 

name suggestions are welcome.

and here's the rest of the sillies.  they like to hang under the mock orange bush:

that's major *sshole in the center.  he's been crowing like a madman.  and trying to hump all the ladies whenever he gets the chance. they shun his advances.  as far as roosters go, however, he's not such a bad guy.  he doesn't try to peck me or get all alpha when i'm around. 

and here is one of three giant boxes of tomatoes i'm canning today.  wish me luck.  it's gonna be an all day affair:

and here are the grapes growing in my backyard soon to be jam:

one of my favorite smells on this earth are ripe grapes on the vine.  when i go for walks there are places along the way where they grow roadside.  as soon as i smell them it makes me smile and feel relaxed. 

i'm most grateful for those small things.  small moments of beauty.

i hope you have a good good day.

love, me

quaker city + chickens

these chickens of mine go gah gah over watermelon.  the araucana rooster (white) is here with his buff orpington posse.  he hangs with these girls instead of the araucana hens.  it's kind of funny.  they have formed their little social groups.  apparently the orpington ladiez dig *MA*. 

also i don't think i've told you that one of the araucana girls has a wicked crooked beak.  it's gotten worse as she's matured.  so i'm worried about her.  i'm sure it makes eating and drinking difficult and i know it can lead to starvation.  but she's not any smaller than her sisters so i'm just keeping an eye on her for now and hoping she's adapting and managing.  poor biddie.

finally, i'm going out for the day today.  i'm visiting a place called "quaker city" and i'm really super excited.  i'll tell you about it when i get back and i'm bringing my camera with me.  

and now i'm going to go eat some steel cut oatmeal with blueberries and syrup.  i went b.b picking again the other day and my freezer is filling up with free berries!  go me.

xo,

liane 

oh, p.s. one more thing.  check out this place.  i die i die i die.  that's all.

backyard, baby

my backyard is a raging mess right now and i'm not just saying that or being coy.  everything is drying up because of the GODAWFUL heat wave here and plus i'm not taking care of it whatsoever.  i'm too busy rearranging the stuff in my living room.  plus i've been kind of popular lately. quit snickering.  i have engagements almost every night this week. 

but, here's my question: i have mint coming out my eyeballs and i picked some of it which you may view in the basket above.  i'm going to hang it inside to dry and usually i make tea throughout the winter but i need some other clever ideas about how to use it once it's dried.  please advise. 

also i have an update regarding Major Asshole.  that's him up there.  seems he's not so much a MA but more of a Captain Wuss.  When I go into the coop to muck it out of feed the masses or what have you he cowers and sometimes hides under the pigpile of chickens in the corner.  so much for protecting the ladies.

anyways, what's going on in your gardens?  we are eating cucumbers and snap peas but still waiting on the tomatoes. 

love forever,

me

news from these parts

in that top picture you can sort of see that i put an old rag rug on my dining room table. hey. it's my house.  i washed it first.   i don't know if i like it yet.  which brings me to my first burning topic.  when you do stuff around your house like hang a picture of move furniture or even the smallest thing like put a candle on one table rather than the other do you go through a transition period where you aren't sure if it's the right spot or change and each time you walk by it you assess whether it's right or not and sometimes you know it's wrong because you have a gut feeling about it but then you still have to walk by it for a week or two before realizing it's driving you crazy and moving it somewhere else?

phew.

that was a long sentence.

and now you know that i am a complete lunatic and perhaps in need of OCD drugs.

and please please please let me clarify. there is nothing perfect about my house or my wall decor or my furniture arrangement.  this is no decorator's museum.  BE-LIEVE ME.  and yet, i am guilty of the behavior outlined above.  the other thought occuring to me just now is that maybe i need to find something more meaningful to do with my life like focus on homelessness and hunger and such.  quickly moving on.

second picture: making pillows for renegade (those are buckwheat hulls on the pillows).  although yesterday i felt like total doodoo and had a headache like a dagger through my right eyeball and got next to nothing done.  i think it's because i ate such a load of crap the day prior like too much pizza and grocery store birthday cake.  so yesterday i tried to eat better.  this involved that veg/pasta thing above plus homemade bread and hummus and fruit. 

and just in case you missed it here's a picture of one of our baby chicks.  we moved them out of their box in the laundry room and into their coop yesterday.  they love their new place.

xo,

me

orange honey cream scones and chickens

I made some pretty good scones this morning and I want to share the recipe with you.  I started with a recipe from The Joy of Cooking and then adapted it to ingredients I had in the kitchen.  I change recipes all the time when I'm cooking.  I can't help it.  Sometimes I tell myself not to do it and then I do it anyhow.  Some kind of psychological condition,probably. Like chronic rule-breaker or something.  OK, so here's my recipe:

enhabiten orange honey cream scones

makes about a dozen scones

preheat oven to 425 degrees

whisk together in large bowl:

2 cups flour plus maybe a bit more added at the end  if you feel the mixture is too wet when you finish

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

drop in:

6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

cut in the butter with 2 knives or a pastry blender (i have a pastry blender i bought at a yard sale and i love it so pick one up if you get the chance.)  work until you have the butter in no bigger than pea-sized bits but don't overdo it cuz you want the butter to remain cold.

whisk together then add to flour/butter mix:

1 large egg

1/2 cup honey or slightly less

1/2 cup heavy cream

(i never said this was a diet recipe:)

the grated peel of about one orange

the juice from about 1/2 of the above orange

mix until incorporated but don't go nutso.  this is the point at which i added a bit more flour.  i used honey instead of the sugar called for in the original recipe and i added the orange juice so i had to adapt to the extra liquid.  then form the dough into a ball.  place it on a floured surface and roll out to about 3/4 or 1" thickness.

then cut into 12 triangles and place them on an ungreased stone or baking sheet.  bake for about 15 minutes. then eat.  and then send me a thank you email. teehee.

and as a special treat here are the 2 kinds of chickens i'll be getting in may!  yay me.  6 araucanas (top pic) and 6 buff orpingtons.  they are super cute as chicks and they'll stay in a box inside until they are old enough to live in the coop.  don't worry.  i'll be documenting it all for you.   xxoo love kiss hug, liane

this that what not

This morning Kate pointed me in the direction of this place which carries the stuff above.  Wasn't that nice? 

Plus, let's go to Iceland, shall we?

And then, there are lots of awesome Japanese online shops out there.  I'm always bumping into new ones. 

The stuff above is from a place called Rakuten.

-----------

Oh, so listen to this conversation I had with my husband yesterday:

me: I want a dozen chickens.

husband: a dozen is too much.

me: no it's not.  that's crazy. everyone knows a dozen isn't too much.

husband: they'll poop all over the back yard.

me: don't be so uptight.  we've had chickens before.  I WANT A DOZEN CHICKENS AND MY LIFE WON'T BE COMPLETE WITHOUT THEM.

me: stomps off.

As you can see I'm very mature and diplomatic when I don't get what I want. 

*iceland images via pixdaus, the telegraph, nicolettet