Humming Bird

I was out re-filling the wild bird feeders today when I saw a humming bird. It was less than three feet away between the branches of the crab apple tree. I don't know if the bird feeders or the butterfly garden attracted it but I'm sure glad did. It was very tiny and very dark looking. It didn't 'flutter' or 'flit', it hovered and darted on occasion. It was a pretty cheeky little thing, didn't seem at all frightened of me. I have an old humming bird feeder hanging around somewhere, I'm going to root it out and see if I can find out how to make sugar water for humming birds. Can't be that difficult, can it?

Introducing Leah!

I have a new chicken! Yes, I know, I need another chicken like I need a hole in my head, but this is a very special chicken (really). And since I bartered a broody hen for her, it's not like there's one more chicken, it's just a different chicken. The numbers stay the same, never mind if the number is too high to start with.

Leah is about a year old and she is not a dual purpose chicken, she is a layer. When Don first saw her in the coop, he mentioned she wasn't the prettiest looking bird in the world. In the shade, she does look a very plain black. But in the sun, when the rays catch her feathers, beautiful iridescent colours emerge, mostly in different shades of translucent green, from deep grass green to sea foam. She puts a disco ball to shame. She just shines in the sun. Unfortunately, try as I might, I couldn't get the camera to catch the glints of green.

So why did I really want this chicken? Because she lays green eggs. Dr. Seuss has come back to haunt me. Leah is an Ameraucana also known in some circles as an Easter Egger because the eggs come in a variety of colours. While Leah lays green eggs, others will lay blue, violet, etc. eggs. There's a big discussion how true Ameraucanas will lay only blue eggs, all the other colors are from mixed birds but as far as I'm concerned I'll let the purists figure that one out and I'll just enjoy my green egg laying chicken.

Garden Surprise

Last week I finally went off to the garden, hoe and rake in hand. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny. A perfect day that certainly didn't need any extras but I got two.

Nestled under my budding raspberries I found a red leaf lettuce growing. It is just perfect. I have no idea how it survived the winter or if it just sprouted sometime this spring. It seems very well developed for a sprout. My guess is that it didn't completely die and started growing under the warm sun.

I wandered around the garden with a big smile on my face marvelling over my discovery. I looked down and found a whole batch of sunflower sprouts, about 1 - 2 inches high in a perfect circle. They are growing right in the grass just beside the garden. The remains of an old sunflower head, white and dry, can be seen in between the green fresh seedlings. The sunflower head must be a left over from the "Almost Season". Somehow left behind last November as the cold winds and frost chased me from my beloved garden. Likely it had been covered by leaves, saving it from the human urge to clean up the gardens to make them look decent. I am going to leave them there until they get a little bit bigger then transplant them.

I love Spring surprises.