Is Millie Really Miles?

Firefly discovered that one of our hens may in fact be a rooster. We agreed when we got the chicks that if one turned out to be a rooster that we would try to find him a good home but now we are pretty torn as to what to do with him. He is one of the friendliest chickens we have and it would be really sad to watch the remaining Silkie perch by herself at night. (The Silkie perch on the lower roost and the Winedots like to perch together on the higher one.)

Below is a repost of Firefly's blog about why we think Millie is really Miles:

Is Millie really Miles?: "I think one of our Silkies is rooster. :( Millie is actually Miles. I started thinking about how different Millie and Petri looked and the wheels started turning... something is very different. So, I googled how to tell the difference between male and female Silkies and discovered that the males will have wilder feathers on the top of their head, the feathers will be different lengths and point more towards the tail, they will also develop bubbly 'brain' looking skin on top of their beak, and have wattles under their chin. The females have more of a puffball for feathers on top of their head, they don't have the bubbly looking skin, and no wattles. So, I went out and took some pictures of the birds to confirm with others (hopefully someone who knows more than I do) as to the gender of our feathered friends.

This is Millie, notice the bubbly skin and wattle.

This is Petri, notice the neater feathers, lack of bubbly skin and wattle.

And, just to be sure, I took some of them further away:

Millie (Miles)

Petri

And because I didn't want the other two to feel left out... Here are Gibbardanna and Thelma:

"

Responce from Springfield Creamery - Nancy's Yogurt

 Last month I start to wonder about the dairy products that Firefly and I buy each week.  Here is the post. I want to make sure that the dairy products we eat are made in a sustainable and humane manner after see this video of dairy farmers abusing their cows.  


I wrote to the company that makes the yogurt we enjoy, Nancy's Yogurt made by Springfield Creamery in Eugene Oregon, and below is their response:

Thank you for your interest in Nancy’s Products.  We frequently are asked about farm practices at the dairies that supply us milk for Nancy’s Cultured Dairy Products.  There are many variables involved in dairy farming so we may not be able to provide exact answers, but we are in frequent contact with representatives from the dairy coops that provide us milk, in order to provide the following information:

• We purchase our milk from 2 dairy cooperatives: conventional milk from Northwest Dairyman’s Association (NDA) and organic milk from Organic Valley Family Farms.  The milk comes to us directly from the farms, all farms within about 100 miles of our plant, all family owned, with average herd size of 150 head. None are “factory farms.”

• The use of Bovine Growth Hormones (rBGH, also referred to as rBST) is prohibited in organic dairies.  NDA, who supplies our conventional milk, has a strict policy of segregation of milk from treated cows and untreated cows.  All farmers are required to sign affidavits indicating their adherence to this policy.  NDA and Springfield Creamery pay a higher premium to the farmers to produce milk that is rBGH free.  We only use rBGH free milk.

• There are many variables that affect feed and pasturing practices.  They are farm size, weather, season, management style as well as stewardship of the land.

• All cows are fed a mixture of forages and grains.  Forages include grass, hay, silage and other field greens.  Corn, barley, soybeans, oats, field peas and flax are grains.  Conventional farms average a ratio of 60/40 forage to grains.  Organic farms average 80/20 forage to grains.  None of the grains are imported from outside of the USA at this time.

• Access to pasture varies by farm.  Organic Valley encourages and sets standards for amount of pasturing(view at www.organicvalley.coop)

• Generally, the smaller the farm the more access to pasture.  Access to pasture also varies by season and weather.  In order to protect the pasture, cows are allowed to pasture only during the grass growing season, which is about 8 months in Oregon.

• Pastures take careful management to limit damage by trampling.  Organic Valley’s standard is 3 head per acre.  Cows are moved from section to section of the pasture to allow recovery of the grass.

• Conventional Farms with large herds may or may not pasture, partially because of the logistics of rounding up the cows for milking, however cows are able to move around in the “loafing” area.  No cows are confined to a stall, other than during milking.
• All farms provide a humane and healthy environment for their herds in order to produce the fine quality milk we purchase.  We have always had the utmost confidence in the quality of milk we receive- for 50 years!

Kind regards,

Elaine Kesey

Springfield Creamery, Inc.

Nancy's Cultured Dairy and Soy

541-689-2911

elaine@nancysyogurt.com

Wordless Wednesday - Godson

Silver Creek Campground and Reserve America

For our first camping trip with Daisy we decided to go to a camp ground that wasn't to far away just in case we had problems and needed to limp home.  The bus did great and we had a great time.  I also wanted to be close to home in case we needed anything that I knew we would forget.


We went to a little campground just outside of Truckee Ca, and had a nice quiet break from life. 

We ended up at Silver Creek campground but I think next time we come back to this area, we would go to the campground just north of this one (towards Truckee) called Granite Flats


I also wanted to let you know about a great website called Reserveamerica.com From here you can search campgrounds all over the United States by location and/or by features of the park or spot.

Daisy's First Camping Trip

A History of the American Presidency in One Infographic

This is another repost from GOOD

A History of the American Presidency in One Infographic: "

This is about as complete an inforgraphic on the American presidency as you're ever going to see.

You can zoom in and view it in all its absurdly comprehensive glory over at Timeplots. They'll also sell you a poster-size copy.

Via Fast Company

"