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Goodbye Maude

Maude's Last Day in the Yard

Maude’s Last Day in the Yard

She grew up so fast since we brought her home just a few months ago… Sadly, she wasn’t with us long, but she brought us a lot of joy in the short time we knew her. The yard won’t be the same without her. =(

Les Verrines from Above

Les Verrines from Above

Les Verrines from Above

120 degrees of Les Verrines. (The view from my office.) Click through for QTVR media

It’s Maude.

Maude

Maude

Our new grey Toulouse goose. She’s more blue than gray for now, since her feathers haven’t grown in yet, but she’s already claimed her place as queen of the barnyard.

That’s Sweet & Sour in the background. (more…)

Ducks

Lena and 'Roasted'

Lena and ‘Roasted’

New family members again! The poultry village in the backyard just seems to keep on growing… The sudden appearance of the ducks certainly has nothing to do with the Les Hérolles market we went to this morning… Actually we came back six birds heavier, though we went with only the possibility of two ducklings in mind. But they were all so cute, and we couldn’t decide on the race… and we’re liberal type folk, so why not both? And we threw in two more chickens for good measure to bring the chook flock to a sturdy twenty even. Keep Reading…

Les Hérolles Market

A few photos from the Foire des Hérolles poultry market this morning. A somewhat surreal and overwhelming experience waking up at 5:00am and ending up surrounded by literally thousands of squawking chickens, ducks, geese, guinea hens, quails, turkeys, and every other imaginable fowl… (all squawking in French.)

Vendor and customer in front of market stall

Vendor and customer in front of market stall

Baby ducks for sale

Baby ducks for sale

Caged poultry being unloaded

Caged poultry being unloaded

Young chickens for sale

Young chickens for sale

Four Seasons

“The Road to Les Verrines” over the last year…

Spring

Spring

Summer

Summer

Autumn

Autumn

Winter

Winter


Eule’s Poussins

Eule with her Poussins

The new arrivals just keep on coming in Les Verrines- Just a few weeks after receiving our wonderful Easter present, one of our poussins from last year has now become a mom! Eule hatched eight beautiful fluffy little chicks who are now bumbling happily around the yard… Our chicken army has now reached it’s highest enrollment levels ever, now topping out at twenty-one! It’s been good to see all three generations together- Plus, we’ve confirmed that our cock has been doing his duties properly!

Eule’s been going about her motherly duties wonderfully, finding worms and teaching the little ones the ins and outs of being a chicken… However, Eule’s first day out in the yard proved that becoming a mother chicken might have a slight learning curve: (more…)

A Look Back at Winter

Now that winter is officially over, here’s a quick look back in pictures…

The view from the bedroom window in winter.

The view from the bedroom window in winter.

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Filou’s Igloo

Because snowmen are boring. Fighting long winter day depression.

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Snow in Les Verrines

La Chapelle du Mas Saint-Jean

La Chapelle du Mas Saint-Jean

Winter has been in full force in Les Verrines for the past few weeks… Dark days, lot of rain, and sometimes even some snow! After a week of unseasonably warm weather, the last week of February we found ourselves buried again under a fresh 25cm that’s still sticking around… Now the days are slowly growing longer, and there’s some warmer weather forecast for this week. Here’s to enjoying the snow while it’s around, and looking forward to SPRING!
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