When we built the chicken coop last summer, I convinced Mr. Hook Organics to make it about three times larger than we thought we would need (patting myself on the back for thinking ahead). After all, we agreed that we would only buy 12 chickens. Oh how naive were we, considering we live only 20 minutes from Meyer Hatchery. Chickens are like potato chips; you can't just have a few, but they're so delicious! Well...it's barely a year later, and we (and our 60+ chickens, turkeys, ducks, and guineas) have outgrown the coop - say what?? Well, crap, now we have to build a new one. So, the beautiful little chicken coop shown above, with the cute little cupola on top, is about to become obsolete. Perhaps we will use it for naughty chicken time-outs or for breeding my cream legbar hens, but I just can't fathom selling it yet. On to the new building. This time, I want a full blown, honest-to-goodness, B-A-R-N. One about three times larger than we think we'll need, as Mr. Hook Organics has a long-standing habit of filling every out building and empty space in our yard with his "junk." A metal pole barn is in the works, and I am begging for a concrete floor that will make cleaning the coop so much easier. We plan to have a separate pen for the laying hens and meat chickens/turkeys, a pen for a couple poison-ivy-eating goats, and space for my small Holland lop rabbitry, Hook's Hollands. We broke ground this weekend, and wouldn't you know, we got three inches of rain overnight, turning everything into a muddy swamp. This pleased the kiddos...and the ducks.
As Mr. Hook Organics works on the structure, I am set with the task of selecting the siding color. Easy, right? Well, I made the mistake eight years ago of picking mint green siding for our main barn (thinking it would coordinate with our house...it doesn't), and now I have to look at this eyesore with regret every day. This time, I want a neutral color that doesn't scream redneck. Of course, they don't have the same cream color siding we have on our barn roof, so I need to introduce yet another shade to our hodge podge landscape. On a positive note, I have some sweet solar lights to hang on the new barn. That's not redneck, is it?
2 Comments
Connie Filarski
1/5/2018 07:29:03 pm
Your Aunt Linda and Uncle Bob's Christmas letter inspired me to search for Hook Organics! It looks wonderful (no surprise to me), so naturally I checked your blog and watched the video. Congrats to all the Hooks for you are so creative and industrious. I predict much success along with growth galore - overgrowth? Never....I think the entire endeavor will have a lasting positive influence on your young men who, but the way, are getting so BIG and as handsome as I remember them. May 2018 be good to you all. Sending you lots of our AZ sun and our OR rain as you need both - in moderation, of course! Connie
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Diane Hook
1/6/2018 08:54:34 am
Hi Connie. So good to hear from you! Yes, we are always into some project on the farm. Last spring, we added goats to the menagerie, and my son trained one for a pack/harness goat for 4-H. We also currently have 11 German shepherd puppies!
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AuthorIt all started when my husband ran over a guinea. Yep, it wasn't bluffing. In my search to replace it, I discovered a major hatchery just a stone's throw away from our farm. They sold chickens that laid green eggs...what??? We bought six hens. A year later, we have about 50 chickens, 20 turkeys, 15 guineas, and 5 ducks. My husband and his father also farm our property, and we're trying to do everything organically. Archives |