Mabel is our special new hen. We are not sure of her exact breeding but she definitely has Araucana in her because she has just started laying delightful delicate blue eggs - just in time for Easter!
She is even more special because she came to us with a broken leg, and she has developed a great hopping routine that will now be with her for life.
We have four new hens altogether after the old ones were ravaged by a bobcat! Yes, a bobcat! We saw him, and certainly saw his fresh tracks in the snow.
Sao we now have 4 different hens. Buddy, a Red Sussex Cross, Tails, a Rhode Island Red (and a bit of a bully!), Foghorn, a white leghorn, and Mabel. 

Despite my best intentions another year has flown by with out writing a darn thing since early Spring.

We have now come full circle from protecting the garden as the bulbs came up, to pre-protecting more that 1,100 bulbs planted over the last month. If they all come up it will be a stupendous show of crocus, daffodils, narcissi and others!

2015 was, as it seems every year here is, a year of changes!

Kharimha, my horse, moved to 100 Mile to enjoy her 'for-ever' home with Lynne. It was a tough decision, but once she had to move from the adjacent land we leased and was boarded in Naramata she missed daily human contact.
We lost Lucie, our old, old black and white cat in the Spring, and since we had already lost Levi the Fall before, we are pelts for the first time since we got married, except for the chickens!

The Studio came on-line in and proved very popular, being rented almost constantly from May on, with even a guest staying for the winter. 

Work-aways were again a big part of our year - we love the energy they bring into our lives, not to mention all the help the offer. It is always so good to have an extra pair of hands to help with the Cabana, and now the Studio. 
Lucie from Czech Republic (who came for 2 weeks and stayed for 9!) Ella and Sam, Cora and Micael (UK), Charles (France), Jonas, Simon, Philipp and Kalle (Germany) were other great helpers in 2015. We also found Francine who looked after the Cabana and our property in September so we could travel and enjoy France in the good weather. It was the first time for a vacation "in the season" in 14 years so was a real treat!

The big project at the moment is creating a full kitchen for the Cabana. It will add a full-size fridge, induction cook-top and micro/convection oven, larger sink and more counter space.



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I was being watched closely and my work of laying down chicken wire secured with bent pieces of wire coat hangers. 

I am hoping that since they can't get their feet to scratch through the wire, they won't do as much damage and eventually plants will just grow through the wire.

Of course this does not stop them from tromping over it with their big feet!

What a year of change!  
The owner of the land around us has started to build his dream house, unfortunately right next to ours! We always knew it would happen one day!
Of course Matthew has risen to the challenge and has put up creative, tall fencing around our property. In  fact we now have more privacy than before, but a little less land!
For me, one of the toughest parts was having to give up the lease on the land where the barn, chickens and horse were. The horse is now boarded out, the barn may be dismantled as we are using barn boards for some of the fencing! The chickens have been moved to the upper garden, closer to our bedroom!
There is a new vegetable garden to the left of the drive which has a good load of compost in it ready for the growing season.
There are no changes at the Cabana! However, at least for this year we will not be offering a venue for weddings.

Welcome back to life here! 
The chicks are now chickens. Still not getting an egg a day from each chicken, and they are still small, but they have been keeping us, and our guests and friends in eggs for a while now!
We still have one of the old flock left. As per tradition, as the elder hen, she is Henny Penny!!
Most afternoons they wander around, mainly in the vegetable garden, but they have been seen poolside upon occasion! We have to be careful to keep the door to their enclosure closed if Kharimha is out. She is addicted to layer pellets, and will dismantle the feeder to get them! We thought we had the solution - we put the feeder in the closed tack room. That worked, well sort of! She still went in, decided there must be pellets in the waterer. She basically destroyed the container trying to liberate the non-existant layer pellets! Cost me $65 for a new waterer!

There are zucchini and potatoes aplenty, beets both red and gold, parsnips and carrots in the garden. The hot weather veggies - eggplants, tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers are all producing steadily. Red and yellow onions and garlic are all harvested and drying. Time to get some cool crops started so we have some Fall greens.
Perhaps the greatest threat to the veggie garden this year has not been weeds, but sunflowers! They look so healthy when they start coming up, I don't have the heart to pull them out. Then before I know it, they are shading the raspberries, garlic and onions from water and sun! Every year I say 'next year I will be more hard-hearted and pull 'em out as babies'. Won't happen!! But the house is full of vases of wonderful sun flowers. There is a good up-side!

Despite having a condo, the chicks are growing apace and getting messier and messier!

They are at a very gawky stage at three weeks old. Their wings are well developed, but their back and neck feathers are coming in slowly. 

This little gal is taking in the world from the edge of their house. Note : bum out. Where does the poo go you may wonder? Yup. On the floor. And dust. Oh, my, the dust. All over the house. Serious Spring Cleaning time after they move out!!

Ours has never been a shoes off house, but not it is for sure shoes on, if you intend to visit the chicks!

So! The last few days have seen Matthew and Enrico working hard to create a safe outside place for them.

The hay area in the barn was selected for ease to predator proof, rather than to restrain the gals. I wish I could keep the sparrows out too, but they seem to be able to get through the tiniest gaps to eat chicken food!

We will be able to rig up a light out there, and will move them in their cardboard condo. The plan ultimately is for them to move into the wooden crate that brought our circular stair from Italy years ago! A good re-purpose-ing. We knew it was too good to throw out!!

The chicks are growing so fast, it was time to extend their house yesterday. Thanks to Sears giving us a big box, Matthew built on a whole new exercise yard! 
The chicks are a little suspicious of it, but I think they will move out there pretty quickly, as long as we can keep it warm enough. They still need temperatures of 90 degrees, until Wednesday when they will be 2 weeks old, then the temperature can go down to 85. At 3 weeks old they can handle a chilly 75 degrees, which is when we should be able to move them outside, as long as they still have the heat lamp.
10% of the chicks left to a new home in Princeton yesterday, but they didn't seem to be missed by the rest of them, just gave a bit more wing space to those remaining.
I can't believe how much they eat, but when you see how fast they grow it is understandable. Their wings are quite fully formed now, with feathers not fluff, and they are all starting to get tail feathers. They are fascinating and such fun to watch!

My seed potatoes arrived yesterday so now they are sitting out chitting on the window ledge. The chicks took second place today, as I got out and started raking leaves inspired by a bright blue sky!!
Also managed to get some seeds planted yesterday - broccoli, yellow and purple heritage tomatoes, more spinach and head lettuce. 
I am very grateful to Thomas, our house-sitter for the winter, for getting some heritage red tomatoes, spinach and arugula going, not to mention the lettuce he started that we are already picking. The new green room is working just like it was supposed to! 

Lovely to have Angelique tulips flowering in there too, wafting out a wonderful heady scent. Speaking of scents, the daphne is in full bloom and is glorious. I have been pruning liberally so there is lots all over the house, and in the Cabana.

It is hard to believe the speed they are growing. They are starting to get wings. The day they arrived they could climb inside the feeder, now they can only get their heads in.

We have moved the box into the TV room, and that is helping keep the temperature more stable.

When we went to bed last night, I was sure that one little one would not survive the night. This morning I couldn't tell which one she was. Same for all the pasty bums. All healthy and chipper.