All Moved In

Well the brooder didn't last long. They would have, if they were bigger or if the chickies didn't grow so fast! I swear every time I looked at them they were bigger. They outgrew their first brooder so quickly that I ended up splitting them in to two taller bins which they then outgrew in about two weeks. They got so  tightly packed that they were starting to fight. Obviously that's not good. After three days asking Ry to finish the coop and a day of hearing them fight too often, I finally decided it was time to take the finishing-the-coop task in to my own hands. Set out with a staple gun and chicken wire, I got to work. Ryan ended to joining me and together we got the fence done in about an hour and we moved the chickies in! 

They stil need the heat lamp at night and will probably need it for the rest of the week, but I just ran an extension cord out to the coop so all is well. 

Last night when it got cold and dark they were all in their run chirping away. Kien had to crawl in there and help each chick up in to the coop. They stayed there all night and around 7:00 this morning they were all back underneath in their run foraging away at the ground. It's such a cool thing for us; to finally have the chickens living in their coop which has been a project nagging at us (mostly Ryan) for like eight months. We're really good at procrastinating. 

Brayden loves to get in the run, and comes out a filthy poopy mess afterwards but it's nothing a little [or a lot] of soap can't fix. 

Apparently chickens LOVE lilikoi leaves. There are a few young vines near the chicken run, and one little shoot even grabbed on to the fence, and now the leaves are almost gone. I specifically put the vines near the run FOR the chicks so I'm okay with them butchering the leaves. It grows almost as fast as the chicks are so I'm not worried about it. 

I'll leave ya with this picture of the chicks eating another one of their favorites. Seeds from some random weed that grows in my grass 

Chickens are here!

Okay so it took me (ahem... Husband) a much longer time than planned to build the coop.

 Well it finally got finished enough to the point where I could ORDER MY CHICKS! I chose to order from a hatchery for a few reasons :

1- locally I couldn't find any of the breeds I wanted. I wanted good egg-layers that are social and friendly (very important with my crazy little boys). 

2- locals are charging way too much and also required a drive across the island (approx. 4 hours round trip). 

3- I wanted chicks, not teenagers, so they could grow up being handled from the get-go. Again, I need them good with the Littles. 

I chose IDEAL HATCHERY because they ship to Hawaii, shipping price was not exorbitant, and they didn't have insane minimum order requirements. They were also very friendly over the phone.  The only minimum involved spending $25 which came to 10 chicks. I figured some would die on the three-day trip to Hawaii so I would order extra chicks no matter what. 

My chicks hatched around 10 am on Tuesday, and I got the phone call from the post office at 8:30 am on Thursday that I had a peeping package to pick up. I was surprised and excited that my package got here so quickly!! AND every chick was alive. I'm very impressed with Ideal Hatchery! If I'm ever to do this from chicks again, I'll use them again. It ended up only costing $3.70 per chick, after shipping price and all. I have 10 now, but only intend on keeping three. Maybe four... But the coop was built for three. 

I got:

Rhode Island Red / Rhode Island Red

Rhode Island Red / Delaware

Rhode Island Red / Barred Plymouth Rock

Silver-laced Wyandottes

They will all be good egg producers and will hopefully be awesome little friends with the Littles.  They're currently living in a brooder, which is just a plastic storage bin next to the tool bench, and a brooding lamp clamped on the neighboring tool bench. It will only last about a week until I have to use a bigger bin, but considering the amount of crap and bins in my garage, I'm sure I have a perfect one. I have the old pet-block from the old back screen door laying across the top of the brooder so my cats can't get in. I've been constantly checking the temperature in the brooder just because I'm nervous about it getting too hot in the already-hot garage, but so far it's a steady 92 degrees under the lamp and the chicks seem happy and moving about, and drinking and eating lots. 

Here's a pic of one little gal getting a drink. I'll get in to my cheap and simple waterers in another post

YPO ... Waipio Valley, Valley of the Kings. With doTERRA, of course

Did an impromptu overnighter in Waipio this weekend. It was great, and some visiting family from Minnesota and Colorado were here (which actually spurred my short-notice plans to hit the Valley).  I also got to use doTERRA's TerraShield insect repellent blend for the first time.  Brayden got eaten up but of course it was BEFORE I coated him with oil. woops. Kien didn't get any bites after I applied on him. I also have to mention that it smells AMAZING. I was very kindly gifted a sample of the blend because I don't own it yet. If I did, I would have beautiful shots of the TerraShield bottle instead of these photos:

Lilikoi Garden, here you come

This past summer I had a major abundance of lilikoi thanks to my mother in law. Lilikoi is what is also called "passion fruit" to everyone else except Hawaii.  It grows on a vine and produces a sweet, tart, {did I say sweet?}, delicious fruit that you cut open and eat the kinda-gummy/slimy innards complete with crunchy seeds! Anyway, back to the story.  During that huge onslaught of lilikoi I was gifted, I ended up juicing them (by dumping the innards I just mentioned in to a metal mesh strainer and letting the juice separate from the seeds and leak through to my bowl below. I then dumped all the seeds along a small fence I have in my backyard.  I completely forgot about them and figured it was all for naught, when I swear to you three months later Ryan noticed a lilikoi sprout! I was so excited and surprised that a seed had taken.  Well I was even MORE surprised with a month later even more spung up!  In the last two weeks I have probably eight plants growing and growing healthily at that.  Now, the point of this story is that I dumped them along the fence where I now intend to house my chickens (at night and until they're old enough to free-range). Since I actually want to enjoy the fruits of my yard instead of donating them all to my flock, we need to move the vines. Ryan (with help from the Littles of course) transplanted them to another fence area today. I am so dang excited for them to grow up the fence and form a productive and treasure-producing hedge along that side of my yard. I expect some golden goodness sometime this year and will DEFINITELY share when I do <3. Share the news, stories, and pics, that is.  There's a slim chance I'll share my lilikoi ;)

Ryan and the Littles putting a lilikoi vine sprout in its new home

The sixth in the row of vine sprouts in their new home

Chicken frame!

Ryan started my coop! Unfortunately we weren't able to use the lumber I wanted to re-purpose from my parent's burned-down house.  The lumber was just too warped and kept splitting.  So Ryan did have to spend about $40 on 2x4s to frame up the coop.  Some plywood that my dad has had laying around for years is still going to be put on my coop as the walls and the base. 

Any progress is GREAT, especially since there's two weeks until Easter (Easter = Deadline, since that's when the chicks are coming home)

Chicken Coop: so close yet so much further

GREAT news! Ryan started building my chicken coop! It's great news because my intentions are to get chicks for Easter. That leaves us at T-minus...way too soon. It's way too soon because while framing up one wall, the lumber kept splitting. Even before it split, a lot of it was warped.  The best part (okay, other than the little cluckers themselves), was going to be that my chicken coop was going to be built entirely out of reclaimed wood from my parent's house which burned down last Christmas.  Now that Ryan has discovered the lack of usable wood that we acquired; I'm super bummed!!!!

I want to use reclaimed materials.

I want to save money.

I want the love of a 19-year home surrounding my little egg layers.

But now it seems like what I want wont be reality :(.  Ryan wants to go get new lumber. We'll see...


Just wanted to share my progress on my {lack of} Chicken Coop.

Now I leave you with this sign I came across on Pinterest but is actually from a really cute Etsy Shop, American at Heart:

{not} Skipping the Introductions

I was thinking about skipping the whole introduction post but decided that it's probably necessary to start off on the right (or left, if you prefer) foot. I don't talk about myself much, so I'll get it ALL out right now:

My name is Lyn.  I have two little boys and one big boy {my husband}.  The Littles {as I refer to my kids} are completely different kids for being brothers from the same genetic pool. Kien is a genius, and I'm not just saying that because I have mommy-eyes for him.  He's seriously so bright.  Brayden is average, which because Kien set the bar so high, I have to constantly remind myself that average is okay.  Kien likes to sit and play Legos all day. I know it's normal for kids his age (he is six, by the way) to be Lego-crazy but he definitely takes it to the next level, and he is crazy good at coming up with new things to build. He would rather be inside, whether it be playing Wii, Legos, Pokemon, or reading. Anything indoors and at home is all Kien wants to do. Brayden, my [lord help me] almost-two year old would rather scale the side of the house or run a few laps around the block.

I wear four hats when it comes to work, but thanks to my magnificent husband I am able to work from home.
1- I have a creative business, mainly focusing on kids' party invitations, but I also do flyers, business cards, brochures, advertisements, etc.
2- I have an accessory shop I run through Etsy, which right now only has earrings, necklaces, and rings, but I hope to expand on it in the near future.
3- I handle reservations for a vacation rental property company here in Hawaii, the company runs seventeen units so it's small but quickly growing
4- As of January 2013 I am a doTERRA Independent Product Consultant, so I am diligently working on growing my essential oil business

I'm also a pathological volunteer
1- I'm the area coordinator for AYSO soccer in my town.
2- I'm a co-Creative Activities leader for our local MOPS [Mothers of Preschoolers] group.
3- I write the PTSA Newsletter for Kien's school. Last year I was the secretary but I non-hesitantly gave up that role this school year.

Because my kids are still so young, I am learning something new about parenting every single day. I'm pretty sure that it's all the same stuff that all parents go through (or I just tell myself that to make me feel better) but I'll share experiences anyway, as long as they relate to my venture of going green.

Ah yes, about going green...

When I set my mind to raising free-range chickens in the backyard, I planned hard.  I totally love Raising Chickens For Dummies by the way. Especially since I literally knew nothing beyond the fact that roosters cock-a-doodle-doo and hens lay eggs. I want chickens for a few reasons: eat the bugs in the yard, eat the weed-seeds that are never ending, give me fresh eggs to eat, and so I can watch the Littles {especially Brayden} chase them around.  In the raising-chicken plan, we are at the point where the plans are drawn and materials are in my yard, now Ryan just needs to build me the coop.  My goal is to get three chicks as Easter presents.

The chicken-aspect has then led me to deciding to compost. Okay, it wasn't totally the chickens.  Every time I throw a banana peel or cucumber skin in my garbage, I cringe. We recycle, why wouldn't I compost?! Right. So that is going to be another adventure.

Getting rid of harmful chemicals! Okay this might even be a little touchy for some.  Ever since meeting my husband, Ryan {I think it's been about eight years} I have been learning through his mom the ways of hippy-hood.  Not the stinky, green smokin, long haired, flower child kind of hippy. But the all-natural, healthy eating kind of hippy. Thanks to her wisdom, I am quite proud of the fact that I have never been the type of mom to pull out the Tylenol at the first sign of fever.  I turn to  home remedies, natural alternatives, essential oils, and homeopathic medicine. There were products I ignorantly still used, like diaper rash cream on Kien (I learned better once Brayden hit a certain age) and Lysol disinfecting wipes until three years ago.

The hardest topic for me is eating healthy. Okay who am I kidding, I am not ever going to eat completely clean or green. I love food. But I CAN make a few healthier choices here and there, especially for my kids.  They don't drink juice. Kien thinks that, like beer, soda is a grown-up drink. They don't get gummy snacks, ever. I cringe even on the special occasion when they have candy. They never have crappy snacks on a day-to-day basis. I read ingredient labels like a nut job and veto anything and everything with high-fructose corn syrup and artificial dyes. I have been guilty of buying Cheetohs {the spiral puffy ones are my favorite} for a beach day, but it's gone in a day and we won't see the beautiful neon orange poison-filled twisties again for months.

OKAY! I think this novel covers everything related to me taking my family green(er). OH! We just signed contracts yesterday to go solar. We already have a solar water heater but we will be going full-solar now :) That's exciting for us.

NOW that is everything. right?

I hope that my adventure doesn't scare you out of going green{er} and that you can actually find some entertainment in my maniacal jibber-jabber. I will love to hear back with suggestions for alternatives that you use as well, all while I'm sharing my strategies.



go do something green{er} today!
Lyn