Backyard Baby Chicks....

The baby chicks are now at the feed stores .....they are adorable !

When we lived on the ranch, we ordered chicks from the midwest. We bought some at the feed store too, but you could find more exotic chickens from a catalog.  Our local Post Office would call us to come pick up our box of  babies (chicks).

We kept them in the house by our heater for a few days with a heat lamp.  Our daughters adored this arrangement.  They would bound out of bed in the mornings and hold baby chicks before having to get ready to catch the school bus.

Depending on the outside temperatures, we eventually moved them to the nice little secure pen with a heat lamp in the chicken house. By the time they were hens, they were quite tame.

Our children have backyard chickens and our granddaughter loves to hold them.

She has two that she is especially fond of....this is Dora....

I've been contemplating, once again, about having a few Backyard Chickens....but then I also think about turning my front yard into a vegetable garden and my pool into a cement pond with catfish.  I'm not sure I was meant to be a neighborhood resident.                                 All those darn CC&R's !

Happy Infusions,
Kate
http://tea4kate.com

'Tis the season for planting...and growing....

This beautiful sunshine calls me...." Come....Come...Come outside. Come dig. Come plant."

I heeded the call and ordered seeds !!

We've always been interested in the Seed Savers Exchange and used them extensively when we had a big garden at the ranch.

In the United States, it is the largest non-government seed bank. Seed Savers is an non-profit organization dedicated to saving and sharing heirloom seeds. An heirloom seed is defined by Seed Savers as "any garden plant that has a history of being passed down within a family....like pieces of heirloom jewelery or furniture."

Preserving and continuing to develop disease and pest resistant plants without modifying or altering the genetics of the seed takes time, dedication and patience.

Currently, though, there is tremendous pressure to patent and create genetically engineered plants and animals that will produce rapidly. These "mutations" are now part of our everyday lives. Depending on the study you read, there could be over seventy percent of processed foods on our grocery shelves that contain genetically engineered ingredients. It is estimated that about seventy-five percent of U.S. corn and eighty-five percent of soybeans are genetically engineered.

Typically, an engineered plant will produce seeds that are sterile so they can not reproduce. Sometimes, this is referred to as “terminator technology” because the plant’s ability to reproduce has been ‘terminated’ at the genetic level. This may not seem particularly important unless we know that these genetically engineered plants are not harmful to our health, and if we can continue to have access to a supply of "GM-free" (genetically modified-free) plants.


I highly recommend the following for plants and seeds:


http://www.seedsavers.org/


http://www.johnnyseeds.com/


http://groworganic.com

this company is in Grass Valley, CA...



A great resource is:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/


Happy Planting...Happy Growing....and

Happy Infusions,
Kate
http://tea4kate.com

Tea Tasting and Friends.....

A big thank you to all our family and friends who attended the Tea Tasting Party at the Antique Cottage and Garden Friday night.  I miss all of you and it was absolutely divine to connect again with so many of you !!

Thank you also to Lynni Miller, the owner of Antique Cottage and Garden, and Kelly and Mark, who all pitched in to help us get ready !  Lynni, the goodies were perfect with the teas....thanks !

Congratulations to the winners of the door prizes !!

My Sweet Husband is the best !  He patiently loaded and unloaded teas, teapots, hats and all kinds of other necessary "stuff" !

We couldn't bring the entire tea room inventory......

so we brought some old favorites ..... and some new ones to try.....

Of course, we had to brew a pot of our most requested tea at the tea room...French Creme Brulee...

and what's a tea party without a green tea ? We tasted our lovely Japanese Bancha !

Aunt Ressie May, a strawberry-kiwi fruit  infusion (no Camellia sinensis-- no real tea--) has been a delicious choice since we first  introduced it as our signature "Drink Pink" tea several years ago.

A blooming tea contributed to the ambiance of the evening...

The weather couldn't have been more perfect and the garden was delightful.......

Thank you again everyone for making this enjoyable, and successful and we look forward to the next Tea Tasting Party !

Happy Infusions,

Kate

http://tea4kate.com

http://oregonstretteacompany.com

http://twitter.com/tea4kate

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