Zooming along

It’s been a great week in the land of Nidulari. With the help of our lovely new WWOOF volunteer, Julie, I’ve been able to plaster at twice my previous speed, resulting in the East wall and the rear wall being complete up to about 6′ high, and the outer layer on the West wall being nearly complete. Tomorrow we’ll work on the inner West wall, and soon we’ll be plastering the upper sections! It’s all coming together so fast now, as each process becomes more and more efficient. I can’t wait to start on the floor, interior details, and waterproofing the roof so that I’ll be able to move in!

 

 

While I was off working at Cruzan Gardens, learning to propagate all kinds of interesting plants and trying to get my head around different kinds of fertilizers and soil amendments – plus the names of some dozen types of palm tree – Julie was starting to rein in the garden: weed whacking, clearing paths, and so on. One day everything will be under control and we’ll all know what we’re doing! Speaking of learning, my 25 Ameraucana chicks arrived on Thursday, a day early. Despite their premature arrival, we were all set up with a beautiful wooden brooder, heat lamp, water, feed, bedding…

25 out of 26 survived shipping, and seemed healthy and energetic. The 6′ long, 2′ wide, and 2′ deep brooder box is ample room for them to run around, yet small enough to keep track of them in! Yesterday 5 of them went to their new family, where a delighted child will be learning about raising chicks. Hey, I’m no less excited about it, really. They are cute. It is, however, a lesson in letting go, doing what you can but letting nature take its course – one chick appears to have a leg issue, and possibly “failure to thrive”, so she’s separated from the rest to see if she recovers, but will most likely fade away rather than reviving. Such is life. The remaining chicks I’ll probably raise through to 3-5 weeks old, at which point they will no longer need a heat lamp – then if anyone is interested in having some small layer pullets to finish raising, please contact me! I am trying to end up with an even dozen, so there should be at least 5 available, if all goes well. Ameraucanas are small hens, about 4lbs fully grown, who are prolific layers of large blue and green eggs, and have a friendly demeanor.

 

What else, you ask? Well, it’s a rainy Sunday, killing my motivation to go hiking, swimming, or anything else “fun”. Instead, I write this, battle hordes of mosquitoes, plot out next week’s schedule, and await Mandy’s return from Haiti, a day late due to delayed flights.

‘Til next week, cheers!