Blue Ribbons!

Around here, the Sanders County Fair is a pretty big deal. Not only is it the biggest thing that happens in our town, it's the biggest thing in the county! 

Whit's award winning Yukon Gold Potatoes

Here, fair is more than just a carnival and fry bread. From the kids with 4H animals, to the Ranch Horse competitions, to the Demolition Derby, the fair is a place to showcase what you take pride in, take part in friendly competition, and possibly take home (or more likely, spend) some prize money.
This year, for the first time Whitney entered  garden produce and crafts, and came away with several Blue Ribbons! In fact, her Yukon Gold potatoes were runners up for Best In Show.
Now before you start thinking this was like shooting fish in a barrel, check out this line up of spuds (bottom row, below). The good people of Sanders County take their gardening seriously! Between late frosts, summer droughts, pests and parasites, growing good looking garden veggies is no accident.

The carrots were also a success in a crowded field.

Whitney did have several items that got second and third place, but in all the eggs, carrots, Yukon Golds, and Sage all got First Place!  

Across the way, in the Arts and Crafts barn, things get even more intense. The quilters, canners, photographers and artists seem to all come out in spades for the fair. So when we saw that a pair of Whit's Peacock feather earrings were awarded a blue ribbon in the jewelry class, we were pretty floored.  

Next year I hope to enter honey and possibly beeswax goods. Until then I'll just have to brag about Whitney's success.  :-)

Take care, and if you get a chance, go to the fair!

 KJ 

Entering the MADE fair

Whitney's spent a lot of time in these past few weeks building up her handmade feather accessories and silk flower inventory in order to enter into the MADE Fair in Missoula this June. Her collection now includes dyed and natural feather earings, feather hair extensions, silk flowers, and feather hair clips.  Last night it came time to shoot the pictures and submit her application. We assembled the jewelry and headed out, but of course the weather was less than cooperative. In between rain showers and wind blasts we shot these pictures (among many others).

  

Please remember we are not photographers!  Now begins the waiting period to see if she gets chosen. Keep your fingers crossed!

Of course we're hoping to get selected for a spot at the fair, but even if we don't all of these items are available for sale. Be sure to email Whit whitsisk@hotmail.com if you see something you like or have something special in mind!

KJ

3 Roosters is 2 too many

Today was a sad day for our flock. Two of our "girls" had to move on.
For a while now we've had a couple larger chickens that we were watching, hoping they'd be hens. Because there was supposed to be two breeds of black and white chickens, our hope was that one breed was significantly larger than the other, and that we only had two of that large breed. It seemed reasonable. Also, while the Colonel has been crowing and acting quite rooster like for months, these other big birds were rather docile. But sadly, recently these other two have shown their true rooster natures. They grew combs and spurs and began harassing the hens. This apparently caused Colonel to harass the hens with renewed vigor. All of a sudden the chicken yard was getting pretty out of hand, and some of the hens were getting pecked to the point of bleeding. This can become a real problem because chickens are very attracted to red and blood can cause chickens to peck one another to death.
So as a solution first we thought maybe somebody local would like a 4H rooster. Youngsters often show roosters at the fair and we know a few families that do, but they were not interested. Next we hoped somebody may just like to have a rooster, but that turned out to be a long shot also. Finally it became clear that our two barred rock roosters were enough of a problem, they were leaving one way or another. While this was going on, we had also heard about the recent trend of using chicken feathers for earrings and decorating girl's hair. Chicken feathers are quite valuable it turns out, and one of our local hair stylists has gotten in to feather dyeing. Whitney and her are good friends, and they will use these feathers to try some different earrings and things.
I asked around and found a friend that was interested in having the meat, in exchange for skinning the birds. The usable part of the skin is called the saddle, and extends from the back of the head to the top of the vent (Google it if your not sure what a chicken's vent is).  He has a lot of experience with this because at one time he raised chickens for meat and feathers, although at that time the feathers were for fly fishing flies. This option worked well for us since we weren't prepared to butcher and skin our roosters, but didn't want to see the birds wasted. The meat for a clean saddle was a fair trade.
So, tonight I went and learned how to dispatch a chicken. This didn't turn out to be nearly as traumatic as you may imagine. None of the chopping block and cleaver and headless chickens running around that I was imagining. A simple, quiet slit with a small kitchen knife while holding the rooster upside down was all it took. A few seconds later and they were done.
Sad as it is, that turned out to be the best option. The meat will be used, the feathers will be used, the hens can take a break and we don't have to feed extra mouths. Sometimes it's not fun but as animal owners we had an obligation to do the right thing for the hens. Also if we are going to take these chickens seriously at all, we can't feed extra birds for no reason.
On a lighter note, the hens are producing 6 - 8 eggs a day now. And as it is now honest to gosh winter (19 degrees the other day) we've put a heat light in the coop to keep the water from freezing. This should help with our egg production to, as we should be closer to a dozen a day and right now demand is exceeding supply!
Thanks for reading. KJ