WHAT ABOUT WINTER?

We have been really lucky so far - we plan to vend on the Lebanon Green throughout the winter but I have to admit I have enjoyed the recent mild weather. Yesterday, I renewed our 90 day vending permit from the city of Lebanon, so you can expect to continue to see us out there. We started vending on the Green Valentine's Day of last year so we know how cold it can get! Please keep coming to the van- even if it's only to see if we are frozen alive in there:)

I haven't written about Cindy in a while. I am keeping my fingers crossed but I think Trish's suggestion to put one other chicken in with her helped. What really caused her to be accepted by the other chickens was the snow we had. When it snowed, Cindy was still keeping to herself in the corner of the horse stall, but I decided to put her back in the run in shed with the other chickens ( their coop is underneath the shed). Since chickens hate snow and refuse to get there feet "frozen " in it, she was trapped in the shed with the others and they finally had to work it out. She had no where to run. She tried to run into the woods but the snowfall prevented her from escaping like she had so many times before. Its been several days and she is hanging with the flock and even eating with them. This is big news because now I don't worry that she is out at night for the fox or coyote to get.

HOLIDAYS ARE HERE-FINAL EXAMS, TOO!

Well, we survived Thanksgiving and had a great time providing several people with cupcakes for the Thanksgiving table and a few for special birthday parties. Kathryn made the most adorable cupcakes for a Jimmy Buffett themed 50th birthday party. With all the snow on the ground, they looked even more inviting!

Kathryn also baked for the Pods for the Pulpit Crafts Fair and we sold out both days:) Yea, Kathryn!

I made a trip to LA to see my children and scout out new cupcake ideas....everything looks so great out there in the sunshine and warmth. There were 10 cupcake/bakery locations within a 5 mile radius of where I was staying. Most of the cupcakes were pretty basic- cake and frosting- no real design or theme to them, but a couple of locations took a lot of pride in what they do and it was nice to see their "creations" . No one seems to name their cupcakes like we do or try to have at least three elements incorporated into each one- cake, frosting, design, special topping, name, etc. And, no one used our "small batch, one at a time" concept but that is understandable. We like to think of them as artisan cupcakes....Life would be a lot easier if we mass produced, but I don't think they would be as good:)

Final exams start for the area schools, colleges and universities. We have been invited to vend during exams at a few campuses. I'll take pictures of the crazed students cramming for exams with cupcakes!!!

That's all for now.

AT HOME IN THE CORNER

For all the Araucana fans, here is Cinderella at home. I have no idea what she thinks about all day sitting in the corner, but I am keeping her in the stall for two weeks to see if she will make it her home rather than trying to hide out in the foundation. So far, I can't really tell what she will do. She does not try and escape when I open the door and she seems to be a very contented chicken. But, she clearly has nothing to do all day-no worms to unearth, no eggs to lay, no grass to peck, no ground to scratch. If you have chickens and can offer some insight and recommendations, please do!

CINDERELLA.

So, I had to name her...and, she had such evil step sisters that Cinderella seemed to fit. She now has her own coop ( horse stall) and she has been sitting quietly in it all day. She likes to snuggle in all the corners, and like another storybook girl (Goldilocks) she's tried them all out because I found her in a different corner each visit today. I know that she is going to have to leave the stall at some point so she can scratch around and be a normal chicken, but she certainly is not anxious to go anywhere that doesn't involve deep, soft shavings! And, now I can say with certainty that she is NOT laying right now. No blue eggs anywhere in the stall.

She is not as nervous when I reach for her-although she did peck me so I know she doesn't really want to be held. I cannot help it though- she is so darn soft! Those feathers feel like silk. Hopefully, she isn't on full alert anymore. That has to be awful -being afraid for your life all the time!

Now, back to cupcakes- those of you following us on FB today saw that we never made it to the Lebanon Green. It was a strange morning. I was almost to the Green when I got a call that a new customer in Cambridge, MA needed a lot of cupcakes delivered to a local client- they basically bought the entire van inventory for the Green. Unfortunately, that means we have not had any cupcakes on the Lebanon Green this week! Kathryn will be there tomorrow and she will be testing a few new holiday flavors along with our regular menu. We are such a new business that we have no idea what each day will bring, but we hate leaving our loyal customers without cupcakes for the week. Please bear with us and, hopefully, we will be more predictable soon!:)

ONE MORE ADMISSION. MYSTERY PARTIALLY SOLVED.

Ok, once again the Araucana did NOT show up for bedtime last night- and, she was nowhere to be found this AM. I decided to take my dog, Eddie and go look for her. Eddie loves to "hunt" the chickens, but he never touches them. I think he is actually hunting their eggs and that is why I can't find them...so, while I was outside looking through the bushes, I noticed that Eddie was in the basement of the barn ( where I had already searched last night for her). He was way in the crawl space of the foundation corner and he kept sniffing the foundation. I got my flashlight and ran the beam all along the stone wall. Nothing. But, Eddie wasn't leaving so I crawled in closer and saw that one of the rock moved slightly. Yep. Chicken. She was so camouflaged. And, so still. It was amazing. I reached in and wrapped my hands around her ( she is the biggest of my chickens) and tried to settle her. I put her back in the coop and shut the door. I have been hand feeding her cucumbers periodically today in an attempt to gain her trust but she is a tough one. The other chickens seem to pick on her (hence the word: henpecked) so she really does not like the coop. Tonight I am going to shut her in the horse's stall and see if she likes that any better. She needs her own space-otherwise she is going to pretend to be a foundation rock the rest of her life.

Hopefully, I will get back to writing about cupcakes and the chicken drama will subside. Kathryn and I are working on more holiday flavors so stay tuned to FB for van flavors this week. We will definitely be vending Thursday and Friday on the Leb Green and we will be at the Top of the Hop on Friday in Hanover as well.

SHE'S BACK!

Ok, this is hard to fathom , but the Araucana has returned. She was gone for two nights and two solid days and showed up last night when she was found first "to bed" in the chicken coop at 5:30PM! I have no idea where the heck she has been but I assume something REALLY scared her and she found a place to hide...for two days...It must have been a really good hiding place. Anyway, we are glad to have her home and hope she will agree to share a blue egg with us soon. I will try to get a picture of her up on this blog, but she is so skittish that I'll bet she is camera shy! She needs a name- I am open to suggestions. Right now, she is just Miss Araucana.

And, when we get that blue egg, I'll post the cupcake it goes in. It's gotta be special.

NO BLUE EGGS....

Now that the time has changed and it gets dark VERY early, vending on the Lebanon Green frequently lasts until dark. The van looks great with the lights on inside and the cupcakes illuminated but the animals I leave at home are anxiously awaiting my return. When I came home Friday night , the Araucana was missing. I guess a fox got her, but I dont't really know. I never actually got to collect one of her blue eggs- she hid them somewhere and I wonder if I will ever find them. I love knowing that these chickens can roam freely throughout the day-uncaged wandering through our gardens, searching for worms and seeds, filling their days with chicken activities. But, it does come at a price. They are unprotected and Darwin has proven himself again. She was the nervous one- frantic about the slightest noise. And, now she is gone. Eleven remain....

WHERE HAVE I BEEN?!

Yes, I know I haven't blogged in quite a while but....we have been busy! Places to go! We have spent the good part of this vending week in New London at Colby-Sawyer. Colby-Sawyer Sodexo decided to reward its employees with cupcakes and Colby-Sawyer College decided to let us vend on campus. It was a great experience. The students were great! So nice and so appreciative. And, it was fun being around so much youthful energy. ( It might have been the 70 degree weather and full on sunshine...) I wish Dartmouth would allow us to vend there....

We are also busy working on some new holiday flavors. We tried one out today at the van (Noggin) and it sold out quickly so it will be on the menu for sure. Watch for a few more new flavors in the coming weeks.

We have events coming up soon, too. The Dartmouth Library Staff Association Crafts Fair at the Top of the Hop and the Pods for the Pulpit Crafts Fair in Norwich, VT. In addition to our cupcakes, we will have out Toffee candy and our Pralines for sale at the DLSA fair.

And, I know I haven't talked about the Girls in a long time. Queenie is no longer laying double yolks. And, the farmer down the street gave me 5 more chix- 3 Rhode Island Reds, 1 Golden Comet and 1 Araucana- they are not bonding with the Girls! They stay very separate and the new ones are hiding their eggs. ( All the Cupcake Queen chickens free range so they could be anywhere. And, my dog, Eddie loves to eat any of the eggs he can find before I find them so this is not a game I am going to win anytime soon. )

That's all I have for now.