Maine vacation - Part two

Day one in Maine: Monday

Sleeping in - okay, my mom gets up at 5:30 or something like that so when I woke up and finally got out of bed I thought it was late - only to discover it was 6:30am.  That was my routine for the rest of the vacation - get up at 6:30, chat with mom and her partner J.R., have coffee, read paper, do crossword puzzle, sit on porch.  Monday was spent relaxing and getting reacquainted with the chickens.  Last year, mom let the chickens run free so they would come up on the porch and peck my red toenails, thinking they were juicy bugs.  Unfortunately, one of her chickens was snatched last summer, the theory being it was a fisher.   One of her cats was also killed last summer, presumably the same fisher.  Fishers are a member of the weasel family.  There was an article in the Boston Globe this summer about increased attacks by fishers on house pets in the Boston area.

Back to the chickens.  I painted my toes pink this year hoping to ward off the chickens and their pecking only to discover that they are no longer allowed to roam free.  Mom takes them out of their coop every morning and brings them down to the lower yard to be in their pen.  They don't seem to mind.

Mom, spreading lettuce for the girls.  This is their coop.  It's attached to the barn

The girls are so spoiled - carried back to their coops.

Emma and Clara.  Emma is the human

This is either Clara or Chloe.  They are twins and hard to tell apart

Mom also keeps bees.  Here are her hives. I came home with several jars of honey

My honey

Mom owns the house next door too so she's created her gardens in between the two properties

Garage with greenhouse and gardens

The chickens the next morning, ready to fly the coop

These girls lay brown eggs - the color of the eggs is determined by the breed of chicken.  In New England, the eggs you buy in the store are primarily brown so that is what I am used to.  I buy brown eggs and pay more for them for some reason.

Emma and mom, leading the girls to the lower yard

Run away girls!!  Be free

Their pen in the lower yard

Girls in their daytime pen

Mom's vegetable garden - bigger than mine

New greenhouse being built