Tide Pools

We really have so many amazing places to discover here in California.  We are purposing to explore more of them. We never know how long we will live in this beautiful state.

I was so grateful this day that at the last minute Keith decided to come with us on this excursion.  We weren’t sure what to expect – some tide pools require some steep hiking down to the pools.  This place was very accessible, and the weather was very mild.  The kids had a blast with friends and cousins.

Beautiful seals sunbathing only 300 feet away

Kids enjoyed watching the seals slip into the water

They seemed to be wondering what we were up to

Kapena (5)

Attacked by seaweed

Kili (4) we brought boots, but everyone wanted to be barefoot

Hermit crabs galore

Let heaven and earth praise him,

   

the seas and everything that moves in them.

Psalm 69:34

Chicken Coop Prep

I have wanted chickens for a long time.  We eat a lot of eggs.  I think the quality of care for chickens that produce most eggs at the grocery store is awful.  

My ideal would be fully pastured eggs – and we have found a source for those.  Ordering can be a little hit and miss.   And there is, of course, the expense.  Pastured eggs go for anywhere between $5 to $7 a dozen.  

Keith had to dig 9 holes with the auger for our posts.
That was some good hard work!

We planned to get chicks ‘next spring’ (that would be now.)  Except that last fall we got word that my cousin was moving and needed to give up his 2 hens and a rooster by the end of November.  Did we want them?  As I recall, at the very same time, I said,’Yes!’ and Keith said, ‘No.’   Hmmm.  

Shed previously held Christmas decor and old file boxes.

Boys 'helping' dad

We had picked out the spot we wanted to build our coop.  Then, one day, I thought why reinvent the wheel? We decided to clear out my mom’s ‘Christmas shed’ and use the shed as the coop. (All Christmas do-dads were safely relocated to another shed.)

I quickly cleaned it out, and Keith got to work on building the pen around the shed.  It was actually, finally happening!  Very exciting!!

Got another one!

So five days later, the kids are playing outside... when they make quite a discovery!  They come across a mound of dirt....and a little guy - hard at work – digging – with his behind in the air – and none the wiser that he was now surrounded by some curious onlookers.

The kids ran in to tell us.  Keith went out with a shovel, but the kids begged him not to take the life of this new little guy.  “Dad, this is one of God’s creatures!”  To quiet all the hub-bub, Keith used the shovel to dig the little guy out (he dove for cover at the sound of all the ruckus!)  

 

 

 

 

The kids put him in a box, and I have to say, what a cute little guy!  We called Steve, the Trapper.  The kids hung out on the front porch with the little guy, waiting.  Steve, the Trapper said the little guy did seem to be unusually friendly.  It was tempting to keep him, but we sent him off with Steve, the Trapper.  

 

The kids were sad...for the moment....and then they were off to new adventures....

Got 'em!

We’ve had some gopher problems.  They’d been destroying our garden and lawn.  Keith finally called in Steve, the Trapper.

Steve, the Trapper, was great.  He explained to the kids all about the traps he uses and how they work.  

The next day – we got ‘em!  We were all very surprised at how little he was. 

  
For a little guy, he has huge teeth! 

Steve, the Trapper traps everything from gophers to raccoons to coyotes. He had a conference call to do later with folks in Southern California who were having trouble catching a coyote.  

This is a skill I'd love the boys to have.  Not alot of that kind of thing happening in our neighborhood.

Our Newest Addition

 This time our newest addition has four legs and a tail.  I’m not quite sure how this happened.  Keith has been talking about getting a puppy for quite some time, but so much has been going on in our lives... and I was not up for training a puppy.  I trained our lab mix, Maile, who is now about 11 years old.  The dog training school was expensive, but so valuable.  In no time she was trained to obey and heel while off leash. If only it was that quick and easy training children!

One day we were looking on the Pet Finder website just for fun.  Wow – there are lots and lots of dogs needing homes.  We found this guy – and he was not far from us.  He’d been rescued as a pup and is now about 5 months old.   Keith made plans to see him the next day.  We took the kids and visited a nice family who is a ‘foster home’ for rescued dogs.  They also had some little puppies – who were very tempting!!  If we were living on some acreage we would’ve gone home with at least two dogs.  

We had to ‘focus’ - and we definitely made the right choice.  We named him Gideon, although everyone had different ideas for names, so for the first couple of days he was called all kinds of things...Chip, Micah, Mordecai (Kapena’s choice.)  

Gideon has a wonderful demeanor, and has slowly won over Maile – the resident old lady.  He is still considered a puppy, but he is just old enough that we could read his personality.  He is great with the kids, he is already protective of them and our home, he is affectionate and friendly and is attaching to us very well.  Honestly, we didn’t give my mom much warning...about this new addition...but thankfully, Gideon won over Nani too!  

This pup has brought a welcome level of energy, curiosity, and newness into our lives. He and Kawika are the two 'littlest boys' in the house, and those two have become fast friends.  

Kawika crawls on the floor and Gideon licks him to pieces while Kawika laughs and giggles.  It will be fun to watch them grow up together.  

This new addition is a blessing!

Jumpin' Jack

Koa (6) found a new friend.  Of course, Koa, Mr. Social, is never short on friends.  He discovered Jack in our backyard.  This caused quite a commotion.  Everyone was very excited!  They quickly built Jack a habitat in our wagon.

I'm not sure when the pirate arrived on the scene, but this was not a moment to be missed by anyone.  Kapena (3) affectionately called the lizard 'Jackie.'

By late afternoon, Jack had escaped.  Yes, there were tears. 

Little ones were encouraged with thoughts of another lizard finding adventure...

Pasture-raised Pigs

Last Sunday after church, we took the kiddos down to TLC Ranch.  They were having an open farm day, so we thought it would be fun to check out where we get our eggs from!  Ranch owners Jim Dunlop & Rebecca Thistlethwaite had just moved to this new farm.  The chickens are going to stay at the old farm, so we didn't see them.  We'll do that next time.  We did get to see their amazing pasture-raised pigs.  What is pasture-raised?

piggy back ride anyone?

From TLC's newsletter:

For non-ruminant species like chickens and pigs, you can't raise them purely on grass because they can't break down that much fiber and get the nutrition they need to grow (or produce eggs).  However, our chickens & pigs regularly consume between 30-50% of their diet in the form of grasses, weeds, roots, organic vegetables, and critters of the pasture.  Pigs can also eat acorns and other large seeds or nuts.  If we had endless access to oak woodlands, we might be able to raise our pigs entirely on high-protein acorns & vegetation without giving them a grain ration (that is a dream of ours, someday).  For the time being, both our chickens and pigs get an additional organic grain ration to round out their nutrition on pasture, therefore they are called "pasture-raised".  Our Dorper lambs and the Morris beef we sell, however, is 100% grassfed because, as ruminants, they can survive & thrive purely on the vegetation they consume.  100% grassfed means no grain at any time.  Unfortunately, some meat out there is labeled "grassfed" but the animals still were finished on grain. 

Pasture-raised also signifies access to green, growing vegetation, which requires a rotational grazing scenario in order for the pasture to keep growing and not turn into a dirt lot or pure mud.  If the rancher you buy meat from cannot show you pictures of their animals on pasture, then they are likely hiding the fact that their animals are in outdoor dirt lots or pens.  Also, if they don't move their animals frequently, diseases and parasites will build up in the soil and in their manure, which may require the use of more antibiotics or antiparasitals. 

their 4 month old - our 9 month old

Kapena (3) is facinated by these huge 'medium sized' mama sows

Jim, the pig whisperer

I know it sounds funny, but the pigs were quite beautiful.  They were docile, and fun to be around.  The kids had a great time!  We didn't get to see the chickens this time, but we did go home with lots of eggs, sausage, bacon, and soup bones.  Yum!