so it turns out my hen is a ROOSTER

sometimes the obvious is just not obvious enough until it starts to crow in your face. yup... my dear little fart face aka. fifi is indeed mr. fart face. i thought it was a little odd that his feathers were skinny at the top of his neck, not to mention his long neck, his aggressive behavior towards the girls and his confidence. but for some reason i must have been in some serious chicken denial. and i was. because its certain that i got myself a boy chicken.
as much as i love the dude. he is really a gorgeous bird, i am concerned that the noise is going to not be so great with trying to get my new neighbors to like me and he picks on my little lucia and that is not nice. don't worry i am working on figuring out a lovely new home. potentially a ranch with lots of other barred rocks that hang out in tall trees.
i won't tell you which is which, but i am sure you will know right away. so silly what moving does to a person's brain. you can't even tell if you have a boy chicken all of a sudden! :)

got me some cottage inspiration

the pinterest junkie in me is back in action. my internet was turned on and i immediately go seeking beautiful things to stare at to ooooh and aaaaaaah. but this time i was searching with a purpose! i never leave a a garden untouched. and although the process of fixing up my new garden will take lots of time and patience i have already begun to brainstorm my visual vibe for my new little cottage in the hills. below are some of the images that got me pumped. typically i am drawn to meadows full of native grasses, yarrow and sage with bold architectural succulent surprises, and there will be that, but considering my new home is very much a cottage why not throw in some hollyhocks, bulbs, wild crawling vines, nasturtiums and the classic... lavender! besides i just read recently that if you want to repel rodents plant fragrant shrubs like rosemary and lavender... so there you go. beauty with a purpose!
i am also trying to brainstorm ways of making the traditional cottage a bit more alive and contemporary. i am a color junky and found object seeker. i love the idea of reusing pallets, painting random objects in bright colors, creating outdoor rooms and destinations with twinkle lights and furnishings and of course hideouts - like tepees! hand painted signs, vertical gardens, a chicken viewing station and loads of edibles will all be musts! ooooh the possibilities!

saying goodbye

i have been getting up so early lately, whether i have had enough sleep or not, my body just decides to start thinking about all the things coming up in my life, it wakes me with thoughts of the new ikea catalog (i'm moving to a new MUCH smaller home with a MUCH larger garden), of things to purge, of plants to grow, of things to water, of my chickens that need to get fed, of the moment of having to say good bye to this home i have lived in and shared with my partner for 4 years.
sometimes i sit and stew in my thoughts. but mostly i get up. i do things like water the garden, stare at the chickens inspect their new food, fold some laundry, visit pinterest, imagine not living here anymore.
the other day i grabbed my camera instantly when i saw the insane amount of blossoms on the cactus accross the street. i have clippings from this big girl, but man was she in full on floral mode at 6:30 am the the other day. i also took a couple snaps of the other bathing beauties in the garden, the view i will miss so much more than anything else, the neighbors friendly dog...
but it is so time. i am ready for change. bring it.

excuse me i composted

one of the things i am most proud to say i do is compost. there is nothing quite like knowing that even if you were totally lazy about getting to that piece of fruit in time to eat it before it went bad that you can instead allow it to rest in peace and make magic in your compost. that is brilliant! recently with the chickens i have shifted my system a bit. now whatever edible thing has gone almost bad (too mushy or stale for me to eat, but not rotten) the chickens will eat. they are funny about scraps though. not everything you read is true for every chicken. some chickens love what others hate and vis versa. mine are totally obsessed with shrimp, rice, blue berries, figs and corn on the cobb. however there are so many things i read they would love that they don't really care for.
my point being though, the satisfaction that i got from the compost being my back up plan when feeling guilty about wasting food, well now the chickens also heal that guilt ridden feeling. plus all the shavings from their cage goes right into the ol' compost too.
my mom now sends me home with all kinds of treats for the girls. soon i will return the favor with a lovely bag of compost.



p.s. chickens also rock because they eat all the weeds in your garden. but they also love ferns, well at least mine do.




some helpful sites for information on starting your own compost...

howtocompost.org/compostguide.com/root simple

my babies

i was going to do a post with a simple introduction to my new chicken children and then a long list of coop designs i have been contemplating but i found myself so obsseed with every photo of them that i could barely edit down. so although this may seem like a whole lot of photos of 3 (very special might i add) chicks, you have to understand i really wanted to capture their personalities for you! clearly i have become like those mothers who can't stop snap snap snapping their camera away on photos of their human babies (although i already do this with my cats).

with all this said, its out, its public, i am a chicken mother! and a crazy one indeed! the story goes, my grandmother lent us some chickens for the dwell exhibit of designer coops, we also needed some teenage chicks to get that cute factor (not that big chickens aren't adorable). so my grandmother hooked it up. i took the little one's home every night. they would chat and gossip about the day SO LOUDLY in my car, then they would purr with sleepy noises. i fell in love. so in love. and now, i have chickens in my backyard.

there are 3. all hens (i think). i can't wait for the eggs and already am using the poop for the compost! each one is unique. i only know the breed of one of the chickens, so if you know what my other two are - name away! if you have any advice or tips or comments - share them too! i have been loving the blogs green frieda, root simple and poultry book store for all their chicken story telling.



alright, it is time. i introduce to you my baby chicks....

the big sister of the group, lucia. my grandmother named this little lady. she is the first reason i considered keeping the bunch. i held her and she fell asleep, purred. She is so pretty with her fancy long tail and always stays near me. i don't know her breed, but i know she is meant to stay relatively small. lucia made her first loud sound the other day and scared herself!


sinister steve, aka. stevie has become one of the most trusting of our chicks. She eats out of my hand, also stays close and is super noisy! she has kind of a sleepy eye from time to time, but it seems to be doing well now. i have really grown to see a whole other side of this little one. she really is a sweet chicken. but also very goofy! stevie has a pretty gold neck and black body. anyone know what kind of chick she is?


this name like the above was another doing of erick, my partner. part of the deal in keeping the chickens was that he got to name the two nameless little ones. he had all these punk rock names in mind (he still refers to lucia as juicy lucy), but somehow this little girl got the name fart face. rock n roll, huh. i say that her lady like name is fifi, but i admit, calling her fart face has stuck. she is the smallest of the bunch. the only breed i know the name of (plymouth rock). although she is close buddies with stevie, she is also known to be the most curious and wanders the farthest away (although she comes back running flapping her wings when she sees how far away she got). she also chases the other hens every now and then. i think fart face is just making up for being so little... now.



here she is running around far from the rest...


they love to run around in my yard free (started with the a metal gate first). erick plays guitar for them. they attract all kinds of other birds into the yard. they flap their wings around and jump as high as they can. soon i have to build them a proper coop. they currently reside in a LARGE dog kennel that is not exactly super great looking. by the way one of the other cool benefits of chickens, their diet. they eat so many leftovers! its fun to see what they are into and reject. two days ago they had yogurt. tasty but messy. they LOVE corn on the cob! and shrimp shells!

weed it

i worked my butt off yesterday on my messy little garden. our front garden has gone WILD! my neighbor and i did our best to stay calm considering that it was and still is somewhat full of stubborn weeds. we drank some white wine, played brazilian tunes, laughed it off. but it was HARD WORK and there is still plenty more to be done. i am however totally looking forward to it. my neighbor and i decied to get really ambitious and knock out this whole area that was overgrown with ice plant and clover and replace it with a raised bed full of tomatoes! however the process of getting these deep rooted weedy suckers out is going to be a major mission! it really makes you think about what tools you like and work best for you. so far my favorites are my garden hoe and warren hoe. but that also means i am just beating at that soil a whole lot. breaking it down, digging in, pulling out and repeat!


where we want to plant our tomatoes (excuse my silly fantasy drawing)....


the path was not existent and slowly coming into view again! i need to score some free mulch from the city - quick!


i am starting to research other tools and that was when i came across this bad boy...the "weed twister - More than a weeding tool...the Ergonica WEED TWISTER is a Weed Defense Weapon" - wooooweee!


anyone used this bad boy before? looks like its easy and cool but i want to hear your thoughts. what are your favorite tools for pulling weeds! how do avoid terrible back pain while pulling weeds (i try to apply some yoga moves here and there). what are your tried and true favorite tips for dealing with weedy suckers?

tell me!!! lets help each other!

by the way when i googled the weed twister in google images this came up... (classic).


p.s. for fun a helpful garden tool glossary i found - here!

the weekend

it was a busy busy weekend so this post is a bit scattered with images of a couple of my happenings. lots of cool things were done. started off with an all ladies performance at redcat, followed by the premiere party for emily henderson of secrets of a stylist. let me just say emily is wonderful! more on the lady fest on my other blog, squirrel hobbies.
the weather was COLD this weekend - alright cold for LA. we had snow in some parts of the valley! that is nuts! so my succulents are looking a bit red these days. i decided to shoot them in their rosey state. i also made a super giant terrarium for moi. i am working on getting my home camera ready and it is a ton of work. i did however score an awesome buffet that now serves as excellent terrarium display! in other treats to self my ma gifted me two awesome gardening books - more on that soon!