Home Again,

Home again, jiggity jig….. I don’t remember how the rest goes. Something about a pig. My grandmother used to bounce me on her knee and say the whole thing. Can’t recall now. Maybe I will look it up. Anywho, I have returned to my cozy little home on my overstuffed island. There are people everywhere and feel the island will sink soon from the weight of them all and their huge SUVs. But, our little patch is a peaceful respite. I will do a post of my trip to Vermont this week sometime. Today is an update on the goings on while I was gone.

First and foremost, Husband cleaned the house! And I don’t mean he vacuumed and tidied, but Cleaned. There was dusting and scrubbing and lots of sparkle. He even repainted the window in the bathroom shower and scrubbed the kitchen floor. He cleaned the trash barrel in the kitchen so it looks like new. I keep finding new things. He is truly amazing and he’s all mine. >sigh<

Betty and Doris best buds sharing a cucumber

The chickens fared the heat wave pretty well under Husband’s attentive care. He changed the frozen water bottles in the house twice a day, gave them cold fresh water with ice cubes, and would spray down the patio for them to splash around in when he was home from work.

Doris has started laying on a regular basis now. Despite the heat, both Betty and Doris are giving us one egg each every day. Which is amazing from what I have read on other blogs and from talking to other chicken keepers. The goddesses should start laying in late August or September.

Doris and Betty also acquired new jewelry in the form of ankle bands from the state inspector that came last week. 

Each has a registration number typed on them that will be filed under our name with the test results and our NPIP certification number once we get it. I received the test results a couple of days ago by email that they are clean and I just need to get the goddesses tested when they are old enough and the whole flock can be NPIP certified. In her email the inspector said that all our birds looked very healthy and well cared for.

 

You may be wondering why we would go through the testing process when we only have six birds that stay here and never leave. Well, if I ever needed to rehome one, state law says they need to be tested before being introduced to a new flock or traveling off my property. A certificate is needed if I wanted to enter them in the fair. Though, I will not be entering them. I think that would probably be too stressful .

 

Also, selling and bartering eggs is important to us and having a tested flock puts a lot of people at ease. Proper egg handling and chicken care is just as important as having a tested flock when it comes to sharing your eggs with the public.

 

The farm that I barter eggs at sells my eggs with their eggs and other farmers’ eggs that have bartered. They have more demand than supply and have a public stand. It’s sort of like a co-op. We get the same price the host farmer gets for the eggs toward meat. It’s on an invitation only basis. That farmer trusts that each of the farmers she has invited to barter with keeps the same standard of chicken and egg care she does with her own flock. I feel having a tested flock is another layer of assurance for her.

 

It seams that is all that occurred in my absence. There will be another attempt at butter this week. I leave you today with the rhyme I couldn’t remember:

 

To Market

To market, to market, to buy a fat pig.
Home again, home again, jiggety jig.
To market, to market, to buy a fat hog,
Home again, home again, jiggety jog.
To market, to market, to buy a plum bun,
Home again, home again, market is done.