Yes, we have more chickens….

Posted on by Jen

Honestly, we haven’t lost our minds. We are just working to grow our homesteading efforts to provide more home grown food for us and our community. That effort includes raising meat birds for the first time.

Two weeks after the arrival of our 24 new layer chicks, we received a shipment of our 60 Husky Red Rangers. I’ll admit that the new arrivals have me a bit overwhelmed. We’ve had some challenges with the new chicks and we’ve had a larger loss than we expected over the weekend. We currently have 40 live chicks here after week one, and 10 of those have pasty butt.

No one tells you that, as a chicken farmer, you’ll possibly have to clean chicken’s butts, but here I am, at least once a day, doing just that. Carefully cleaning hardened chicken poo off of these little guy’s butts to make sure their vents stay clear to try to avoid the loss of more chickens.

Continue reading Yes, we have more chickens….

Chick Update and a Quest for Quiche

Posted on by Jen


It’s been super busy here at Daisy Bee & the Moon Farm. A couple of weeks ago we added 24 new layer chicks to the flock. During this video I’ll be showing you our brooder set up and give you a sneak peak to the new additions.

Many of my friends have asked: what are you going to do with all those eggs? Well, I’m definitely experimenting with different egg based recipes, but a solid one is quiche. Not only can I use the eggs I’m not able to sell, but I can also clean out my fridge of any veggies hanging around. And the best part? I can knock out 10 quiche in a day and freeze them to save for those weeks I’m tired of my protein shake or for when we have visitors.

For my first attempt, I started with Quiche Loraine using pork from the pig we bought which was raised next door. Nothing really special about the recipe, I Googled for the recipe and found one by Betty Crocker and just ran with it. I now have my Mom’s recipe, so I’ll be playing with that down the road.

We had the quiche for breakfast the next day and it didn’t disappoint, but I plan to play with the recipe, including adding different ingredients.

What are other egg-centric recipes you prefer?

Our 60 meat birds arrived this weekend, so I’ll be providing another update hopefully in the next couple of days. Things sure will be busy here with potentially over 90 or so chickens

Virtual chicken coop tour of Coop Mahal

Posted on by Jen

We’ve started this little homestead, or hobby farm, whatever you wish to call it. We call it Daisy Bee & the Moon Farm. Right now, it is just chickens and a large garden, but we have dreams of expanding.

Continue reading Virtual chicken coop tour of Coop Mahal

Island Eats: Noshing on noodles

Posted on by Jen

My concept of distance has changed since moving from Dallas where it used to take 20-30 minutes to get to our most convenient haunts.

Continue reading Island Eats: Noshing on noodles

Relief from rain and darkness 

Posted on by Jen

After a dry September we welcomed the weeks of rain that October brought us. Wild fires raged to the north and south of us and the crispy grass around our property made us uneasy. After just a few days of rain though, the brown landscape began to turn lush again.

And then we began to lose daylight.

Last year the lack of light didn’t bother me, perhaps because I was still in my PNW honeymoon period. This year I’m finding it difficult to get up in the mornings. I haven’t even been to my Master Swim class since September. Some of that is related to east coast work meetings, but honestly, I can’t blame east coast clients for missing all of October.

It’s hard to get motivated on dark mornings. Add rain to the mix and I just want to snuggle deeper under the covers.

The past week however, we’ve had a reprieve. The mornings are still dark and days are still shrinking, but we’ve had sun and relatively warm weather. Saturday gave us clear skies and 60 degrees which made for a beautiful Ebey Bluff to Beach hike. I even took of my shoes and soaked my feet in the Sound.

Yesterday afternoon we enjoyed a hike in South Whidbey State Park. The setting sun filtering through the branches of the towering Cedars released the stress from the long day of work. This is why we moved here: to be more active than an hour at a gym in a city allows, to be outside, to breathe clean air….to explore. I’m reminded that I need these forest baths possibly more often in the fall and winter.

Hikes have been less muddy and the recent sunny skies have helped me adjust to adding layers when I head outside. Perhaps Mother Nature is showing some kindness in my second PNW year….easing me into the wet winter and reminding me she has treasures even when skies are dark and stormy.