jess thrift's Profile

Have another baby to put in it!

I highly recommend Role Models by John Waters, read by the author. He is so good.

Also, Sarah Drew from Grey's Anatomy reads Delirium, which is a YAF novel by Lauren Oliver. I never would have guessed it, but she is amazing at reading audiobooks!

I like the idea of these houses. In that second-to-last photo (of the garden) it looks like they built a raised bed around a tree. That is so bad for the the tree, it makes me wonder what else about these houses is just green in theory.

i'm in love with the industrial wall sconce from west elm. we put one on each side of the bed - wall-mounted, no footprint, totally adjustable. love!

Where's the protein? :(

Wow. I am glad bees are getting so much attention. Maybe we can find a way to help them survive. But this design doesn't contribute to the future of bees. I'm amazed that Phillips spent money developing this!

1 -- bees build comb vertically, not diagonally. they use gravity to keep the honey in the cells.

2 -- if you smoke a beehive and then open it *inside your house* your house will be full of smoke and pissed off bees.

3 -- there's no way to add space to this hive, so you would have constant swarms (talk about happy neighbors!) and no room for honey storage.

This house is awesome. It looks like they should be friends with Weetzie Bat.

I'm in love with Julie & Rob's kitchen.

Owls are birds.

I agree with everyone else that the benefits of chickens as pets and entertainment far outweighs the financial benefit of organic eggs. I do wish that Mint had done slightly better research. I don't feel like their numbers are very accurate.

"Cost of buying an uber-chic pre-fab coop: $400"
No. You can buy a simple pre-fab coop for $400, but an uber-chic pre-fab coop runs closer to $1200.

My organic chicken feed costs me $17 a bag for 20 lbs. It's made from ingredients grown in my state and milled within 100 miles. I priced out the cost of making my own chicken feed and it was considerably cheaper, but I don't want to mill all of the grains and I don't have time. Your feed costs also vary based on how much you can free-range your chickens.

Two hens? That seems strange. My coop holds 8 hens comfortably. Most cities allow 3-5 hens these days. Chickens are social creatures and do better in flocks.

Buying from a store may be more cost-effective, but like the other commenters, I think it is like comparing apples to oranges. The modern standards for "organic, free-range" eggs are different from what you might imagine/hope for.

Anyway, my coop will pay for itself in about six years if I consider the feed to be a financial loss to my family.... which is pretty fair for a flock of adorable, funny pet chickens. I feed my dogs and cats, too, and they don't lay eggs.