Yesterday I ordered some chicks from Sand Hill Preservation Center. I am really excited about this; I love the work they do and their ongoing, successful effort to maintain, preserve and distribute rare breeds of poultry and seed varieties which are nearly impossible to find anywhere else. I really wanted to get Chanteclers, but chicks for this rare breed, which is in danger of being lost altogether, are $6.00 each. I haven't raised chickens from day old chicks before, and while losing chicks of any breed would be really sad, losing rare, expensive chicks that I've dreamed about getting for the past couple years would be heartbreaking. So instead, I ordered the Super Assorted chicks, which will still contain some rare breeds, but cost less than a dollar each. These will be my learning curve chicks, should start laying by late winter, and will be laying while I'm raising the Chantecler chicks next spring.

The corn is doing well in my garden at the blueberry farm. This is flour corn, so I can use it for cornmeal and or feed it to the chickens! Will also plant some winter wheat this fall. And in case you're wondering...no, I haven't succumbed to getting goats again...yet.