Hurray!  The Tilth Edible Plant Sale is here!!  (May 4-5th, this weekend, at the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford. ) 
The girls and I are very excited to be returning as Chicken Ambassadors to one of our favorite Seattle events! This is the major fundraising event for Seattle Tilth which provides great educational programs on urban farming, animal husbandry, and does great work to further farm advocacy.  

Our birds have reached local celebrity status, having been on numerous tours to book clubs, harvest fairs, and they have now been featured in the Backyard Roots book by Lori Eanes.  We thought it would be very fitting for each of the well-traveled ladies to have their own personal profile.  Many people have enjoyed getting acquainted with the ladies, they are quite cuddly, and if you are planning on attending any of our upcoming events, you can address each of the ladies by name! 

COMRADE SASHA is a Rhode Island Red, which makes her an American born communist.  Her sister, Karla Marx, sadly passed away recently.  Sasha carries on with intelligence, and during our morning ritual, she will come and sit on our feet while we are preparing the feed.  

LOLA is a showgirl of a Buff Orphington with a lovely red comb.  Lola is very sweet, was raised a free ranging lady, but has adapted well to community coop living. She will occasionally take turns with her sister, Shipoopi, to try and hatch unfertilized eggs in the nesting box.   

SHIPOOPI is a scrappy, cuddly, Buff Orphington, who desperately wants to be a mother.  She will sit on unfertilized eggs for weeks at a time, foregoing food and plucking feathers from her belly to help warm the eggs.  Her recent attempt at hatching fertilized quail eggs were unfortunately unsuccessful. 

BOBBI ANNE COUPON is a Black Sexlink with pretty auburn eyes.  She really enjoys being held, and is one of the most cuddly girls we've ever had.  She is easy to pick up and will often sit for 20 minutes or more with one person holding her.  Her namesake comes from Jakes imaginary childhood friends, Bobbi and Coupon.  

MOUNTAIN ROCK is the most recent addition to the coop-op-a-loop-op.  While we were installing a pollinator garden, a Whidbey Island family drove by and asked if we would like a chicken.  Inside of the cardboard box was Mountain Rock, who had lost all of her sisters to a raccoon attack.  The Seattle Tilth Sale will be her debut performance, and you will notice her by her red leg band. 

CHICKEN is a sweet Americana.  

GINGER MCKLUCKINS is also an Americana, intelligent and crafty.  She comes from a broken home in Greenlake where raccoons climbed up and into her coop, and took her sisters.  Ginger was able to escape and hide between the coop and the fence, where her previous owners discovered her two days later.  After intensive therapy here at Stone Soup Gardens, Ginger can be a remarkably warm and loving chicken, though she still suffers from some PTSD.   

EGG DROP and DUMPLING, both Australorps, are the most youthful of our brood at one year old.  These two are from an Australorp breeder, and began their days here by getting picked on by the others, but can now fully hold their own.  Egg Drop has white feathers on her head and neck, while Dumpling is a rather rotund girl.  

This week we were lucky to have the opportunity to work at two homes that are across the street from each other!  This proved to be a great way to save on costs for both neighbors as were able to maximize our resources for both jobs!  In this first house we are creating a raingarden in the back and front yard.  This increased the benefit for the Rainwise program to the home owner, as they are capturing the runoff from the garage (in the backyard) as well as from the house (in the front yard!) 

The house across the street is similar, with both a rain garden in the front and backyards of the home.  We are also creating a patio area using sod fill from the first house, removing a snag tree, and will be repurposing many of the limbs into the new rain garden in the backyard.