OMG! TAMMY = TOMMY! WTF!

here's the news of the day Fancy Acre style...leave it to a chicken in Portland to have gender issues! We sadly just had to post this ad due to Tammy (I mean Tommy's) new found male-ness...

Unusual Livestock

Can you see my hens all in a row? Loretta is on the last rung down, almost invisible. And Tammy is on the cold hard ground because she is the outsider (sad face). They like to sit on that ladder and talk shop.
Also please admire Jacky's obscene attractiveness and Tammy's under-appreciated gorgeous feathers.

Love is on the Farm

I'm in love with Tammy but Tammy's in love with Jacky and Jacky's in love with chicken food. Lot's of cracked corn induced tummy aches for that dog lately. 

I think that Tammy is cuddly only because she can't see me coming, so I can catch her and force her into my loving arms. The other chickens run like hell when they see me approaching. Unless, of course, I am shaking a tin cup full of chicken treats. Then they gather around like the chickens do in Cinderella when she is not a princess yet and talks to mice all day (anyone? anyone?). All I want to do is rub under their chicken wings and dress them in pinafores! 

Please admire our coop art made by nationally acclaimed artist Lynne Robertson. We are one lucky acre. 

Chicken Update

The girls are on the loose today, eating worms and my flowers. I just want them to leave the blueberries alone. Take the rest girls! Just leave me some berries!

Movin' On Up

So here's a long over-due update (soon to be followed by photos) on the Fancy Acre Quail Family (or as we refer to them : En Vogue). For the last few months they have been living in what began as a the cutest little tidy tin house in our basement/garage. Oh it was a happy home with happy times - lit by a glowing balmy orange ball that never stopped showering warmth upon them, filled with wall to wall wood pellets, clean drinking water and more food then they could have ever dreamed of consuming - it was basically like Las Vegas - without the gambling (they were too young anyway). But anyway. Nic made them the cutest berry box houses that they slept in and they really seemed happy to be away from the farm store where the children were poking them and such. Soon (and quickly) the three members of En Vogue began to grow and make the cutest sounds ever - they had such respect for their elders and loved when we came around and whistled softly to them - they even whistled back! Despite their awkward adolescent insecurities, they soon began to wear their little quail hats and looked stunning in brown. That was until the day they figured out how to party...and when I say party - I mean PARTAY. ummm. what a mess! they were throwing poop on the walls and their berry boxes were upside down and their water was constantly filled with more - guess what - POOP and they looked like they had been doing lines of Angel Dust all night when we checked in on them in the morning. Insanity. Well this had to end. We turned the warm glowing ball off to prepare them for the harsh reality and they knew something was about to change. We were serious. They were grounded. In the mean time I spent last Saturday afternoon painstakingly building their new home out of freshly sawn cedar shake and 2x4's and installed it within the coop that their chicken siblings have been occupying for a few weeks now...Then, last night, in a covert night operation involving headlamps, hay and a station wagon, we escorted these teen party princesses to their new deluxxe apartment in the sky...where this morning, according to Jenny, they have been running around with the chickens gossiping about this-a-one and that-a-one and making fun of Tammy whose hair is really out of control in the morning.

Like I said, HUGE

How Many Ribbons Can One (third of a) Fancy Acre WIN?

Nic kindly reminded me that the count down to the Oregon State Fair started like YESTERDAY. Which categories do you see us reeling a big blue in for this year? I'm thinking it's going to be embarrassing to the other farmers who have been toiling fruitlessly for years in hopes of a win at the fair and also to feed their families when we just show up holding Patsy Cline, a strawberry rhubarb pie and all the fixins for a Pocahontas tablescape and sweep up 900 awards and ribbons plus free tickets to Willy Nelson. Suckas!

Which category seems like the most important win?

farm & garden????

food arts???

table decorating??? (Probably YES.)

needle work???

Poultry???? (forget it, Tammy)

Awkward Stage (life)

I wish I could say that the chick that Nic picked out from Gresham was the only one that was looking a little rough around the edges- and Tammy certainly does look the worst- but I must admit that Patsy Cline is also in a state of hard to discuss awkwardness. Her neck is long and light of feather. Her fluff is pushing outward and pointy, underdeveloped teen feathers are starting to erupt like acne all over her body. What happened to my baby-nugget-tiny-princess-puff? Luckily she still lets me pet her on her little tummy, but even that is going through a weird transition! Not that I would ever say that to her face.
 As you can see, Tammy is starting to get teen feathers on the top of her head. Nothing says "I will resent these photos for the rest of my life" quite like the look on her face in photo #1, blur and all. She looks crazy. I can't wait to watch those weird feathers get longer and longer until she emerges from the rubble looking like this:

Just gorgeous.