in the mountains of western North Carolina. Spring is definitely in the air. We’ve had a flock, yes, a flock, of 7-8 bluebirds hanging out in our yard for the past week. So stunningly gorgeous. The kids and Miss Kitty and I all took a walk down the country road not far from us today. Enjoyed playing in the field, talking with the cows and watching the Canada geese. Spent time sitting out on the front porch on my rocking chair, sans jacket of any sort! James worked at his job for four hours today, moving branches, helping his boss clear out the pond, etc. Getting ready for a nice big pot of spaghetti for dinner and homemade apple crisp for dessert.

Good morning everyone! Another beautiful Spring day here in western NC. Hearth Haven is bustling, as usual. We’ve gathered the eggs (11 this morning! Go girls!); watched the bluebirds catching grubs for their babies after the rain. The kids and I have dough for 3 loaves of bread rising in the pantry. Will probably do dough for 3 more loaves in a little while. Might have to make some more quiches to freeze to keep ahead of the eggs the hens are providing. Today the triplets, Meghan, Topher and TJ have their first reconciliation and then tomorrow morning, they will have their first communion. No baseball or softball games this weekend, so that’s a nice little break. Meghan is now the catcher for her team and doing an awesome job! No idea whatsoever where she got her athletic ability.

Going to get the rest of our garden planted this weekend, too. Our arugala, green beans, leaf lettuce, onions, beets, swiss chard and potatoes are all up and doing well. Going to plant more green beans, tomatoes, squash, carrots, cucumbers and herbs today. All our strawberry plants are growing splendidly. Can’t wait to start enoying the fruits and vegetables of our labors. The kids get so excited when the seeds they’ve planted break through the ground. What a learning experience for them. Our apple trees all seem to be doing well, too. That will be so awesome in a few years. In the meantime, we will continue our autumn tradition of going out to Hendersonville to Justus Orchards and picking apples for our applesauce, pies and apple butter.

One of our girls

Welcome back sunshine! So beautiful. Sitting in our rocking chairs on the front porch, enjoying our morning cups of coffee, Joe and I had a few minutes of quiet, welcoming in this gorgeous sunny Sunday together. Watching the petals from the weeping cherry trees flutter to the ground like snowflakes, listening to the chickens cluck in their pen (they, too, are happy to see the sun), taking in the rich green of the grass-which will soon, very soon, need to be mowed, watching the stunning male bluebird catch the grubs and fly back into the tree to enjoy his breakfast. Oh, yeah! Spring in the mountains of western North Carolina. Loving it.

In case you aren’t aware, chickens are pretty much like pigs with wings. Every night after dinner, the kids ‘slop’ the chickens with the table scraps. Not just veggies, but pasta (think about it, spaghetti looks a lot like worms!), meat and poultry bones, leftover bits of meat, you name it, they love it! Our oldest son said the other day that when they do start laying eggs, we’ll need a chisel to break the egg shells. No doubt. We even crush up egg shells to provide them with the grit and calcium they need. They are the first stage in our compost pile. After we mow the lawn, they get the clippings sprinkled around their pen. As we feed them our leftovers, they create, well…..which drops into the clippings. Every few weeks, we clean out their pen and put the ripe clippings in our compost pile. (You cannot put chicken droppings directly into your garden as it will burn your plants.) It’s an awesome recycling system!

Just came in from feeding all the birds; the wild birds and our girls (our nine chickens). They are busy, busy. Especially the wild birds. You can definitely tell that fall is in the air. All the youngsters are learning how to eat on their own, but moms and dads are still overseeing, but from a further distance. It’s time for the little ones to be on their own.

Our chickens are growing by the day. We’re looking forward to fresh eggs, probably around Christmastime. That will save some money. But above that, there’s nothing like fresh ‘real’ eggs. The shells don’t crack when you put them in boiling water and the yolks are the most beautiful golden color. Yum!

Our Girls