Madrona Acres

“It’s just a chicken.”
We had our first death here a week ago today.
It was one that I knew was coming. Janice my blonde Easter Egger has always had something internally wrong with her.
For years she laid soft shelled eggs (or weird calcium deposits all over her eggs) despite her feed, supplements and all treatments under the sun. Maybe she had a tumor? A genetic irregularity? Not sure but I read up on everything I could about what could be troubling her. My gut told me she had something I couldn’t fix. She died peacefully in the coop at night/early in the morning.
She had always been full of life, silly and full of personality.
She knew her name and came running when I called her.
She had two besties in the flock and was always with them.
Her sister Piggy pestered her like a little sister was meant to do.
My flock seems to be looking for their missing piece still. They are clingy and little sister Piggy needs to be held more than normal. Did you know chickens mourn? I’ve only read about it and now I’m seeing it.💔
Life is strange, my long time friends know me as a wild bad girl always in trouble. Then I hit mom mode - made wild baddie mom friends. Now I’m here, crying about loosing a chicken that I poured a lot of love and effort into.
It is a joy to love, even “just a chicken”. I miss her.

#eastereggerchicken #homesteadchickens #pnwhomestead #homesteadlife #petchickens

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4 days ago | [YT] | 3

Madrona Acres

This doesn’t look like much if you don’t keep chickens. But if you do keep chickens allow me to fawn over this door.
This house door that my husband found and repurposed into the main door to the chicken coop is awesome. It’s thick and the hinges have a soft close. Which great if there happens to be a chicken trying to get in before it closes all the way. (They prefer their automatic door entryway.)
He found a great latch that a raccoon couldn’t open. (Raccoons are known predators of chickens in my immediate area.)
We have yet to add hardware cloth to cover the glass (in case we get a bear attack someday). I used this shower curtain panel to cover the window. We keep low red colored lights on inside at night and it gives Mordor vibes through the curtain.
These are the things that I get very excited about.

#chickencoopbuilding #pnwhomestead #predatorproof #homesteadjourney #chickencoopdoor

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5 days ago | [YT] | 1

Madrona Acres

Over the weekend we had our First Annual Frightfully Fun Family Night. We’re a family that loves a theme. Since we have a proper homestead now, we are compelled to create annual events to celebrate here. Next year we plan on having our own pumpkin patch and family cider pressing event. For now, we just got together to eat and do a little craft.
We had so many sweet treats this weekend that we didn’t even get around to our spooky cookie decorating competition. Not to waste the sugar cookie dough, I whipped them up today for a little treat for John. A festive little sugar boost when his blood sugar dips down.
We have a “food stylist” in the family now! Meg has the touch for display/styling. She whipped up a nice charcuterie board for our gathering. I’ve always joked that I can make really great tasting food, but it’s ugly. (See picture of the cookies). 😁 So if any food looks Instagram worthy, chances are it is Meg or Jina’s handiwork. There’s a reason there isn’t a picture of the soups I made - ugly delicious.
#homesteaders #madronaacres #pnwhomestead #homesteadfamily #pnwhomesteading #homesteadlife

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7 months ago | [YT] | 0

Madrona Acres

The PNW’s big wet season has arrived. It arrived with a little extra flair too. A bit of wind and wild rain.
We are near the end of the construction of the chicken coop and run. We moved the run to its permanent place. That night after we set the run into place, the winds came. We have a small temporary coop that we purchased for the move. We have been keeping the coop inside of the run for safety against predators. John was up late into the early hours in the rain “buttoning up” the run. However, the winds were really strong and our house and our coop/run are on top of the hill of our property and the wind blew down a part of the run. I heard a crashing sound around 6 a.m. and saw what happened. A piece of the wall landed on the coop, thankfully the chickens weren’t hurt. But John and I had a rough early morning in the wind, rain, and mud resecuring the run.
If someone would’ve told 20-year-old me that I would care this much about chickens, I would’ve punched them in the face. Funny where life takes you.
With all the wind and rain, we got to experience our first power outages. We’re no stranger to them. Living in a forest for 17+ years, trees and branches knocked it out all the time for days. Our power was knocked out here 3 times in one day. Each was very short-lived. While we are very electricity-dependent here (our well), we have plans in place for any long-term outages. We have a wood stove, generators, and battery banks. In the future, solar panels.
Physical space wasn’t the only appeal for this homestead. The potential to attain self-sufficiency as much as we can was a huge allure.
#pnwhomestead #pnwhomesteading #pnwhomesteaders #emptynesterhomesteaders #emptynesters #madronaacres #ruralwashington #backyardchickensofinstagram #eastereggerchickens #animalhusbandry#dewalttools @dewalttough

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7 months ago | [YT] | 0

Madrona Acres

One of the easier rooms to clean and fix up was the "great room". I use quotes there because the dining room area is super small but it does lead into the living room. 
With each room we had a cleaning process: Vacuum, scrub/wipe down the walls with cleaners multiple times if necessary (I'll write out all of the cleaning products we used in a separate post), steam clean with that steamer I love so much, prime with BIN Zinsser -including the ceiling and then paint. 
Again, we replaced all of the flooring in the house (it actually didn't come with any) and also primed the subfloors with BIN Zinsser too.
#diyhomestead #familyhomestead

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11 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 0

Madrona Acres

We bought a dilapidated trashed homestead in rural Washington State.🌲 
Are we too old for this? 100% Are we doing it anyways? Yep.
We aiming to be good stewards to this amazing piece of land and bring it back to a good state.

#generationalhomestead

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11 months ago | [YT] | 0