Eretz Elana

Goat

4 month old Sebastian.

It's warming up in Wisconsin!

The weather has been warming up and the chickens have been enjoying life in the shade a lot lately.

The Chicken House

Here is our Chicken Coop. I designed it myself and built it with my brother and his friends. I've been really trying to learn how to do more woodworking so it was important to me to learn how to do it myself. We used some recycled pieces to keep cost down- boards found in the garage and on Craigslist, latches recycled from an old fence.

Inside the Hen House....

Elana's Blue Silkie Chicks

Sometimes I enjoy sharing some of the other parts of my life, like the tiny farm in my backyard.  These three-week old cuties are blue Silkie Chicks.

Silkie Chickens are one of the oldest of the rare breeds of poultry. It is said that Marco Polo wrote about seeing Silkies in the Orient in 1200 A.D. during his travels. They are a mini-chicken, or "bantam" and they are one of the most docile and sweet tempered of all the chicken breeds. In fact they are so sweet-natured, they will take care of eggs and chicks from different breeds.

Their feathers are missing the barbules that hold them into the traditional rigid feather so their feathers appear to look like hair. They also have black skin, black bones, feathers on their five toes, and light turquoise almost iridescent looking earlobes. They come in several interesting colors; white, black, splash, blue, lavender, red, gray, partridge, and buff. My little chicks here are blue... I also have splash and lavenders.

 
 

Dairy Cows

My neighbor's dairy cows.

   

Wild Turkeys

There is a rouge band of Wild Turkeys that likes to hang out in my yard every so often.  There are around 20-25 of them and every time I speak of their existence, people accuse me of being on one of my famous Acid Trips. Well you jerks...I finally have some photographic proof taken this morning.

By doing a google search I learned that Wild Turkeys are allover Wisconsin after being re-introduced here in 1976. The WI DNR made a trade with the state of Missouri...their fantabulously amazing Turkeys for our ruffled grousse. And alas, THAT is the reason Elana now has Turkey poo allover her driveway.

Wisconsin Dept of Natural Resources TURKEY Webpage

Up Close & Personal with the Deer

Apples

It's a beautiful time for apples in Wisconsin.

Ducks

Ducks last November.

Pierre the Hedgehog

My brother brought over his hedgehog, Pierre this morning.

Vintage Duck

Mr Quackers once again. The ducklings that I raised last summer.

More Udderly Fantastic Cows

Calves

I stopped by my neighbor's house today and took some pictures of his herd of cattle.  He has 12-14 calves, as little as 2 days old. These are primarily Holstein cows.

   

Stalking Corn

Wheat

There are a few gorgeous fields of wheat in my area. This particular one is 2 minutes from my house.

Moo.

I pulled over and took some pictures of these gals on the way home today.  They walked right up to pose.  I however, made the mistake of saying "Mooooooo" and pissed one of them off.  Apparently, cows feel that gets rather old.

Birds of a feather

Bald Eagle (Upper Wisconsin- taken by Randy), Turkey (Dells Deer Park)

What a deer.

Yes, they're cute but they are more skittish than a mime with hemorrhoids.

Hundreds of adorable deer in this park that edge up slowly for a delicious cracker and than run like they've got the shpilkes. (Wisconsin Dells Deer Park)

Barn

Driving on Hwy 16

Get your Goat.

Wisconsin Dells Deer Park

Wild Goose Chase

Not sure what this goose is doing. He seems pretty cool though, unlike his bastard friends that hang around our county zoo and peck at you if you refuse to give them your goldfish crackers.  But I digress.....

The Farmer in the Dell

I sometimes crack jokes about how "cheesy" it is to live in the middle o' nowhere Wisconsin, yet the scenery in all seasons is unbelievably charming. Just a few miles away, I captured this rolling field of corn.

Shoshana & her duck

Shoshana and her duck.
Adorable x Adorable= Adorable squared.
I don't know what is cuter, the pure unadulterated smile on Shoshana or the "I've just been bathed and towel dried" fluffiness of that duck.