The patchwork room. Aprons for little boys and girls, for home and for nursery.

The local nursery wanted aprons that boys would gladly wear too. Out went the pockets, in came bow ties for the boys and white rosettes for the girls.

The patchwork room. A sea of flowers for a dear grandmother.

A birthday quilt for grandmother Koidu, in soft pastel linens with a large flower pattern, quilted square by square with petals and waves.

The patchwork room. The dance quilt, a quilt of good luck, joy and healthy energy.

The "Sukad ja tagid" folk dance group gave their wonderful teacher a quilt of their own. Several weeks of joyful work, with good wishes hidden in the seams.

The bird house. The pullets start laying.

There are two happiest days in a poultry keeper's year: the day the first chicks hatch and the day the pullets lay their first eggs. Which of mine started when, and what colour the eggs came out.

The bird house. Cockerel or pullet?

By the end of June I could finally tell the cockerels from the pullets, and of 20 young birds exactly half were cockerels. What to do with a flock of cockerels, and how I did the hard job alone.

The bird house. When hens fall ill.

Five of my birds lost the use of their legs. A month and a half of vets, a laboratory and around 100 euros later, here is what I learned, plus what my birds eat and how the lawn in the run survives.

The bird house. The second clutch of chicks goes outside.

The little ones moved outside for the daytime, and from the third night the mother hen's wing was warmth enough. How the mother hen pushed them away at five weeks, and what helps with quarrelsome birds.

The bird house. The first clutch goes outside.

At a month old the first clutch finally moved out to the coop and the run. It took three evenings of catching 26 chicks by hand before they learned to go in by themselves.

The bird house. The second clutch into the incubator. Lavender Araucanas and Copper Black Marans.

Of 24 purebred eggs only 10 chicks hatched. On the poor hatch rate of purebreds, slipping incubator chicks under a broody hen, and chicks with a mother hen against chicks without one.

The bird house. The first clutch into the incubator, the crosses.

Twenty five eggs into a King Suro 20 incubator, how I candled them, and everything I got ready for the chicks: feed, vitamins, sand, a brooder lamp and a first nursery box.

The bird house. The first clutch (the crosses) hatches.

Of 25 eggs, 21 sturdy, healthy chicks hatched. How the first pips appeared, how the chicks were moved on, and how five bought chicks joined the flock.

The bird house. Our hens and their eggs.

This winter we have 8 hens and a rooster, and the egg box is beautifully mixed: cream from the Brahmas, blue from the Araucana, pale blue from the cross and tiny olive green eggs from the young mixes.