One young Catholic family on a Journey towards Intentional and Communal Sustainability. One Artist, one full time Mama and two babies, we'll tell you about all our successes, and failures, as we try to make it in our overly Consumeristic society on just the bare necessities.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Lady is a liar

You may recall our new cast of characters here at OLAC including Charlotte's beloved Lady.

As it turns out Lady is a liar.

I reported before that Lady was a Pearl-White Leghorn hen. Lets just say that wasn't quite accurate.

Now, I know what you're thinking "uh, oh. Is Lady a fella?" the answer is no (well... I don't think so, chickens are tricky that way) though for a while I was worried that was the case too.

You see, Lady was once a pretty lil fluffy yellow chick. However, much to Charlotte's dismay, she quickly dispensed with her yellow plumage and replaced it with beautiful white feathers. But that was only the first molt, this week I began noticing that Lady, a chicken who was supposed to be a Pearl-White Leghorn, aka a very white bird, has a suspiciously reddish head/neck/shoulders. Not to mention the fact that her supposed creamy white legs were awfully slate colored.

Since I know essentially nothing about chicken breeds I presumed this meant that she got mixed up with one of the Cornish X Rocks that our friend had ordered along with our chicks. This was reasonable, as Cornish X Rocks start out fluffy and yellow, and end up white. This is a problem though because all of those chicks were male.

While I don't know much about chickens I do know that males don't lay eggs.

Luckily one of the other prominent features of Cornish X Rocks is their stocky legs. Something which Lady thankfully lacks.

When I discussed my confusion with Garrett the Chicken Man, he said that Lady's very un-Pearl-White Leghorn features are actually hallmarks for Araucanas. This comes as something of a surprise because Mango is an Araucana and she looks, to be blunt...nothing like Lady.

As it turns out though, Araucana's are bred for the egg colored trait, not for uniformity in their plumage.

Since Lady is probably going to end up with a buff/yellow head and neck, Charlotte is pleased. But she was even more excited to hear that Lady is likely to give us blue, green or even yes...pink eggs. 

If she turns out both once being a fluffy yellow chick and then later laying pink eggs we're going into the chicken breeding business and marketing Lady's offspring as Princess Chickens, perfect for little girls.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

They're Done!

 The reason I haven't posted in a long time is right here.  I was hired by a friend's daughter and her 2 chorus mates to make dresses for their upcoming concert.  They're singing "Baby Love" by the Supremes.  So I worked through the nights and through the days, and drove my husband and my children mad, and TA DA!  here they are hanging up the night before I dropped them off.  I got to see the girls in the finished dresses at their dress rehearsal for a few moments, and I have to say, they look awesome.  I can't wait to show you a picture of them in use!
The concert is this weekend a the Denver School for the Arts.  When I went to drop off the dresses, I had to wade through piles upon piles of high school kids in prom dresses and tuxedos for the number after my girls' song. 
Good Luck Taylor, Stacia and Nattale!  I know you'll bring down the house!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Make It: Collage Writings


A small teaser for the upcoming Aggiornamento Art and Cultural Exhibition opening tomorrow night.