Chicks, Hikes, & Food

With such cute little chicks in the backyard, naturally most of my photos are of them. Elsie is a fierce mama hen. But unfortunately a predator snagged one baby chick and another died of unknown causes....so we're down to 2 babies. Still adorable! Daisy checks up on them whenever we’re outside and even tried to rescue a lost chick under the coop. She’s such a sweet gal with the little biddies. <3

When not ogling the chickies, we venture off to Paris Mountain for hikes. This past weekend we decided to try a more difficult trail. To say the least it was a bit more than we planned more, but it lived up to all of its "strenuous" number 9! Fallen trees, sharp switchbacks, and steep enough to make downhill difficult. We still had a great time though, especially Daisy as she pulled us along the entire way.

We also have had some time to spend in our garden and on food preservation. Harvested the first cucumbers of the season, preserved 8 cups of minced garlic, froze blackberries, and peeked at our tomatoes and beans coming along. Also collecting seeds from our spring greens.

In pulling out the last of the parsnips, I learned a valuable botany lesson. The greens of parsnips, carrots, parsley, etc. contain a phototoxin that reacts to sunlight+moisture to make for a nasty blistering rash. Feels like carpet burn the first few days.

Well, despite the spike in COVID-19 cases in our county, the library is opening back up to the public. One of the managers was walking about with a stick measuring everything for social distancing protocols today. Daisy is going to miss all the time with her people everyday.