weekend farmers.

We had a barn full of them in Virginia.

We’ve been thinking about having them here ever since we moved in.

And then Hannah finished their beautifully-crafted home.

But trips to Virginia and North Carolina took priority.

This weekend changed all of that, however.

And our family spent Saturday acquiring six new creatures/pets/providers.

Chickens.

We’ve got ’em.

We drove waaaay out in the country to this adorable farm.

What I really intended to purchase was four hens.

Four grown hens that could immediately begin providing sustenance in the form of oval deliciousness for our family members.

I didn’t really care what they looked like, so long as they dropped edible treasures onto their pine chip-covered roosts in a somewhat daily manner.

That is, until I got to this farm.

My first thought was, I want all of our chicken coops to look just like these do.

At Huckleberry Farm all of their chicken coops were former children’s wooden play houses painted like Rainbow Row.

Blues and pinks and yellows just shouted cheer and happiness.

And the chickens?

Oh my – the variety was astounding.

We chose our four hens and loaded them into the dog carrier we were using to transport the girls.

(Two of our new pals are called Easter Eggers and will lay colored eggs!)

I also allowed the kids to gaze upon the chicks.

And then we allowed the kids to pick two chicks to add to our flock.

A Silkie and a Partridge.

I’m telling you – that Silkie is too cute to be a chicken.

It’s color is called splash.

How can you not love a chicken whose color is splash?

We drove the clucking, chittering chicks and hens home, stopping irreverently at Chick-fil-A on the way for a quick bite.

After settling the girls in to their new coop, we headed back out to town for chicken feed and pine chip bedding and a little mason jar feeder.

These hens were adding up to be about the most expensive dozen eggs we have ever purchased!

The kids are amazed at the chicks and are in love with caring for them.

We are already learning a lot –

like cedar bedding grows a mold that can harm chickens and when hens begin to lay their eggs they sing a particular tune (the “egg song”) and Silkies have five toes and fluff on their feet and chickens love eating sunflower seeds and watermelon and ticks and their own egg shells.

But the greatest reward happened Sunday afternoon.

We were assembling a late lunch.

Breakfast for lunch, actually.

Riley was whipping up her amazing peach crepes when London realized the recipe called for eggs.

“Can I go check our chickens first and see if they laid any?” she asked.

“Sure,” I told her, pretty confident that the hens had not really settled in enough yet to begin laying.

But the shouts and jubilation I heard shortly thereafter proved me wrong.

Two eggs!

The kids have probably never been more impressed with two green eggs in their entire lives.

(How perfect – Dr. Seuss eggs for our family!)

It made me happy too.

I don’t know if I can explain it –

but it was somehow immensely satisfying to gather those two green eggs

and to scramble them right away and eat them together,

everyone getting a bite or two before the bowl was empty.

There you have it –

our first weekend with our new chickens.

Oh, and did I tell you their names?

Hannah named one King Chupa and we allowed the kids to name the remaining ones.

There’s Ginger and Mississippi and Nugget.  (Get it – chicken nugget?)

And the babies are Marco and Polo.

And I can’t wait to check their little roosts tomorrow and see what surprises we have in store for us.