Plants and Animals

tooth fairy friend!

2011-03-02T14:33:00.000-08:00

I just started making some new tooth fairy pillow/stuffies. Everytime we do a craft sale there are always several people asking for tooth fairy pillows. I'm excited to start making a bunch of different kinds for boys and girls. I just added the first one in my shop today.

New Year!

2011-02-25T10:31:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to add at least one new stuffie to my shop every day this year. I hope I can keep it up! I also started a Facebook page for Plants & Animals. If you're on Facebook, stop by and "like" me and you'll receive updates.

Butter Crackers

2010-10-31T08:12:00.000-07:00

The first time I made crackers, I wondered why I hadn't been making them for a lot longer. They are so easy and "gourmet" ones are pricey in the store. You can make a basic cracker and modify it by putting different herbs, parmesan cheese, or fancy salts on top.

The other night I was craving Ritz type butter crackers. They are also very easy to make and taste so good. This recipe is cut in half to make just enough for some snacks. You can double it to have more for a party or gathering.

Butter Crackers

1 cup flour

1/4 cup butter (room temp)

1 T. sugar

1/2 t. salt

1/3 cup milk

Pre heat oven to 325 degrees. Mix flour, butter, sugar, salt. Blend with fingers. Add milk to make stiff dough. Roll out on a floured surface thin. Cut into any shape and place on parchment lined baking sheet. Prick with fork so they stay flat. Sprinkle with salt and bake for 10-14 minutes until golden brown.

As a variation I brushed some of mine with heavy cream before I sprinkled them with salt. It gave them a nice sheen.

random pictures...

2010-10-01T22:41:00.000-07:00

Getting fluffy

2010-09-28T07:51:00.000-07:00

It's only been a few days since my last post and Pomi's already so much more fluffy. Those feathers are growing back in fast. She looks so much better and seems happier too.

This year we planted five different types of tomato plants all along the back of our yard. With the long cold spring and weird summer we have hardly had any ripe ones yet. We are hoping with the weather warming back up this week that all those green tomatoes will ripen before it gets cold and rainy again.

The chickens love hanging out under the tomato plants digging for bugs. The cherry tomatoes have been getting ripe. Here Petunia helps me clean up a few stray ones that fell while I was collecting them.

Chicken Drama

2010-09-26T16:09:00.000-07:00

The above photo was taken last March of Millie our Mille Fleur and Pomi our white Frizzle chicken lounging in some hay. They were the only 2 hens out of our first batch of 5 chicks. They are best friends and always together. Frizzle chickens have a mutation in their genes that make their feathers curl upward. To achieve this the breeder is supposed to mate a straight feathered bird to a frizzle feathered bird. Sometimes two frizzle feathered birds mate and the result is an over frizzled bird called a "Frazzle". Frazzles have brittle over frizzled feathers that fall apart over time and leave the bird patchy. We discovered this Spring that our Pomi was actually a Frazzle when her feathers started to break down. For most of the summer she had huge bare areas with no feathers. She was also broody most of the summer so her comb and wattles shrunk and became pale. She looked pretty pathetic and sickly. Here's a picture from August of Millie, Pomi and Freckles taking a nap together in the sun. Note the missing feathers on Pomi's wing (it's that little nub sticking up!)

Finally a few weeks ago Pomi started to molt and all her new feathers were coming in. She looked like a hedgehog with feather quills covering her whole back and tail which had been bare. We were so excited and looked forward to the progress her new feathers made everyday. Here's a close up of her tail feathers coming in.

Then one morning a couple weeks ago we let the chickens out of the coop. Pomi came running up to us very frightened. Her whole backside had been plucked clean and she had some broken feather shafts on her tail and wings that were bleeding. When a new feather is coming in it is called a blood feather. In order for a new feather to grow it needs a blood supply. All new feathers are like open veins while the feather is growing in. Feathers on the wings and tails are the largest on a bird and have the greatest amount of blood sourced to them. When the feather finishes growing the follicle closes up and the blood supply dries up inside the feather shaft. If a bird has broken a blood feather and you can't get the bleeding to stop, the bird will be in danger of losing too much blood. It's suggested that you pull the broken feather shaft out for the bleeding to be able to stop. Thankfully all of Pomi's broken feathers clotted on the ends. We took her inside and kept her in for a few days to make sure she was going to be ok. We were not sure if it had been one or all of the other chickens that had joined in on the feather plucking while they were confined in their coop waiting to come out that morning.

When we let Pomi back in the yard a few days later it became clear who the culprit had been. She was terrified if Millie came anywhere near her. Millie kept staring at her back end and tried to peck at it if she got close enough. Millie was just fixated on all those new feather shafts and couldn't stop herself from plucking them out. Poor Pomi! Millie was the only chicken she had gotten along with but now she was afraid of her. So we decided that in the yard Pomi can get away from her but being confined in the coop she is too vulnerable. So until her new feathers grow in we will be getting up at dawn when the chickens wake up to let them out of the coop.

It's been a couple weeks now and Pomi's new feathers are starting to come back in. She seems much more relaxed around Millie and Millie seems less fixated on those feathers. She's getting fluffier every day. Poor Freckles is having a very hard molt and is having new feathers come in everywhere. It's hard to be a chicken sometimes.

Birthday!

2010-08-29T18:05:00.000-07:00

It has been an unusually busy summer. I can't believe it's almost September. My birthday was ten days ago and I had the best day. It was work free which was great and Jenn made sure I woke up to some awesome presents. She got me a beautiful screen printed tea towel, some linen tape, an adorable apple journal, and a cute wooden scoop. They look so nice all together.

She also got me an amazing crosscut log cheese board from Canoe and some nice cheese cutting tools from Holland. We quickly hauled out all the cheese from our fridge and put it to good use.

My favorite gift was a delightful kinetic wood sculpture made by Cartoon Monster. I have been wanting one for awhile. I love turning the little crank and watching the waves and boat move.

We invited some close friends over to hang out around the fire-pit. We hung some lanterns and had various food items that we could roast over the fire. It was fun cooking everything over the fire especially the bacon!

The owl cake turned out super cute and tasted great too. My friend Jim (a very talented illustrator) gave me an awesome piece of art depicting some literal "robot candy"! It is now hanging in my studio.

Today we went to Sauvie Island with our friend Allison to some farms. Jenn and I ended up picking 11 pounds of blackberries between the two of us. We have been making ice cream everyday so blackberry ice cream will be next. I can't believe it's almost fall harvest time.

random pictures...

2010-07-21T17:19:00.000-07:00

summer

2010-07-20T09:02:00.000-07:00

Finally we have been getting some summer like weather here in Portland but the summer is already half over. It goes by way to fast. We mostly planted greens this year in our garden so they have appreciated the long cool spring. Now we have to eat salad everyday to keep up!

The chickens have all been broody so no eggs for us. I have been shutting the coop up during the day and forcing them to stay out of the nest box in an attempt to snap them out of it. Here is Millie and Freckles perched on the outside of the nest box hoping I will let them in (which I inevitably do!).

Petunia and Zorro snapped out of their broodiness and immediately started molting. It seems early for molting but they are dropping feathers left and right. Every morning I clean up handfulls off of the coop floor.

Jenn and I went to Seaside for the day to visit family that was staying on the coast. The ocean was beautiful. There were several seals that were hanging out a few yards in front of us. They kept popping their heads up and staring at us. There were also a ton of sea birds and pelicans diving into the water fishing. There must have been a school of fish attracting everyone to feed.

random pictures...

2010-07-01T16:34:00.000-07:00

video fun

2010-06-24T20:55:00.000-07:00

We got a new canon digital camera so I recently filmed some short videos of our chickens. The first one illustrates how spaced out chickens become when they are broody.

Here is Freckles and Petunia taking a dust bath in the sun.

Here is Freckles and Millie chasing me to the compost bin. They love worms!

Finally I was having fun adding subtitles with the iMovie software.

Random pictures...

2010-06-22T23:05:00.000-07:00

Roast your own

2010-06-18T18:06:00.000-07:00

If you've never seen it before, this is what green unroasted coffee looks like. We recently purchased some from Sweet Maria's online. They have every kind of coffee you could imagine and it's quite a bit cheaper buying it green. Coffee beans go stale about 7 days after roasting and lose a lot of flavor so it makes sense to roast your own coffee at home in small batches as needed. There are a ton of different options for home roasting. We decided to go the vintage popcorn air popper route. The old West Bend Poppery II from the 80's is one of the more popular choices for home roasting. You can find them on Ebay or at thrift stores.

Home roasting is so easy and only takes a few minutes to have fresh roasted coffee. There is a lot of information online about it and it pays to do a bit of research first and figure out what will work best for you. Every machine is different even within the same type so there is a bit of trail and error at first to figure out the amount and time of roasting. If you're using an air popper then you will need a bowl to catch the chaff as it comes off during roasting.

After about 4-6 minutes of roasting you will reach the first crack stage which is evidenced by cracking and popping. If you stopped here you would have a light to medium roast which would brew pretty weak coffee. Times and speed of roast depend a lot on the amount of beans you are roasting at a time. The more beans the less air flow and the hotter the temperature will be. Our first 2 roasts were light and we determined we were not using enough beans. Here is what our first couple of medium roasts looked like using a half cup or less of beans. The beans are matte and have hardly any oil yet.

For the next roast we added 2/3 cup beans and let the roast go long enough to reach the second crack stage. The beans are dark and oily and smell amazing. It's best to give the beans at least 24 hours after roasting to develop their flavor fully before you grind them. Just store them in an air tight container at room temperature.

random pictures...

2010-06-15T10:58:00.000-07:00

Music

2010-06-13T08:20:00.000-07:00

I've posted some new mixes here. If you want to download them just click on listen. I'll be posting some more in the next week as well.

Pigeon Toe and Honeydew

2010-06-11T00:23:00.000-07:00

Today I became the lucky owner of a piece of pottery from local Pigeon Toe Ceramics. I found this beautiful mini creamer at Noun on Belmont St. I have been admiring their pottery from afar and am excited to finally own a piece (even if it is tiny). Here is a picture from their site to put the size in perspective.

I also appreciate their eco-conscious practices...

"We source all of our clay locally and are dedicated to a waste-free studio. We recycle all of our scraps and use only non-toxic glazes. Firings are done only when there is a full load, which can slow down production time but saves an immesuarable amount of energy. Our studio assistants and collaborative artists are paid a fair percentage of every item they make, and we aspire to pay them more as they help our company grow."

I love how the texture of the matte porcelain exterior contrasts with the bright glazed interior.

They just opened a storefront on Morrison St. and I'm excited to see it. They also sell air plants which fit so nicely in their amazing tripod bowls.

We ate breakfast this morning at one of our new favorite bakeries downtown Lovejoy Bakery. Pigeon Toe fabricated the porcelain shades for these hanging pendant lights hanging in the bakery.

The chickens and I enjoyed a very pretty golden honeydew melon this afternoon for the first time. The skin is so bright yellow.

Canoe and Kyle

2010-06-09T22:24:00.000-07:00

We got these delightful little wood dishes at Canoe in downtown Portland. It's a lovely little modern home store.

This is my new friend "Kyle" that I discovered while hosing off our outside stairs. He is watching Jenn plant flowers. His shell is so pretty!

random pictures...

2010-06-06T22:48:00.000-07:00

colors

2010-06-02T10:10:00.000-07:00

I've recently gotten some new wool felt colors. I sat down the other night and cut out a ton of felt eyes all ready to be put on some owls. They look so pretty all stacked up.

Last week we went for an early dinner at one of my favorite italian restaurants Lucca. They have these

amazing Arancini stuffed with fontina and risotto served with a spicy chili aioli. They melt in your mouth. We went around 4:30 in the lull between the lunch and dinner rush. It was great timing, our server said they had been slammed a few hours before. After eating we went next door to Garden Fever to look around. They carry these awesome biodegradable pots in every color and size you can imagine. They are cheap too. We bought 4 small pots in these awesome colors that we couldn't resist. I put some cute succulents in them.

We have been rearranging our living room for spring. While we were moving a vintage nick knack shelf, we took everything off it and turned it on it's side. We liked it so much better that way we hung it up empty. I bought some air plants at Garden Fever to go on it.

random pictures...

2010-05-28T19:42:00.000-07:00

Tasty Lunch

2010-05-19T15:56:00.000-07:00

We are always trying to find a good restaurant in Portland that offers breakfast/brunch during the week. Most places here are just weekend breakfast/brunch joints with huge lines and waits. We were excited to try the new (open all week, brunch only) Tasty & Sons in NE on Williams. We have already eaten there 5 times in the last couple weeks and enjoyed lunch there today. Their food is amazing and the staff is very friendly and efficient. The french toast is quite magical and topped with a rhubarb maple sauce. They smoke their own meats and anything with their smoked tasso ham is delicious. So nice to have such a great option during the week in our neck of the woods.

random pictures...

2010-05-18T16:03:00.000-07:00

Spring is great

2010-05-17T11:53:00.000-07:00

I love warm Spring weather. Everything is starting to bloom and we can start grilling dinner outside. Last night we bar-b-qued beef short ribs and had a delicious dinner out on the deck.

Our Bitterroot is blooming delicate pink flowers and our golden chain tree is covering the ground with pretty yellow petals.

I've been working on my first wholesale Yeti order for a local toy store Kids at Heart that also sell my owls.

New run and new finds

2010-05-15T08:17:00.000-07:00

I spent most of last week constructing a new improved chicken run. The new one is 8 feet by 8 feet and has a little door in the back that I can access their food and water.

There is a pair of Scrub Jay birds that nest near our back yard. I keep catching one of the birds in our nest boxes trying to eat our chicken eggs. Yesterday I saw him go in the coop so I ran over and squirted him with water. Maybe if I keep tormenting him enough he will be scared to go into the coop.

Our little gray Japanese "Zorro" has finally stopped being broody. She sat on her empty nest for well over a month. Her comb had gotten very flat and pale but now it's going back to normal. Yesterday I found her sun bathing on top of a bale of straw. I think she's happy to be back in normal chicken mode.

The other day we were driving home and saw an old wood secretary that someone had set on the sidewalk for free. It was pretty beat up looking but Jenn fell in love and so we loaded it into the car.

After some sanding, patching holes, and painting it turned out so cute. We are going to use it in our office to hold merchandise. I love finding free furniture!

random pictures...

2010-05-13T20:35:00.000-07:00

wish list

2010-05-05T20:18:00.000-07:00

While looking at Toronto shop Mjolk's website of Scandinavian goods I came across the amazing Pinocchio Carpet. It's made up entirely of wool felt balls.

New Stuff

2010-05-05T12:29:00.000-07:00

Jenn and I have been in love with Japanese washi tape for a while. Made of Japanese rice paper, it is an eco-friendly tape that has a satin finish, is slightly translucent, acid-free, tears easily by hand and leaves no residue after being peeled off from almost anything. We found a vendor selling it at Crafty Wonderland and spent more than 2 people should spend on tape!

We also have another exciting purchase coming that should be arriving today!

The Oliso TG-1600 Smart Iron has digital sensors that recognize the touch of your hand and instantly lowers to fabric. Let go and the iron automatically rises above the fabric, eliminating the risk of accidental burns or the iron toppling over. We are very excited to start using it!

Spring Show

2010-05-03T19:01:00.000-07:00

Crafty Wonderland was great! Thanks to everyone who came out to shop. We were very happy with our new display and got so many nice compliments on it.

random pictures...

2010-04-30T09:26:00.000-07:00

Getting ready...

2010-04-29T16:53:00.000-07:00

The new display is constructed and looks great! It is swallowing up our living room and I'll be really glad when we can take it down tomorrow for the show.

Spring Sale

2010-04-27T22:46:00.000-07:00

We spent most of the day constructing walls for our new craft display. We will be at Crafty Wonderlands spring sale all weekend. It's exciting to have a new display to work with. We will have 6 ft walls for lots of vertical space. I hope it works out well. I'm sure there will be lots of fine tuning to do.

random pictures...

2010-04-25T22:25:00.000-07:00

new stuffies

2010-04-25T17:26:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to make several stuffies every day.
I've almost reached 30 in my etsy shop. I think I will by the end of today.
Here's some pictures of some of the new friends.

PostCarden

2010-04-21T08:35:00.000-07:00

Cool postcards that transform into mini gardens.

random pictures...

2010-04-19T22:31:00.000-07:00

new fabric

2010-04-08T10:40:00.000-07:00

I really love this new Alexander Henry print called "Bauhaus". It reminds me of a vintage roller rink or a K-Tel record from the 60's.

I also love this new boat fabric. It's from a french inspired line of Kokka fabrics called "trefle". It's a nice heavier mid weight cotton too. I think we're going to have to make a throw pillow cover with it.

Easter

2010-04-05T10:25:00.000-07:00

I love the aesthetics of Easter. All those pastels, bunnies, and chicks sure are pleasing to the eye. Every year we hang some vintage eggs that my Grandmother decorated on a little white tree and have Easter brunch with friends.

The results are in...

2010-04-03T15:37:00.000-07:00

I won the silver medal in the skiing category of the Schmancy Olympic challenge!

Broody Hen

2010-04-02T14:44:00.000-07:00

One of our Gray Japanese hens (Zorro) is broody. All she wants to do all day is sit on her imaginary clutch of eggs. Broody hens stop laying eggs and will only leave the nest once a day or every other day. I've read it's pretty hard to snap them out of it. Some people put a bag of frozen peas under them. The cold sometimes works. We've tried that. We pull her out of the nest box 4 or 5 times a day. She gets all puffed up and just collapses like a puddle of feathers! Then after a few minutes she snaps out of the trance and runs around eating as much as she can and preening her feathers super fast. She' stays out for 10 minutes or so and then hurries back to her nest. She seems annoyed but at least it gets her to eat and drink several times a day.

so nice

2010-03-31T22:10:00.000-07:00

by Matteo Cibic

I love cake!

2010-03-28T07:47:00.000-07:00

We love making cakes at our house. Every year for Jenn's birthday we try something new. This year we used the "classic white cake" recipe from Baking Illustrated. It has almond flavoring added and a finer crumb. For the filling we made vanilla buttercream and added some orange zest. For the outside of the cake we used plain buttercream. Piping Buttercream is a challenge. If handled too much it quickly looses it's form and turns to an oozing mess! I had to start over several times and stop 4 times to put the piping bag back in the fridge but the end result was successful.

I added four new stuffies to my etsy shop last night. We are gearing up for Crafty Wonderland's Spring Sale in May at the Convention Center. It's a two day sale so it should be fun.

Poor Freckles

2010-03-23T00:42:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday we went out to the chicken coop and saw blood everywhere. It was quite alarming and we quickly determined that Freckles our little Gray Japanese bantam had injured her foot and was bleeding quite a bit. We scooped her up and ran to the house and tried to stop the bleeding. The nail on one of her middle toes had gotten caught on something and pretty much ripped off. It was a very tense half hour while we tried to get the bleeding to stop. We tried applying pressure with some cloth. Then we tried cornstarch which is supposed to work in a pinch. Jenn finally ran to the pet store and bought some styptic powder which finally worked after several applications. Poor little chicken I was terrified she was going to bleed to death. She looked exhausted and was covered in blood, cornstarch, and styptic powder. We filled a tub with hay, food and water and wrapped her toe in medical tape and gauze. After laying for a while she ate a little and drank some water which was a good sign. This being my first chicken emergency, I decided to consult with someone a little more knowledgeable. I sent a message to Terry Golson, (backyard chicken advocate and author) who I had spoken with a few times before. She graciously responded quickly with some great advice and tips like using ducktape as a bandage. It's much more tough and chicken proof, the medical tape we had put on fell off after 10 minutes. We gave her a mini bath and she took a nap in the tub of hay so we could keep an eye on her. At dusk she started to get upset because she wanted to get to the coop to go to sleep. We carried her out and set her on the perch and she seemed very happy and sidled up to her best friend Zorro. The next morning she seemed ok but just kind of stood holding her foot up. It was chilly so we brought her in for a few hours and let her nap in the tub of hay again. Later in the day I went out to the coop and Freckles was in the nest box trying to lay and egg. Petunia doesn't like anyone near the coop when she has to lay an egg so she was making a racket squawking at poor Freckles. A few minutes later I saw Freckles jump out and head up to our back door. I let her in and I could tell she needed to lay her egg. She came in and was looking at the tub of hay in our dining room. I put her in and she happily made a nest and laid her egg! Here's a picture of her with her little duck tape bandage.

Later that day Freckles was back at our door by herself which never happens. She was kind of crying quietly and holding her foot up. I could tell she was in pain. This is a chicken that normally never lets us hold her but I picked her up and took her bandage off. Her little toe was swollen so we soaked it in some warm water and sea salt. I dipped her toe in ground turmeric and bandaged it back up. Turmeric acts as an excellent antibiotic and anti-inflammatory. It accelerates the healing process and readily reduces pain and prevents bacterial infections in wounds. The next day her swelling was gone and she was walking on her foot without pain. Her foot has healed nicely but now she prefers to come inside to lay her eggs in the tub. I have to admit it's ridiculously cute having a little chicken laying eggs in our dining room! When she's done she hops up on the edge and squawks to be let down.

Mother Gem

2010-03-12T16:09:00.000-08:00

I was delighted to see the amazing Leslie Hall live on wednesday night. It was quite a show with the dancing, showmanship and costumes. She is hilarious. We saw her van parked outside the club. It was all decked out with giant decal pictures of them and had the license plate "Shazam".

New Shop!

2010-02-16T12:24:00.000-08:00

I've been having fun doing a lot of photo collages lately so I decided to open a new shop just for them. It's called Automatte. I'll be adding lot's of new prints over the next couple weeks so stop by and check them out.

Jónsi

2010-02-10T22:31:00.000-08:00

Jónsi - Go Do from Jónsi on Vimeo.
Jonsi from Sigur Ros is releasing his first solo album titled Go on April 6th.

I love Yellow

2010-02-10T15:49:00.000-08:00

New stuff!

2010-02-06T15:37:00.000-08:00

I made a lamb and fox stuffie for the first time. I thought they turned out well so I'll definitely be making more in the future. I also added two new chicken themed prints to my shop.

recipe for chicken happiness

2010-02-04T11:33:00.000-08:00

I love to make this healthy snack mix for my chickens and they love it too! I use all organic ingredients:
unsalted roasted peanuts (good source of protein, increases egg size)
unsalted roasted sunflower seeds
unsweetened coconut Bob's Red Mill (good oils and fiber, enhances immune system)
oats
raisins (lots of vitamins, minerals, and fiber)
food grade Diatomaceous Earth Perma-Guard brand (kills internal parasites)

I toss everything except the raisins and DE into the food processor and blend a few times. I have small Bantams so they prefer food in small pieces. I dice up the raisins with a knife (they don't do well in the food processor) and toss all with a small spoon of DE.
I also take the Diatomaceous Earth myself. It's really good for you.

Yetis in sweaters...

2010-01-30T18:10:00.000-08:00

Greg Klaus

2010-01-29T16:13:00.000-08:00

Rest in Peace Greg.

Shop update!

2010-01-25T14:13:00.000-08:00

Finally I got in some sewing time that wasn't for wholesale orders! I just added five owls and one monster to my Etsy shop. I will be making some more monsters in the next couple of days as well.

Whew, the Holidays are over...

2010-01-03T12:47:00.000-08:00

As always the Holiday season exploded into a chaotic frenzy of crafting and decorating and now it's over. We did really well at the Crafty Wonderland sale which is always super busy. I think there were people lined up 3 hours into it waiting to get in. We were able to fit our Robot Candy, Chet and Dot, and Plants and Animals all into a 10ft by 10ft space. We have an exciting new display plan figured out but we just didn't have time to get it built before the Christmas shows. We are hoping to get it constructed for the big spring Crafty Wonderland sale.

We had a little snow storm that lasted a few days and the chickens got to see their first snow! Also our 2 gray Japanese started laying on the same day. So now we have 4 out of 5 chickens laying.

For a very long time I have wanted to make a Yule Log cake. Finally this year I went for it meringue mushrooms and all!

Chop Cup

2010-01-02T21:14:00.000-08:00

CHOP CUP from :weareom: on Vimeo.

Almost Christmas!

2009-12-11T15:29:00.001-08:00

Wow this holiday season is zipping past! We have been super busy trying to keep up with all our wholesale orders and retail sales. On top of that we have been making a ton of extra merchandise for the holiday sales we are doing. We will be at Crafty Wonderland's sale this sunday.

I've been making new monsters like crazy for this weekend.

Some how we found time to put our copious amounts of Christmas decorations up. I love Christmas!

Petunia Eggs

2009-11-10T10:53:00.001-08:00

Finally we have another chicken laying eggs! Our Blue Wheaten Ameraucana Petunia has been laying her pretty blue/green eggs for a week now. She is definitely the craziest chicken we have. She walks around squawking all the time. We knew she was getting close to starting because her comb got really big and red.

The chickens are adjusting to the cold rainy weather. They love to dig through piles of leaves for bugs. I built them a rain shelter to put their food and water under in a part of the yard they like to hang out in.

First Eggs

2009-09-27T09:44:00.000-07:00

It's been a week and one day since our Mille Fleur "Millie" started laying her cute bantam eggs. She has laid 6 eggs in 8 days. They have all been at different times of the day. There was no egg yesterday but when I went to let them out of the coop this morning at 8:45 there was a warm egg in the nest box waiting for me. We've only been around once when she was actually laying the egg. A couple days ago I was standing in her way in the path to the coop. She squawked at me to get out of the way with a sense of urgency. I backed up and she ran past into the coop to deposit her egg in the nest box. We were worried they wouldn't use the nest box but I'm glad she is and I hope the others will too when they start.

Free chicken food

2009-09-12T19:59:00.000-07:00

A couple months ago we bought a rubbermaid garbage can with a locking lid. We drilled holes in the bottom and up the sides and top with a half inch spade drill bit. We set it in the back corner of our yard and have been composting all our kitchen scraps and yard debris in it. It's an inexpensive and easy compost container that has been working out great so far. Every morning when I clean out the dropping from the chicken coop I toss them with the newspaper in the bin. I can stir the compost by rolling it on it's side around the yard or use a pitchfork to stir it around. It's breaking down very quickly with the help of some black soldier fly grubs that have taken up residence. They are currently the chickens favorite snack. Anytime I put anything in the compost bin the chickens come running. I saw this contraption on a blog recently called the BioPod. It can compost up to 5 lbs of kitchen scraps a day with the help of black soldier flies and the juvenile grubs travel into a collection container on the side and it collects compost tea at the bottom. For every 100 lbs of kitchen scraps you will get 5 lbs of friable compost, a few quarts of nutritious compost tea, and approx. 20 lbs of self-harvesting Grubs. That amounts to hundreds of pounds of nutritious protein to fill a large portion of your backyard chickens diet during one year. It's a pretty awesome system.

moments

2009-09-04T12:24:00.000-07:00

new mix up

2009-09-04T02:36:00.000-07:00

Summer chillaxing music...

8-Bit Madness

2009-08-30T12:21:00.000-07:00

Two amazing 8-bit inspired videos.

The Lost Levels 'The Early Sheets' from RadarMusicVideos on Vimeo.

Portable USB record player

2009-08-30T09:25:00.001-07:00

This is ingenious: Linos

The Museum of Animal Perspectives

2009-08-29T20:20:00.001-07:00

The Museum of Animal Perspectives (MAP) collects and displays wildlife imagery that has been captured using tiny remote sensing cameras attached to the animals. They claim that "Through the presentation and interpretation of this imagery, the MAP endeavors to expand the public's capacity to empathize with animals and plants." They have attached cameras to everything from a Housefly to a Bison. One of my favorites is a Wolf Cam chasing a Garter snake. If you listen carefully you can hear the erie sound of other wolves howling in the distance.

Of course I couldn't resist the Chick Cam running trough the barnyard. Oh the cute peeping...

The Armadillo Cam is very exciting according to Jenn.

I love the Bee Cam also.

Expo 2010

2009-08-28T07:27:00.000-07:00

The next world exposition will be held in Shanghai China from May 1-October 31 2010. The theme is "Better City Better Life" representing the common wish of the whole humankind for a better living in future urban environments. Some of the proposed pavilions look amazing. The Belgium pavilion will be giving away a diamond a week to a lucky expo goer! The pavilion will be a 5,250-square-meter rectangle with a huge "brain cell" as the centerpiece. Visitors will enter the pavilion via a vein of the "brain." It's very cool looking and there's going to be a chocolate factory inside!

The swiss pavilion looks amazing as well. You can see pictures and read more about it here.

very cool

2009-08-26T13:56:00.000-07:00

I really like this video and the music.

Plus+ from Clusta on Vimeo.

The fungus among us

2009-08-24T14:12:00.000-07:00

I recently discovered a new friend growing in one of my indoor tropical plants. It is "Leucocoprinus birnbaumii" a cute yellow mushroom. I took a picture when I first noticed it a few days ago and then one today. I wonder how big it will get.

Birthday games

2009-08-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

We had a chicken themed party for my birthday last night. Jenn and I cut out a chicken shape to toss egg shaped bean bags through. It was a lot of fun. We also played a game called "Burglary". We asked each guest (in private) for one item they had on them. Later we put them all on a table next to a number and people had to match up the items to the guests. Everyone seemed really into to it and we gave out prizes in the end.
Jenn baked a delicious coconut cake with buttercream frosting that we decorated with coconut chickens. The night ended with us all siting around a cozy fire in the fire pit. I'm glad my birthday is in the summer. It's so nice to be outside.

Summer Flowers

2009-08-15T22:50:00.000-07:00

I'm really enjoying all the blooming flowers in our backyard. The bumble bees love the artichoke flowers. In everyone there is a bee either doing it's work or sleeping.

At the end of last summer we took some cuttings from a passion flower that was taking over someone's fence in the neighborhood. They lasted all winter in a mason jar and we transplanted them early this summer. We just got our first amazing bloom. I love them.

I'm always drawn to Bougainvillea's when I see them at nurseries but they are always so expensive. We recently picked one up for $6 that was on clearance and almost dead looking. I didn't know if it would survive but with a little tlc it's thriving now. Here it is with our grape in the background (that was also a clearance find!)

Then there are always the Dahlia bulbs that faithfully come up every year. It seems like every summer we get dahlia bulbs from friends and put them in the ground forgetting about them until they surprise us next summer.

I've really fallen in love with the "Supertunia" this summer. They are a new hybrid that blooms nonstop and are cute and compact.

The tomatoes have all started to ripen in our garden. We had them in our breakfast, lunch, and dinner tonight. I hope we can keep up with them.

I tried feeding the chickens some melon today but they were sceptical of the tiny chopped up pieces and terrified of the big rind I put down for them. They must have gotten over their initial distrust because all the little pieces were gone later when I checked.

Crazy Weather

2009-08-12T18:20:00.000-07:00

I guess I shouldn't be complaining because I do enjoy variety, but... the weather has been bizarre! We had a heat wave with two days topping off at 107 degrees! There were almost 10 days of 90+ weather which is unusual for Portland. Then the temps tumbled and it's been cool and rainy. Nice to have a break but the chickens never know what to expect when they get up in the morning.

Millie and Honey should start laying eggs within the month so that's egg-citing! Oh no...I just had to run outside because the chicken clucking alarm was set off. Everything appeared fine. It was probably just a giant rain droplet falling on one of them.

Mr. Silence

2009-07-27T09:23:00.001-07:00

Mr. Silence enforces peace and quiet. Wherever noisy neighbors try to shatter your nerves, Mr. Silence will be there. Woe be it to the loud and obnoxious everywhere, Mr. Silence will find you. Shop

Please turn down Mr. Sun

2009-07-25T19:31:00.000-07:00

It's been too hot here. It's supposed to be mild here in the Pacific Northwest! In the next 4 days there are 2 of them forcasting 100+ temps. Poor chickens, they just walk around panting. Maybe this will be the last hot spell of the summer.
We went on the Portland Tour de Coops today. It was fun seeing all the different chickens and coop designs. I was disappointed that there were not more people with Bantams.

Summer

2009-07-01T09:14:00.000-07:00

The weather has been so nice we have set up a table outside to work at. Now we can watch the chickens and work at the same time! We found a home for our rooster Earl this week and it's been sad without him. Our little ameraucana pullet Petunia was really attached to him so she has been crying for him. Hopefully she will get over it soon.

I just added three new "sleepy" Owls to my shop.

Poulets

2009-06-09T13:05:00.000-07:00

Coop Building..

2009-06-01T18:46:00.000-07:00

I've been so busy these last several weeks, I've hardly had anytime to go online. The chickens have been taking up the majority of my time. It's a pleasure giving your time to chickens though. We had to find a new home for "RC" (the chicken on my head in the last post). He was a rooster who became very aggressive to our White Frizzle "Honey". Since we were left with only 2 hens out of our first batch of chicks we decided to get 4 more chicks. We got 2 Ameraucana and 2 Gray Japanese Bantams. The Gray Japanese were so tiny when we got them. They are known for their short legs and they looked like tiny penguins. This is "Freckles", the cutest one.

Now they are almost 4 weeks old. The light colored one on the end was named "Pearl" but is now "Earl" as he just started crowing in the mornings! He sounds hilarious with his crackly teenage crow.

We just started letting them outside during the day and Earl struts around like a tiny Rooster!
Honey and Millie, the 8 week old chickens, have been sleeping outside for the past 4 days. They love running around the yard and hanging out in the herb garden.

I've put a lot of time and energy into planning the perfect coop for the chickens. It's 4 ft by 4 ft and 4 ft tall. It has two nest boxes for egg laying that won't be used for a couple months. It has a roost with a wired over area underneath to collect their droppings (which mostly happen at night). I put newspaper underneath and have a little door I can access it to change it out every few days.

I was able to use some extra wood we had in our garage which helped with the cost. We also had an old wood futon frame that provided a lot of the trim pieces. I got several large sheets of plywood free from a building remodel down the street from our house which was great. They were going to throw them away!
It's almost all done except for some trim pieces and the roof. It has a flat covered roof right now with a little skylight built in out of plexi glass. Over the top of the that I will build a slanted frame and attach some corrugated plastic roofing panels. The panels come in "solar gray" which blocks out 65% of the sun rays. The coop is located in a sunny spot so I thought this would help shade it in the summer but still let a little diffused light in. The next project is building a 3' by 10' run attached to the coop.

May already?

2009-05-03T08:45:00.000-07:00

This spring seems to be flying by. We found a home for our 2 roosters this week and it's been a lot more mellow in the chicken living quarters. I spent half of the day yesterday building a more secure enclosure over their tub. They have to be inside for a couple more weeks. The Black Rosecomb and the Mille Fleur have so many feathers and are avid flyers! They have flown over to the table when I was eating so I wanted them to be able to have a high perch but still be protected from our cat. "RC" has flown on to the top of my head several times! I attached a branch to the top of the tub and enclosed it in utility cloth. The White Frizzle has crazy feathers and can't fly so I built her a ramp that goes up to the perch. They seem happy with the new setup.

getting ready...

2009-04-24T16:35:00.000-07:00

The sun sure has been inviting these last couple days. During the rainy end of winter months here in Portland, I have no interest in setting foot in my back yard. Now with the sun and all the plants popping up all over, I don't want to leave the backyard. It feels good to pull out all the patio furniture and get the back deck ready for summer. We've been going to lots of nurseries and planning out our garden. My current favorite plants- Sedum. I made a cute bowl filled with some of my favorite sedums for the patio table.

There's a new owl "Vincent" in the shop.

Here's a hilariously awesome video...

all cooped up

2009-04-23T13:36:00.000-07:00

The weather has been warm so we've been able to let the chicks outside for a couple hours a day. Allison let us borrow her cute a-frame coop that her chickens out grew. They are so happy outside eating bugs and scratching in the dirt! The little Black Rosecomb is so attached to us and peeps for us loudly. She evens flies up to my hand sometimes. I sure hope that Rosecomb is a hen.

Spring organizing

2009-04-16T15:15:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Ikea, we have remodeled our office! It's looks 100% better and is way more functional. It's very refreshing to work in.

We took the chicks outside for 15 minutes today and let them peck in the grass. They are 12 days old now and are getting all their funny wing and tail feathers. The white frizzles wing feathers are curling out and it looks so cute.

I found these big grey bowls perfect for succulents. I filled two with the most amazing looking succulents I could find. The soft grays and blues all go together like magic. I could stare at them all day. They are such beautiful and fascinating plants.

new arrivals

2009-04-06T21:39:00.000-07:00

We just got our chicks this afternoon! They are only 2 days old and so fluffy and cute. We got all bantam chickens which are smaller than standard chickens. Bantams are not sexed and you can't tell the sex for 4 months so we got 5 chicks. We want 2-3 hens so the odds will be better. If we end up with roosters there is a feed store that will take them for free. Four of the five are Cochins which means they have feathers on their feet! Fifi is very content to sit and stare at them.

Robot Rabbit

2009-04-05T18:42:00.001-07:00

This cute little rabbit is called Nabaztag:tag. He is a little wireless bunny that can do a ton of stuff besides just being cute. He can read RSS feeds, alert you when you get email, play internet radio, give you the weather forcast, and a ton of other stuff. His ears move and his tummy lights up in different ways to communicate with you. He is programable and can receive voice commands.

Thanks Japan

2009-04-01T10:44:00.000-07:00

I just finished 2 new songs "mercurial" and "true". Both of them have vocals and I'm almost done with a third one with vocals also. I'm really happy with how they turned out. I'm very self conscious about my singing voice and most of my recent recordings have been sans vocals but I'm trying to incorporate more singing in.
I recently got the opportunity to help design a cd cover for my friend Aaron's band "We're from Japan!". They are signed to a Japanese label and get to do a small tour in Japan every year. They wanted to bring along a cd collection that were remixes of their newest album Now Breathe. So we remixed the original cover art.
before:

after:

Aaron just got back from Japan and brought me this adorable usb powered owl. It blinks and tilts it head!

Birthdays and Such...

2009-03-18T13:56:00.000-07:00

Jenn's birthday was on Sunday. We had a lot of fun making the cake this year. For a while it seemed like it wasn't going to turn out but it ended up looking cute! We used the Coconut layer cake recipe from Baking Illustrated. It was really good. We made marzipan and sculpted some leaves, flowers, and eggs. I wish I could eat more of it right now!

Our house was featured on the Housemartin blog today. It's cool to see your house through someone else's eyes.

Sergio and Hugzilla

2009-03-05T16:52:00.000-08:00

Some new monsters in the shop.

I also potted up some more cute succulents.

The Reactable

2009-03-03T12:15:00.000-08:00

I think this is possibly the most beautiful and amazing musical instrument ever. It's called the Reactable. There have only been 3 made so far and Bjork has one of them. It's visual and interactive, it's the future. Here's a pod on Current TV about the Reactable.
Here's a video of it in action.

When can I move in?

2009-02-28T16:44:00.000-08:00

The Olivomare Restaurant in London.

tabletop gardens

2009-02-23T17:45:00.000-08:00

I've been going to lots of garden shops getting more plants for terrariums. I found this great species of Kalanchoe with amazing blooms.

I've made some more terrariums and am running out of space! I think I'm going to try selling them at Last Thursday on Alberta street when the weather warms up.

I also got to design a flyer for a show in Olympia. My friends band is playing with Calvin Johnson the founder of K records. It's always fun when you are given an assignment.

Succulents

2009-02-19T15:16:00.000-08:00

love them...

Terrariums!

2009-02-15T17:47:00.000-08:00

I finally got everything I needed to make some terrariums. I've made 8 so far and it's really fun and addictive!

nice design

2009-02-09T18:24:00.000-08:00

I recently found this great company Nixon.They have really nice clean designed products. I've been obsessed with their watches lately. I don't even wear a watch but I'm reconsidering...

some of the women's watches..

some of the men's..

forest floor

2009-02-07T20:11:00.000-08:00

I would punch President Obama for one of these...

Angela Adams "forest floor" rug

Moss Moss Moss

2009-02-06T11:23:00.000-08:00

I had so much fun making my terrarium with our gift certificate from Allison, that she suggested I start making them as the "plant" part of my Plants & Animals. I'm pretty much obsessed with plants and plant collecting so it seemed a pretty natural choice. I don't think I'll be able to sell them on Etsy but I will take them to craft sales. We are doing Crafty Wonderland this sunday at the Doug Fir but I won't have time to finish any before then. I can't wait to get started!
I went out and harvested some moss from the backyard yesterday and was surprised at how much there was. After some research I learned that moss thrives in an acid soil. Tap water is to alkaline and will kill moss so rainwater or distilled water is the best bet. To add the acid my moss needs, I mixed equal parts buttermilk and water to dry coconut fiber until it was good and moist. I spread it thinly on a tray and nestled my moss on top and put it in a bright window. I'll probably mist it everyday with some buttermilk water and see how it goes. I'm also getting a bag of very pretty feathery moss from Pam of Ink & Peat that she gets from the Portland Flower Market. Soon I'll be up to my ears in moss!

While I was in the backyard yesterday, I found a fern creeping out from the small crack of dirt behind my garage. It had shallow roots so I rescued it and potted it for inside. I put it next to my little Ikea greenhouse that contains my Rex Begonia starts. It looks very cute.

Here's a picture of the ornamental oregano plant on our coffee table. The little green tops are so delicate looking.

My flowering maple has grown 4-5 inches in the last couple weeks. The stems are so thin and strong that it still doesn't need support at almost 3 ft. tall.

New friends in the new year...

2009-01-29T17:34:00.000-08:00

I found these great animal portraits by portland artist Ryan Berkley at Reading Frenzy and hung them in my studio.

I have some new stuffies in my Etsy shop. I decided to make a stuffed version of the Glug Glugs from my prints. I also made their submarine which was really fun to make.

Hibernation...

2008-12-29T17:16:00.000-08:00

Wow, we were snowed in for 5 days. That doesn't happen very often here in Portland. It was nice the first few days but then I was ready to get out of the house and drive somewhere, anywhere!

Now it's in the 50's and the snow is almost all gone! At least we had a white Christmas for once.
We had lots of work to keep us busy while we were trapped. My friends Jim and Laini asked me to make a stuffed rattle snake for Laini's snake biologist sister. It was my first snake and it turned out really cool. It even has a working rattle!

Our friends Allison and Kevin got us a gift certificate to Pistils Nursery for Christmas. Today we went and redeemed it. We bought all the components for a hanging terrarium. It turned out really cute with these amazing little air plants that don't need soil. It was very satisfying to create.

Craft Sale...

2008-12-12T22:08:00.000-08:00

We have been crafting like crazy and getting ready for the only Holiday Sale we are doing this year. We will have a space at Crafty Wonderland this Sunday at the Convention Center. It will be Robot Candy, Chet and Dot, and Plants and Animals in one booth near the entrance. If you're in Portland stop by and say "hi!".

I heart Christmas....

2008-12-09T15:25:00.001-08:00

The ghost of christmas past...

Fifi helps....

Breakfast and a new studio...

2008-11-23T14:05:00.000-08:00

We have out grown our little Mac mini for a primary computer and then when it started slowing down we knew that was it, time to upgrade. The cd/dvd drive had stopped working a couple months ago so we contacted Apple Care and it's covered to get a new hard drive and optical drive. If you're buying Apple products then apple care is totally worth it. So we sent our mini in to be fixed and bought a new Imac. Wow, I'm always so impressed with Apple's design and the amount of amazing software that comes with their computers. Add that to the fact that I never have to worry about viruses and it's completely worth the extra $. I don't know how many hours I spent trying to diagnose problems, defragmenting the hard drive, restarting, running ad-aware/spyware software with my old pc. no thanks.
Now I get to have the mac mini to use for my music. I made a little studio space upstairs with all my music gear accessible. I found these cheap hooks at Ikea that work great for hanging my guitars on the wall and getting them out of the way.

We went to breakfast at the Country Cat on SE Stark. We had been twice before and it was good but not this time. Everything we ordered was gross and had something wrong with it. Our waitress was not very friendly and we felt uncomfortable about complaining so we just left angry and resolved to never go back. When we got home we saw we had been overcharged so that was the last straw. Jenn called to talk to a manager and she was really nice and refunded our whole meal. She's even sending us a gift certificate, not that I really want to go back but it's a nice gesture. I did get this cute picture of Jenn with her coffee.

it's working...

2008-11-14T18:34:00.000-08:00

Well, the tight regulation with our kitty Fifi's diabetes is working. She's starting to regulate herself. We have to give her less insulin less often. The other day we went 23 hours in between shots and her blood sugar remained low inbetween. I think we'll be able to get her off insulin in a couple weeks!

election....

2008-11-04T22:22:00.000-08:00

Thank You America... I'd almost given up on you.....

The eye before the storm...

2008-10-25T19:35:00.000-07:00

It is the beginning of the Holiday Season. The orders are starting to pour in and I can feel the pressure of having to budget our time wisely. Last week our 12 year old cat Fifi was diagnosed with diabetes. The first 2 days of giving insulin injections were nerve racking. Every time Fifi moved I thought she was going into insulin shock! It has been very time consuming researching and learning what to do. Here are some important things I've learned:

1. Don't ever feed cats dry food! The carbs in it cause Diabetes in cats.
2. Cats are obligate Carnivores. They need meat and lots of it!
3. They shouldn't eat grains, vegetables, or fruits. Those things are added to make us humans feel better and make the food companies more money.
4. Traditional treatment of Feline Diabetes (i.e. blind dosing with insulin every 12 hours) will pretty much guarantee the cat will be on insulin the rest of it's life and eventually die from diabetes complications.
5. Removing all dry food and feeding only low or no carb food and treats will lower their blood glucose by 100 points automatically!
6. Removing all dry food also wakes the liver back up insuring there won't be any hypoglycemic crashes (insulin shock).
7. By testing your cat's blood glucose levels at home with a meter you can give them the correct dose of insulin only when needed.
8. By using the above method you can get your cat's system back to normal faster. 80% of cats can get regulated and be off insulin within a couple months!

This method of treating feline Diabetes was pioneered by Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins. She has a great site with tons of information. There's also a forum of 1163 people using this protocol to treat their diabetic cat. Everyone is so helpful. You can post your blood glucose readings and people will help you figure out your dosing amounts. The best part is you get to look at pictures of everyones cute cats.
Testing the glucose is the hardest part. You have to prick your kitties ear to get a drop of blood for the glucometer to read. I knew it was going to be hard but I had no idea how hard until I started trying to do it on a consistent basis! I was crying yesterday and ready to give up. I posted about it in the forum. A bunch of people responded with how bad they were in the beginning and gave me all kinds of help full suggestions. Now the testing is going so much better.
I hope that we can get Fifi regulated and off the insulin in the next couple months.

new project!

2008-10-06T22:39:00.000-07:00

I was really into djing about 4 years ago and I've recently started getting back into mixing. I've started a new blog where I'll post 1 hour long mixes. I've been having fun adding elements to songs and tweaking them and laying different tracks on top of each other. Stop by and pick up a mix!

Infrared Photography

2008-09-10T09:58:00.000-07:00

I saw some really cool photographs recently that said they were Infrared Photos. So I did some research and found out how to convert my digital camera with a homemade infrared filter . This lets infrared light pass through to the camera, but blocks all or most of the visible light spectrum. The pictures have a dreamlike quality and look so cool. The effect is mainly caused by foliage (such as tree leaves and grass) strongly reflecting in the same way visible light is reflected from snow. There is a small contribution from chlorophyll fluorescence so all foliage looks completely white. I've been having fun taking lots of pictures.
The quality is grainy so I think I'll eventually buy a professional infrared filter.