Chickens Not Included in the Count (our newest chicks, hatched September 2009)
Bird and nature fans throughout North America are invited to take part in the 13th annual Great Backyard Bird Count, which started yesterday and continues through Monday, February 15, 2010.
A joint project between the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the National Audubon Society, and (new this year) Bird Studies Canada (BSC), this free event is an opportunity for families, students, and people of all ages to discover the wonders of nature in backyards, schoolyards, and local parks, and, at the same time, make an important contribution to conservation.
Anyone can take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count, from novice bird watchers to experts. Participants count birds for as little as 15 minutes (or as long as they wish) on one or more days of the event and report their sightings online at www.birdcount.org. The data helps researchers understand bird population trends across the continent, information that is critical for effective conservation.
Last year, participants turned in more than 93,600 checklists online, creating the continent's largest instantaneous snapshot of bird populations ever recorded.
All participants are entered in a drawing for prizes that include bird feeders, binoculars, books, CDs, and many other great birding products.
You'll find lots more info about this neat event on the Great Backyard Bird Count website, and you can learn more about birds in general at All About Birds. In addition, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology have just created WeLoveBirds.org, a space for bird enthusiasts to meet each other, interact, and share stories in the Community Blog and the Bird Sightings sections.
Feel like counting some chickens first? You'll find links to lots of chick pics here.
© 2010 FarmgirlFare.com, the flying foodie farm blog where, if you look closely, you can see the mama hen just to the left of that nesting box (aka a plastic milk crate), peering in at her new babies and trying to figure out how the heck she went from sitting on top of them to sitting next to them. Don't worry—I only moved her for a few seconds so I could check the chicks and snap some pictures, then I plunked her back in place. None of the other eggs hatched, but these four now nearly grown up chickens are all doing fine—except for the fact that at least two of them are definitely roosters.
Okay, Maybe Not (but at least it wasn't up to her belly)
Want to see more of Robin (aka Scarface)? She usually has a big old grin on her little beagle face.
© Copyright 2010 FarmgirlFare.com, the memory lapsed foodie farm blog where last month I posted a dose of cute called Cold Backs, Warm Hearts. It was two photos, but there were actually supposed to be three. Better late than never, the forgotten third one is now up—just in case some of you can't get enough of dogs in snow. And for those of you wondering about Scarface up there—she's had that scar on her snout since she was a pup, and we're pretty sure it came from a tangle with a poisonous copperhead snake. Our bad ass beagle is small, but she's tough. And although she's mostly retired these days, she still desperately despises donkeys on a very busy, full-time basis.
On Guard
Want to get to know our big dogs better? You'll find lots more Daisy photos here and Marta photos here. A pileup of 2010 snow photos is here.
© 2010 FarmgirlFare.com, the well patrolled foodie farm blog where there's nothing better than a big white livestock guard dog, except two big white livestock guard dogs—or one big white one and one sorta white one. Her full name is Marta Beast, her latest nickname is Marta the Mess, and as soon as the weather warms up she's getting sheared. Unfortunately our sheep shearer says he doesn't do dogs. In the meantime, my hunky farmguy Joe likes to point out the bright side: "If you were a coyote, wouldn't you be terrified of her?" Definitely.
© Copyright 2010 FarmgirlFare.com, the eating for two (all those sheep in the pictures, silly—not me!) foodie farm blog where I don't know about you, but it sure looks to me like my hunky farmguy Joe is petting a ewe or two in that last photo—which is something he'd definitely never be caught dead doing.
That Would Be Whiskers
Want to see more of him?
7/24/09: We Have a New Farm Cat!
10/1/09: Cat Cart
11/4/09: Sky High Kitty
© Copyright 2010 FarmgirlFare.com, the no fear of heights foodie farm blog where it takes a lot more than a little snow and ice to keep this guy—who just keeps getting fluffier and fluffier—down on the ground, though for safety's sake he does use a ladder to climb up and down. (Now if only I could get a picture of that!)
Sheep Don't Tweet—We Bleat
I know, I know. I'm the only person who isn't on Twitter—well, besides my hunky farmguy Joe (and don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen). Even now I'm not really on it. Since I'm already constantly behind replying to e-mail and blog comments—not to mention posting all those backlogged recipes!—I don't think starting to tweet would be such a good idea.
But some of you have asked me to announce each new blog post on Twitter, and I'm happy to oblige. You'll find Farmgirl Fare on Twitter here, and In My Kitchen Garden here. I'm also hoping to post much more often on In My Kitchen Garden this year, but of course I said that last year, too (and probably the year before).
In other exciting organizing news (it doesn't take much to get us excited around here), the 'Visit My Kitchen Garden' link in the upper right sidebar on Farmgirl Fare, which currently is a close-up lettuce photo, now goes directly to the In My Kitchen Garden homepage, for those of you who wanted to be able to easily pop over there. And the 'Visit My Food/Farm Blog' link in the upper left sidebar (with the lamb sitting in his 'boat' photo) on In My Kitchen Garden still goes to this homepage.
As for those of you wondering about this photo, that is indeed my baby Cary, who will be (gasp) turning four years old in May. She's happy and healthy and still enjoys haughtily ignoring me most of the time, though she's well aware that she still holds special priviliges and will break away from the flock and storm the treat room door any chance she gets.
I decided not to breed Cary again this year because of the traumatic experience with her first pregnancy. As much as I'd love to have a Cary baby, I just don't want to take the chance of losing her—and since there's no reason I have to breed her, I'm not going to, at least for now.
© Copyright 2010 FarmgirlFare.com, the way beyond nippy foodie farm blog where it's no suprise that the incoming water pipes are frozen and there's a mound of ice sprouting up from the shower drain in the bathroom—the thermometer outside read minus six degrees this morning. Brrrrrr! But as long as we don't have to do this again (and I use 'we' in the most general of terms here), things should be fine.
