Dixie Chicks

Yeah, we've been a bit unsure of the count for a few days ourselves, but today all eight were visible at once again. It's especially the black ones that are hard to keep track of, since there are five of them that sort of look similar, even though three of them have some brown/grey coming through in their coats. Mostly we get 3-4 of them up at once, but today all 5 decided it wasn't horribly scary outside. It's crazy how inquisitive the bunnies are, they come up to us when we bring food, and if a dog or chicken is standing outside their pen, they will come up to it and wonder what it is. The labradors are pretty much used to them already, but the dachshund only discovered the little ones a few days ago, so she seems to think she needs to either take care of them, or eat them. Hilma she's very cool with already. And Hilma comes up to the dogs to say hello through the net too.

On the chick front, they're about 5 weeks now. No obvious roos yet, but Karin seems to be convinced we have three boys and a girl, while I think one little guy might be showing the beginnings of a cockerel comb. All combs are very subtle though, so it's entirely possible that they're all girls too. At the same age, all the cockerels we've had that share genes with these chicks have had more pronounced combs, so I would expect it to show already, but it might also be that the chicks are developing a bit slowly because they eat some of the grown ups's feed with a lower protein content, or then their biological mother's comb type is showing through in these too. She has a very small comb, even for a hen. Anyway, it will be interesting to see how they turn out. Sadly, the one I suspect to be a boy is the one with the prettiest feathering, a lovely black color with chocolate brown tips.
 
Cuteness overload in bunny pictures!

That pigeon thing is just weird.

We finally got some rain with a bang last night. First couple of thunderstorms of the year decided to show up yesterday evening/last night. First thunderstorm when we went to bed around 9:15 but fell asleep so don't know how that turned out. Then we got woken up by a window rattling thunder around 3 am. Even the hail moved on quickly. We finally got some much needed rain, but the wind picked up the tarp covering our 2 big round straw bales..
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Chamomile Pork Chops with Lemon

Ingredients

  • 3/4 lb thin-cut pork chops
  • 2 tablespoons dried chamomile flowers, ground
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • Light olive oil for frying
  • Salt and pepper
  • Lemon wedges

  1. 1 Season the pork chops with salt and pepper.
  2. 2​

    Use a clean coffee grinder to make chamomile powder of the dry flowers. Then, mix it into the flour.
  3. 3​

    Dredge the pork chops in the flour-chamomile mixture, shaking off any excess.
  4. 4​

    To a sauté pan over medium to medium-high heat, add enough light-tasting olive oil to lightly cover the bottom of the pan. Sear the dredged, thin pork chops until golden on both sides, about 4 minutes total. You do want to make sure you cook the pork all the way through.
5
Serve on a plate with lemon wedges, and a fresh salad of green shoots tossed with olive oil, sea salt, and a splash of lemon juice
 
@Amberjem

The Gambel's, I think, are the prettiest of the wild quail with all the vivid contrast of greys and chestnut.

The hen was a wild one that set up shop under one of our rose bushes against the stucco wall where she ultimately got trapped by the dog. So I called Fish & Game and asked if I would get in trouble for incubating the 15 eggs and they gave me their blessing and the number of the local Wildlife Rescue for when after they hatch. I do not plan on keeping any, cute as they'll be as little chicks. We've got lots of wild quail here...in fact, I think there's another nest going in our iris bed (where I neglected to weed). The dogs avoid that area as it's difficult to access.

Quail are the next destructive critter in the garden next to rabbits. We can fence for rabbits, but the quail provide an aerial assault and all the little footprints show they've been all over. I can see that they're already eyeing my gooseberry crop. The veggie compound's future holds lots of bird netting and hoops if I expect beans, lettuce or squash.
 
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