The Chick Inn II/Poultry Palace latest renovations complete...well almost!

It's with great pleasure and a small sigh of relief that we can announce that the latest renovation to the Poultry Palace are complete....well when I find the latches for the nesting boxes it will be!

The complete coop and pen.  The coop if 8 feet by 12 feet and the total pen area is approximately 25 feet by 50 feet.  There are several areas of sun shade cloths over each area of the sections. The residents are allowed supervised free range time in the coolness of the morning and later in the evening too.

The latest renovations included sectioning off an area of the pen for the turkeys, adding two new gates, adding two perches and a slanted roof for cover.

One of "Tommy's Girls" was always ready to help Mr. Farmer Man.....she'd walk right up to you, no idea of personal space, and look you right in the eye...I mean two inches from your eye!  She was a great help finding screws, staples, shiny drills, etc. Here She and Scott are working on adding hardware cloth to the eaves to keep out predators.

My Farmer Man <3 Building yet another gate for the pen

One of "Tommy's Girls" enjoying the new roost complete with "air conditioning"!

"Tommy and the Girl's new enclosure.  They much prefer the open pen than the coop, but really didn't like getting wet so we added a roof for them.  We just purchased a Grandpa's Feeder for the turkeys....it is so wonderful!  No more wasted feed.  You can see the grapes planted around the coop in this picture too.

We had to add some stairs to the far end of the outdoor pen to have easier access to the turkeys

Here's our little guineas in the completed Chick Inn II and their pen area

Our Beautiful Golden Laced Wyandottes in their pen with access to the coop.

"Tommy" on the left and both of "His Girls" in their new enclosure

I was so thrilled to hang these cute chicken hanging baskets on the newly completed coop.  My dear, sweet mother gave these to me many years ago.  They had hung on the original Chick Inn and the coop now seems complete now that they are decorating the new Chick Inn II.

Thank you to everyone for their kind words about our Farm Blog and for checking in to see just what we've been up to.  Stay tuned for more projects, updates on the residents, and just happenings going on around the farm!

A Weekend Away From the Farm....

A few weekends ago, my sweet husband found the perfect getaway for the two of us.  We have been working non-stop around the farm and we both were in need of a break. Some folks would say, just stay home and don't work....that's not possible!  There is always something or someone that needs tending to and the only way to stop and really relax is to get away.

Mr. Farmer Man called me from work and said he had found a cool place in the mountains of North Carolina that we could get away from it all.  He found Fire Mountain on the internet and had researched their site.  It sounded like just what we were looking for!  We both LOVE the mountains and with all the heat and humidity here on the farm, a cool mountain getaway was just what we needed.

We arrived and were greeted by one of the owners, Matthew, who personally showed us to our room in the Treehouse Inn Cabin.  It was absolutely beautiful!

Our room is the second one....second floor balcony.

The view from our balcony

 I was a little concerned since we found out there wasn't air conditioning in the rooms, but we learned that the average day time temperature was 71 degrees and the average night time temperature was 56 degrees!  We were told to just sleep with the sliding glass door open and pull the screen.  The room has a nice ceiling fan too.  There are no televisions, radios, clocks, etc. in the rooms or cabins.  Nothing to distract you or remind you of time.We settled our belongings into the room and decided to walk around the beautiful grounds.

Blackberries were ripening

Black Eyed Susan were blooming

Baby bunnies were out in the coolness of the evening

Touch Me Nots aka Jewelweed were blooming

A little plant growing out of rock foundation of an old barn foundation

A beautiful iridescent green beatle

Tomatoes growing under the watchful eye of Mr. Scarecrow

The beautiful, organic garden

Beautiful tower in the middle of the garden...sunflowers growing around

 

Beautiful, red apples bending the tree limbs with their weight

A huge field of cabbage

A plow waiting for the next job in the field of cabbage

 The grounds of this wonderful getaway are so peaceful, beautiful, and calming.  We enjoyed the beauty all around us. We drove into town and found a BBQ restaurant for supper and came back to just relax and settle in.

Breakfast is included with Treehouse and Inn rooms.  It is on the second floor of the Main Inn along with a lovely library full of books and games for the guests.  The dining area has huge windows for a beautiful view of the mountains or you can choose to dine out on the open deck.  The tables are adorned with table linens and fresh flowers and herbs from the property.  Matthew and Hirem greeted each of us by name, asked how over night was and what our plans were for the day giving us suggestions or additional information.  It was like we were guests in their home not an Inn or cabin.  It was quite nice! Coffee was served at 8:30 and breakfast at 9:30....plenty of time for a very relaxing start to the morning.

My sweet Farmer Man enjoying his cup of coffee and the awesome view before breakfast

Breakfast on Saturday morning.....eggs with cream cheese and chives, bacon, biscuits and homemade strawberry jam.   There were other items like juice, milk, granola, fresh fruit, etc.  It was a wonderful breakfast.

We headed into town and found this really cool, old timey store on the way. Scott particularly liked the old Sinclair sign.

 We heading into the town of Highlands, NC and did some shopping and gem mining too.

Our "haul" for washing dirt!  Looking forward to having some of the gems made into jewelery!

After a fun morning and lunch out we headed back to the Inn for a much needed nap!  It was so nice to just slow down and enjoy the beauty around us and just being together. Another trip into town, a little more shopping and a nice pizza before we headed back for our last night on Fire Mountain.  On Saturday evenings, they provide a fire for all to enjoy where you can just sit, relax and watch the sunset over the mountain....just beautiful.

We enjoyed a wonderfully relaxing Sunday morning with a yummy breakfast before checking out and heading for home.  A few stops along the way at some great antique stores and we returned home Sunday evening. A big thank you to my Farmer Man for taking me away for the weekend.....I feel so renewed, energized, and ready to work!

We enjoyed our visit to Fire Mountain in Highlands, NC and plan to return again very soon! You can find their website here Fire Mountain, Highlands, NC and they also have a Facebook page you can find here Fire Mountain's Facebook Page