Coop Du Jour

I absolutely ADORE chickens!  When I was in animal rescue way back when in Florida, I was lucky enough to rescue a little white hen I named Fedelia.  This little gal was a gem.  Her morning routine consisted of laying me a fresh egg, making a tour of my kitchen floor to rid it of all it's crumbs, hopping up on my knee to watch me feed my infant daughter and then letting herself out to roam our three acres all day.  When I we sold that home, I gave her to a neighbor who loved her so much, she adopted 4 more hens and a rooster and built them a coop that was the envy of the neighborhood.

Now that I am finally in a place where I can own chickens again, I was quick to aquire three from a woman who needed to rehome hers.  Reenee, Edie, and Beatrice came with a small, rather sad looking coop that was suffering from plain-ness and obscurity. 

Although they didn't know any better, I was embarrassed for them.  Since we couldn't afford a new coop, I thought sprucing up their chick pad just a bit might be in order.

Behold: Cafe De Poulet

Cafe De Poulet's Drive thru Egg Window



Now the chickens can hold their beaks up high and strut their stuff.  They're pretty sure none of their other feathered friends live in a French cafe'.  And their eggs never tasted so good!

Faeries In My Garden

The Fairy Song

"White coral bells
Upon a slender stalk;
Lilies-of-the-Valley
Deck my garden walk.

Oh, don't you wish
That you could
Hear them ring?
That can happen only
When the faeries sing!"

I used to think it was silly to believe in faeries.  That was before I stumbled across a sweet little booklet self-published by Sharon Lovejoy called Faeries In My Garden.  Here was a perfectly sane (and very talented I might add) adult who not only believed in faeries but planted gardens for them.  If you've ever been fortunate enough to visit Heart's Ease in Cambria, CA, the shop once owned by Lovejoy, you will have experienced the magical gardens she planted there.  Sharon inspired me to create my own fairy gardens and to make my yard a wonderland. 

Due to a few years of upheavel in my family's life, all of the fairy garden implements were packed away until they could be set out to delight the faeries once again.  Now that we are finally settled, my daugthers and I have had so much fun picking the spot and planning the perfect fairy garden.  An ancient tree on our property was the perfect backdrop.  The girls unpacked the box of fairy furniture while I painted the windows and door that Daddy cut out for us.  The last time we had a fairy garden we had to purchase moss from the garden store.  Living in Oregon, we have moss growing under every bush free for the taking (although we did ask permission from the moss faeries).  We put the finishing touches on and snapped some pictures.  As is often the case in Oregon, the sun did not cooperate for the pictures but the faeries are happy and so are we!

Welcome to my garden.  Come up the path and have a seat.

Almost there...

Is that a fairy peeking out of the window?

Bunny is popping her head out of the clover.

Have a seat by the birdbath and enjoy the view.

Time to say goodbye for now...

Until the faeries come tonight to play.


FAERIES BY MOONLIGHT

By the moon we sport and play,
With the night begins our day;
As we dance the dew doth fall---
Trip it, little urchins all,
Lightly as the lttle bee,
Two by two, and three by three;
And about go we, go we,
And about go we.

(The Maydes Metamorphosis of Lylie, 1600)